Patients Treated At The First Marlow Cottage Hospital

  We have completed several posts about the original Marlow Cottage Hospital in Cambridge Road (1889 -1915), which you can find linked to below.  This one focuses on some of the patients treated there. The hospital was intended to serve Great Marlow, Little Marlow and Bisham but on average a third of patients came from places such as Lane End and Wooburn. Over half were children. The number of inpatients is hugely dwarfed by the outpatients who attended the hospital for more minor care, and also those in ill health that the nurses visited in their homes. 

Operations were performed at the hospital which had it's own operating theatre. The visiting surgeons (Dr John Dunbar Dickson and Dr Robert Culhane) were responsible for these but the day to day care was down to the Matrons - Nurse Mary Ann Cassidy in the first year, and Mary Anne Cole thereafter, sometimes assisted by a second paid nurse, probationer or servant. The most common operations were relatively simple - the removal of tonsils and adenoids in children for example. But some were more complicated. I've chosen to feature the unsuccessful 1894 operation on William Soley because the inquest gave really interesting details of the attempts made to revive him. Most operations did not end so badly however! 

William was a journeyman baker working for Mrs Spindlo in Chapel Street. He had a tumour in his groin and it was decided it must be removed quickly. He was reluctant to be operated on but was persuaded by the doctors that it was really necessary. As a working man he naturally had to consider carefully before committing to anything that would result in an unpaid period of time off work. Mrs Spindlo provided her cart to carry him to the hospital. He had previously undergone several examinations and it was determined that his heart and lungs were healthy enough to endure the operation. This was due to take place the following day. It would be performed by Dr Culhane, assisted by Dr Dickson, and attended by Matron Mary Cole. Chloroform was the anaesthetic available to them. Unfortunately within two minutes of it being administered and before any cuts were made, William stopped breathing and suffered a cardiac arrest. To revive him they tried not only artificial respiration, but also hitting William with wet towels, putting mustard on his chest, applying ammonia to his nostrils and cold water to his face. Sadly nothing worked. William died on the operating table. It was decided he had suffered an unpredictable reaction to the chloroform, which caused or accelerated a heart problem. The coroner's jury donated their fees to poor widow Eliza. 

Most of the adult male patients seem to have suffered work based injuries.  I will give two examples. 

Ellis Harvey, aged 56, was working on Dial Cottage in 1890. He was a bricklayer and was engaged on doing some exterior repairs. He fell from 18-20ft high scaffolding and suffered serious spinal injuries. A cart was requisitioned to take him straight to the Cottage Hospital. His injuries were beyond the repair of the doctors, and Nurse Cole could only do her best to make him more comfortable in the last days of his life. He died less than two weeks later. As before, the jury at the inquest into his death gave up their fees, this time donating them to the Hospital itself. It was believed he had suffered from a giddy spell, as the scaffolding was examined and was considered safe. (He was working for Mr Pierce of High Wycombe)

The second case is that of Amos Newell age 25. In 1893 he was working for his uncle Emmanuel Plumridge, who leased part of Star Meadow (off Wycombe Rd) from Mrs Atkinson of The Rookery. What Emmanuel was interested in was the large walnut trees there. They were the sort of crop that has bought a surprisingly large number of Marlow men and women to grief. More valuable relatively than now, a large number of people had convictions for stealing walnuts from Marlow trees, and those in Star Meadow were a hot target. (Trees at Little Marlow were also plagued by nut rustlers!) Emmanuel had been given the right to also collect the nuts when he hired the field. So his nephew Amos and another man were sent to harvest the crop. Amos did not work exclusively for his uncle whose main job was as a  highways and cartage contractor.  Amos is described as a farm labourer at his death. In the effort to reach more nuts, Amos clambered up the tree as he always did. He would stand on a bough and shake the branches with the other man remaining below. Unfortunately Amos misjudged his foothold and the bough he stood on broke off, and he plummeted to the ground. He was taken immediately to the hospital but died shortly afterwards. Another case involving a walnut tree was that of William Beaver, hawker, of Primrose Lea. If it was hazardous to knock the nuts down sober it was much worse to attempt it while "in drink" and unfortunately that's what William did in 1899. He fell 40ft from the tree, at Frieth. At first it seemed a miraculous escape from serious injury. His fall had been broken by lower branches to some degree and he had no broken bones but he did have 2 cuts on his head. He was taken by cart back to Marlow to have his wounds seen to at the Cottage Hospital. On the way there his wife Martha*, from who he was seperated, was informed of the accident and saw him briefly. She said she remarked it was not wise to pick walnuts when the worse for drink and sent the cart on it's way, not thinking him seriously injured. Dr John Dunbar Dickson saw to his head and sent William home. But the "friends" that he lived with would not recieve him and so he was returned to the hospital and admitted. He complained of a headache after 2 days, but his condition took a sudden dramatic turn for the worse on the forth day. He had became agitated and violent towards the nurse the night before, and the doctor said he was forced to put William in a straightjacket to protect the staff. Dr Dickson said William had begun to suffer from severe delirum tremens which had been aggrivated by his fall, and sadly William died "raving mad" a few hours later. 

 

Alcohol also played a part in the horrifying accident suffered by Lower Assendon bricklayer Phillip Joseph Joiner, who was working at Bourne End. Phillip was "worse for wear" and waiting to cross at the level crossing near Bourne End station. But a goods train was pulled up there and rather than wait for it pass, Phillip decided to crawl under the train through to the other side. Another man waiting at the crossing warned him to wait, but Phillip was determined. Sadly the train moved while he was on his way underneath and his legs were severely injured. He was taken to the Cottage Hospital quickly and both legs were amputated. He did not survive. He was 29.  

These cases might be depressing, so I'll end with an example of one that seemed very serious but had a happy ending. A "Master White" aged between 10-12 years old, fell out of a moving train between Bourne End and Marlow in 1892. He was travelling back to Marlow alone. It seems he had been leaning out of the window, when his cap fell off. In trying to make a snatch for it, he over reached and fell from the train. This is partial guess work from those at the the time as no one travelling on the train saw exactly what happened. Very luckily for the boy, someone in the fields adjacent to the rail line did see him fall. They ran to the spot and initially feared the worst as the boy was unresponsive and covered in blood due to some nasty head wounds. But he came round, and was carried to the Hospital. He was found to have a lot of cuts, and was naturally badly shaken. But under Nurse Cole's expert care, he was expected to make a full recovery. 

The times the staff could not save their patients always makes more of a ripple than those occasions where the sick make a quick recovery. The staff there saved hundreds of lives and lots of Marlow people would not be alive today if their ancestors had not spent time at the Marlow Cottage Hospital. 

*Martha Beaver had successfully applied for a seperation order from her husband in 1898 after he had assaulted her with a penknife while drunk. He was sentenced to 2 months in prison with hard labour and on release was made to pay a weekly sum for the maintenance of his wife and the three youngest of their six children then living at home. 

For more about the hospital see the following posts:

Matron Mary Ann Cole here

Matron Mary Ann Cassidy and the setting up of the forerunners to the Hospital here

Apothecaries and patent medicine sellers here

List of medical related posts here

The Romantic troubles of Dr Culhane here

Death by fire here

More on the Spindlo's here

Others are on the General History option in the top drop down menu. 

To find every mention of your ancestor here use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. 

See:

South Bucks Standard 16 September 1892, 03 August 1894. 

©Marlow Ancestors

 

Don't Mess With Matron Part Two

           The Glade Road site.

This post is a continuation of a history of the first Cottage Hospital. Part one here.

 Problems mount at the hospital 

The site at Cambridge House was considered likely to be a quiet one when the hospital first opened. It was not quite to be. Some open ground to the rear of the hospital was used frequently as a place for children to play football but this was preferable to it's use by "delinquents" who adopted the site in the mid 1890's. They were said to throw stones and break windows although the hospital itself escaped their specific attention. Police began to keep a close eye on the area and a number of boys were rounded up and sent before the magistrates mostly to receive small fines and vigorous telling offs. Three boys playing football in Eton Place in 1895 were especially censured because their actions could have caused "considerable discomfort" to patients in the nearby hospital. Richard Engelfield, Arthur Rockett (Rockell?) and James Dormer recieved 1s fines each. To be fair to the boys, neither Riley Recreation ground or Higginson Park were yet open to the public. Then there was the fair and also steam organs, travelling theatres and roundabouts that turned up in what is now Riley Recreation Ground at other times. 

Give us space! 

The improvements in 1894/5 cost £200 and added a new operating room, a new ward and two W.C's. The narrowness of the stairs, passage and landing had been partially eased by widening all 3. But the stairs were still steep and added much to the exhausting  nature of the work. This was not just true for the Matron Mary Cole, but the mostly unnamed servant and charwoman who toiled up and down dozens of times a day.  The wages for the general servant were described as good for a "really trustworthy person" in 1894, but the frequency of adverts appearing for this role suggests it was hard even by the standards of domestic service, good pay or no. 

The last years

In 1908, Nurse Cole was again working alone. Another probationer had come and gone. It was said the assistant nurses did not get enough free time, to which the hospital replied that Cole sacrificed her own days off so often that she could scarcely give any more time to allow the nurses more leisure. They praised Cole's strict economy that saved every possible penny. She could do no more. 

The hospital felt cramped, the stairs were steep and Dr Dunbar Dickson, one of the hospital surgeons in regular attendance, thought the sanitary arrangements totally inadequate. So in 1911 a committee was formed to consider potential sites for a brand new more commodius building. An area of Glade Road let as allotments and belonging to John Langley chairman of the Marlow Urban District Council was considered the most suitable spot. Mr Langley offered to sell the land at a favourable price, but later offered the site entirely for free, providing building work was started within a year. Alternatively he would offer a £250 donation if they prefered another site. 

Architect Mr G Berkeley Willis A R.I.B.A, a local man, was asked to draw up plans which were approved. Estimated cost £2,400. But the Charity Commission needed to investigate the plans for affordability and because of the deed of trust giving the Cambridge Road building to the hospital specified it had to be used for that purpose. The charity investigation took some time and I will spare you the details! The upshot is the plans were approved, but with 8 beds, revised down from 12. 

The Charity Commission had visited the old hospital and didn't consider it practical to make any further improvements or extensions there. The road outside was considered busy (and noisy), and the arrangement of wards over two floors inconvenient. Mr F.O Wethered who had initially supported the hospital move, changed his mind. He commissioned an architect to draw up plans to adapt the existing site, at the cost of £600-700, supported by some of the other subscribers. This would provide a new staircase, and put all the wards on the same floor. He also thought if the hospital would amalgamate with the Provident Nursing Association, more home visits would be possible, reducing the number of those who needed admitting to hospital in the first place. But those in favour of the move said the new site would be much more versatile as it allowed for expansion as well as being quieter and healthier. And they had also raised a lot of funds. With arguements going back and forth, the staff of the old  hospital had had enough and issued an ultimatum. They gave notice that should the plans come to nothing, they would "with deep regret, be obliged to sever their connection with the hospital". Finally the hospital went ahead. 

A last rush of fundraising saw a wide range of events including the popular hospital parades by the local Friendly Societies joined by the Marlow Town and Salvation Army bands. The 1912 one saw 1,000 people attend the open air service at Court Garden at the conclusion of the march. (The parade started at Star Meadow off Wycombe Road at 2pm and went along Chapel Street, Dean Street, Cambridge Rd, Oxford Rd, Quoiting Square, High Street and Glade Rd. A star attraction was a Wethered brewery vehicle converted into a hospital scene with master F Nicholls as the patient.)

The new hospital would have two wards, one male and female, each with 3 beds. The other 2 beds were to be in single person wards, to allow for isolation of the infectious. And of course there would be an operating theatre and an outpatient department. It was opened by General Higginson in August 1915. As this was obviously war time, the trustees  were empowered to place the building at the disposal of the army authorities should the need arrive. Cambridge House was also placed at the authorities disposal. After the War it was noted that the new buildings design had allowed the hospital to run at full capacity during the war, managed by just the Matron and a probationer with the able assistance of  a cook and servant. Of course this is the staff levels that tended to run the old hospital at full capacity too, but with fewer stairs and corners to clean we can hope it was a less exhausting business! 

Matron Mary Cole would not make the journey to the new site. Once the hospital had secured it's future, she resigned, her health having suffered due to the burden of her workload. She had given 25 years unrelenting dedication to her work in Marlow. 

The work of Nurse Cole or Sister Cole (either title of which was used at the time to refer to her) must have saved dozens of lives, alongside the surgeons, servants and nurses working with her. And by helping the injured breadwinner avoid permanent disability they helped still more families avoid destitution. 

Related Posts

Biography of Edward Riley here

Biography of hospital surgeon Dr John Dunbar Dickson here

Call the Apothecary here

Marlow Hero Nurse Cassidy here

Matron Mary Cole here

Benjamin Atkinson, surgeon here

Midwife Sarah Price here

Some of the patients treated at the hospital here

A full list of medical related posts can be found under the general history option on the top drop down menu. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

©Marlow Ancestors.

Don't Mess With Matron Part 1

 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

All Hail Nurse Cassidy - Marlow Hero No 4

 Before Marlow had it's current Cottage Hospital in Glade Road, it had one at Cambridge House, Cambridge Road. This post is about how this first hospital came about.    

The former Cottage Hospital, Cambridge Road. Now a house again. 

What we had before the first Cottage Hospital. 

In the years before the hospital arrived in Cambridge Road, if you required admission to a hospital, it was to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading you would be sent. This was clearly a significant journey for someone in Marlow to make when seriously unwell. The authorities in Marlow bought a certain number of "tickets of admission" to the Berks hospital each year. These would be issued to the sick if it was considered they would benefit from a stay there. In 1877 £21 worth of tickets were bought, paid for partly by donations made at a collection after the Harvest Thanksgiving service in the parish church, and at the end of service the Sunday after.  The idea of Marlow gaining its own hospital was raised at regular intervals. In 1877 it was said an unnamed gentleman was willing to start a subscription fund with a 100 guinea donation if Great Marlow would combine with Henley, Bisham, Little Marlow, Fingest and Turville to support a hospital between them. Nothing came of this, possibly because Maidenhead had just began fund raising for their Cottage Hospital in earnest, with the foundation stone laid in April 1879. Some of those in the above places supported that instead. 

In 1888, the medical provision in Marlow improved significantly thanks to a group of determined ladies. A number of subscribers to the St Johns Ambulance association decided to set up a "Sick Aid Depot" here. They quickly bought this into existence, using a small room in Mrs Lunnon's home in Chapel Street. It opened May 1888. Mrs Lunnon also acted as caretaker. This was a significant help to a vast number of poor families who could not afford professional nursing care or equipment. The depot lent items such as crutches or nursing supplies to those who had suffered accident or illness. There was once a sort of precursor to this which loaned "child bed linens" to expectant mothers a generation before, but to qualify for that you had to be married and respectable, and able to apply personally to one of those who subscribed to the child bed fund. Unmarried mothers, and non church goers were turned away. The Sick Aid Depot was less strict and looked instead at how to extend their services rather than restrict them. They also offered bed linen, so sheets could be washed in homes without spare sets. 

Enter Nurse Cassidy

In 1888 the Sick Aid depot distributed a circular declaring that the want of a "parish nurse" for the depot was keenly felt. "The urgent want of such a nurse has been bought home to us very emphatically within the last few months by the many cases of serious sickness in our town". 

A nursing fund was started, and within 6 months, Nurse Mary Ann Cassidy (sometimes given as Cassaidy) arrived in Marlow. She began work in January 1889. This energetic and dedicated lady is largely forgotten now but it was her who would later be the first Matron at the Cambridge Road Cottage Hospital. Nurse Cassidy lodged with Mrs Lunnon, and made home visits to the ill. She dressed wounds, changed bandages and provided practical help and advice amongst other things. Cassidy was officially on long term loan from the Reading Hospital, the Sick Aid Depot paying a sum for the privilege, on top of the wage paid directly to the Nurse. She took over running the depot too. Although the contract Cassidy worked under did not require night work, she stayed up with the sick on countless occasions, which must have been a priceless comfort to the worried families. This started the pattern of Cassidy constantly going above and beyond in her work. 

The ladies aren't satisfied 

The Sick Aid Depot and Nursing fund was amalgamated. At the very first AGM, held 9 months after the Depot had started, it was decided to be even more ambitious. What Marlow needed was a Cottage Hospital, and a committee of ladies was formed to get the process started. The Sick Aid Depot and Nursing fund committee was amalgamated with this goal in mind. The speed they organised this third extension to their health care provision is extraordinary. The meeting that set a resolution to have a Cottage Hospital was in June 1889, at the end of July the committee's were amalgamated and on the 1st August 1889 the new Cottage Hospital opened in a house secured by Colonel Wethered. This was initially rented, with the aim of buying the building when funds allowed. Nurse Cassidy moved in several months before the official hospital opening to save on the cost of renting separate accommodation for her. Cambridge House had been built as a pub, and had spent a few years as a boys school under the Misses Curtis but was used as a house for some time prior to it's conversion to a hospital. The work of lending equipment and home visits continued too. In the first 9 months the cottage hospital helped 5 accident victims and 20 others. 

Much of the physical work in getting the house clean and ready was done by Nurse Cassidy herself. She paid for, out of her own wages, various items to make the wards "bear a cheerful aspect." These included bed tables and pictures.  The subscribers declared that she deserved the highest praise for working day and night to make the hospital a success. 

When Edward Riley complained that there were too many women on the committee for building the second cottage hospital many years later, it's not hard to see why the complaint was dismissed! (Membership of the general organising committee of the hospital was restricted to men, of who there were 9. Six from Marlow and one each from Bisham, Medmenham and Little Marlow.) 

Cassidy left Marlow in 1890, when she was succeeded in her role at the Cottage Hospital by another Marlow hero, Mary Anne Cole also supplied by the Reading Hospital. A post about Mary Anne Cole is already on the blog here I believe Nurse Cassaidy might have been suffering from ill health as she had spent some time absent from duty in 1889, her position covered by Miss Ford of Loudwater. 

More posts on life at the Cottage Hospital or the medical history of Marlow are available:

The first Cottage Hospital and Provident Nursing Club here

More about the Cottage Hospital and the move to Glade Rd site  here 

Biography of hospital doctor Dr John Dunbar Dickson here

Matron Mary Ann Cole here

Apothecaries and patent medicine sellers here

List of medical related posts here

The Romantic troubles of Dr Culhane here

Death by fire here

Marlow's early district nurses here

©Marlow Ancestors .

Written and researched by Kathryn Day.