The Story of a Hospital

By Wilfrid Edgecombe, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.C.S.

The history of the Harrogate and District General Hospital

A credit balance

In this year the number of inpatients was 66 and of out-patients there were 213 There was a credit balance in the accounts of £114. A substantial amount of revenue - £137 - was derived from collection boxes in the hotels. and a commission of five per cent - £6 1s 3d - was paid to hotel waitresses and porters for collecting donations!

In 1879 the medical officer, Dr Hartley, resigned, and Dr Neville Williams was appointed, and thus began a period of service which lasted 32 years. The hospital in its early days owed much to Dr Williams. He saw it through the teething troubles of infancy, through childhood and adolescence, and aid a great deal to further its subsequent development.

The figures for 1880 show 75 in­patients and 292 out-patients: the income was £609 and the expenditure £633. The next year, after eight years at the Masonic Hall, it was realised that more accommodation was urgently needed and that a new hospital would have to be built.

Various sites were considered. First, a plot in Cornwall Road. Second, an area to the north side of the Masonic Hall and adjoining it. Third, a site to the west of the Royal Bath Hospital. Fourth, a site on Skipton Road. Fifth, Devonshire House in High Harrogate. A recommendation to buy the latter for £2,750 was turned down.

Negotiations were therefore begun for acquiring land in Skipton Road, offered by the president, Mr F B Greenwood. But there was a proviso. It was that no infectious disease cases should be admitted - presumably for fear of contagion to the local inhabitants. The offer was declined, whereupon Mr Greenwood very generously directed that the land should be sold and the proceeds given towards the building of a new hospital elsewhere.

After much discussion it was decided, in May, 1882, that the land adjoining the Masonic Hall should be bought for £900 and a new hospital built thereon. A public fund realised £3,565. Plans drawn by the architect, Mr John Adams, were accepted and tenders received to the approximate amount of £4,000, the building to be completed by May, 1883. The foundation stone was laid on September 28th, 1882, by Mr F B Greenwood.

AS already related, the foundation stone of a new hospital for Harrogate was laid on September 28th, 1882, on land adjoining the Masonic Hall, by Mr F B Greenwood.

Affairs proceeded apace. By 1883, £4,755 had been subscribed. The site having cost £900, there was, however, still a deficit of £700 to be found. Nevertheless, the work went forward, and on September 29th, 1883, the hospital was formally opened by the Earl of Harewood. Twenty beds were provided, and a presentation was made to Dr Neville Williams in recognition of his services to the hospital. The building which housed the old hospital was sold for £560 to the Freemasons and it became the Masonic Hall.

At the annual meeting in 1884 it was stated that the cost of the hospital was £5,585, including the site, plus £935 for furnishing - a total of £6,520.

In 1885 the rules of the hospital were altered to allow the appointment of one or more additional honorary medical officers. This change was strenuously resisted by the existing medical officer and it was not until three years later that two honorary medical officers were appointed. They were Dr F N Ozanne and Dr Dimmock.

In 1886 the hospital suffered the loss of its president, Mr F B Greenwood, and in the following year his brother, Capt C S Greenwood, was appointed. Capt Greenwood held the office for a period of 54 years until his death.