This is a follow on post to one about the founding of Marlow's first cottage hospital in Cambridge Rd and the organisations that came before it to care for the sick. I recommend you read that first - you can find it here and a detailed entry about long standing Matron - Nurse Mary Anne Cole here. Nurse Cassidy was the first Matron in charge of Marlow, but she was succeeded by Cole in 1890.
This one focuses on life at the Cambridge Road hospital. Part two deals with the trouble surrounding the move to the Glade Road site later.
Shaking tins, raising funds.
The Cambridge Road hospital was opened in August 1889 in a converted house and former pub. It was ready just a few months after the decision was made to go ahead with the Cottage Hospital. It would be paid for by subscribers, fund raising and by charging those patients who could afford it a portion of the cost of their treatment and care. Those who could pay nothing were still treated. Given the speed the hospital was opened, and the fact it wasn't a purpose built building, it's no surprise structural alterations and improvements became necessary over time. This was not cheap or taken lightly as work usually involved closing the entire building to patients - for example for 3 months in 1894! So fundraising was continuous. All kinds of occasional events were held in aid of the hospital from musical evenings to "rummage sales" in the Music Room (contemporary description, jumble sales in other words). A number of showman attending Marlow Fair also donated the takings from certain performances or evening shows to the hospital - more on this in the Marlow Fair posts.
Collection boxes were dotted across town, at big employers and at pubs including the Bucks Chair Factory, Greyhound Inn, the Crown Hotel and the Duke of Cambridge. Regular collections also took place at the Lock until 1908 as the number of charity collectors there was regarded to be becoming a nuisance and the hospital wanted to distance itself from that.
Donations were very frequently given in kind too. Sometimes Sister Cole put out requests for paticular items she needed. Donations of food and old linen were always welcomed. For a while from 1908 onwards "Pound Days" were held which encouraged everyone to give a pound in weight of food such as butter, cheese or jam, or a pound in money if you could stretch that far. Initially this did well and resulted in a well stocked pantry but it gradually fizzled out.
Rev Light came up with idea of a Hospital Sunday including a parade to raise funds and this was a big feature of Edwardian Marlow. (Initiated 1904) Collections were made in the churches and chapels, and the towns Friendly Societies and Slate Clubs took part in the parade. The Fire Brigade and Salvation Army were amongst those making street collections on the day on behalf of the hospital committee. The parade formed at Star Meadow off Wycombe Road, and went along Chapel Street, Spittal Street, Dean Street, Queens Road, Quoiting Square, West Street, High Street, Institute Road, Claremont Road, Beaumont Rise, Glade Road, and Station Road to All Saints.
The most generous donors of all
The donations of food often came from the kitchen gardens of the larger houses in town. But as it was put in 1904, the arrival of donated groceries given by the very poor was "most gratifying and touching." It was also noted that the patients themselves and their friends were despite their poverty responsible for all the donations put in the collection box at the hospital itself. (£2 4s and 8d in 1904.)
Special collection boxes were made for children, available from the hospital itself. 13 children, all from working class families and mostly relatives of those who had been treated there, collected these and returned them full of ill afforded coins.
The Matron exhausts all comers
A special pull for subscribers was made at the time of the 1897 Jubilee, as a way to mark the event. Unfortunately most committed to subscribing for 3-5 years only, and when that time expired, most did not sign up again. The initial increase in funds had paid for a probationer to share the load of Sister Cole but she did not last, a frequent problem. The probationer that followed her in 1904 lasted only 4 months. It was suggested the volume of work and long hours needed, outside contracted ones did not help. Cole, and Matron Cassidy before her, were relentless workers, and probably were demanding of their staff to keep up. While the subscribers committee were constant in their praise of the matrons incredible dedication, they were not so good at expressing their gratitude in ways that lightened their workload.
Nurse Cole was given a fully trained nurse as assistant for a brief while, before the committee decided they were not justified in paying for this. This is despite saying few outsiders realised "the strain, mental and physical involved in such close attention to duty with rare opportunities for relaxation." ( The committee did usually vote for a payment of a £10 annual bonus to Cole in acknowledgement of her work.)
Instead they suggested hiring the cheaper probationers but we know how that worked out. After loosing the two probationers, Cole decided to employ an untrained assistant instead, to work only under her direct supervision. This lady also lasted 4 months and several months later the post had not been filled. It was said the small size of Marlow hospital put off some probationers from coming as they prefered to finish their training in a larger place with more facilities.
It was suggested that more fundraising should be encouraged in areas outside of Marlow such as Wooburn, Turville and Lane End, as they were providing a third of patients in 1902/3.
A Provident Nursing Club association was set up by others in 1908. This aimed to provide home nursing to the poor and "aged". The matron at the Cottage Hospital also did home visits, but there was a huge demand. The PNC nurse was Nurse Andrews and in the first eight months she had made 546 casual and 2,240 medical visits to 101 patients. The Cottage Hospital matron had visited 125 patients at home, completing 1,300 visits and attending to hundreds of outpatient who came to the hospital to have wounds attended to and dressings changed. Free beef tea, meat jellies (considered nourishing and easy to digest) and other foods were provided free to outpatients. The establishment of the PNC caused some tension as it coincided with a substantial drop in the number of subscribers to the hospital. It was suggested hospital donors had switched to supporting the PNC. The latter under their president Selina Winters wrote to the hospital subscribers expressing their sorrow at the hospital's loss of funds but affirming they wished to compliment the hospital work not compete with them. They offered to write to any lost hospital subscribers and explain but the hospital did not take up the offer.
In 1906 it was finally decided to recruit another fully trained nurse to assist Nurse Cole. An outbreak of scarlet fever had affected hospital life severely as it was necessary to close the wards to new patients for 2 months. All the patients were children and it had been necessary to destroy the books and toys at the hospital for infection control purposes. (Nurse Cole may have a fearsome reputation but she had bought many of the toys out of her own funds. She organised Christmas treats and specifically said she would welcome "young visitors who will interest themselves in the little patients", outside of infectious disease outbreaks naturally. ) Nurse McKenzie lasted longer than 4 months but was gone by 1908.
Never ending need for funds..
The staff and subscribers committee didn't just have the everyday running costs and improvements to make. They initially rented the hospital building, eventually managing to raise enough to purchase it in the hope of saving money long term. The building was finally conveyed in a deed of trust to the hospital in March 1894, with an endowment for its maintenance following the next year, courtesy of Owen Peel Wethered. There was also the cost of the annual fee paid to Reading Hospital (Royal Berks) for the loan of the matron and other nursing staff when they were employed. This was standard practice and on top of the wages paid directly to the women.
Part two deals with problems at the hospital, a medical staff rebellion and the move to Glade Road.
Above, the grave in Marlow Cottage Hospital of Mary Cole, Matron at Marlow Cottage Hospital for 25 years. It reads that she was "a friend to the poor". No truer words can be said.
Other related posts:
Biography of hospital doctor Dr John Dunbar Dickson here
See the general history index for other medical related content.
©Marlow Ancestors
