Catalogue description Records of the Liverpool Maternity Hospital

1. Board of Management, later House Committee Minute Books 10 vols., 1868 - 1882, 1896 - 1970

2. Medical Board Minute Books 8 vols., 1869 - 1971

3. Buildings Sub-Committee Minute Books 2 vols., 1922 - 1931

4. Executive Sub-Committee Minute Books 2 vols., 1942 - 1949

5. Ladies Committee Minute Books 3 vols., 1947 - 1949, 1953 - 1960

6. Staff Catering Committee Minute Books 1 vol., 1957 - 1962

7. Teaching Committee Minute Books 1 vol., 1945 - 1949

8. Accounts 3 vols., 1944 - 1974

9. Annual Reports 10 vols., 25 pamphlets, 1869 - 1960

10. Newscuttings 3 vols., 1895 - 1978

11. Patients' records and records relating to cases 22 vols., 1826 - 1977

12. Staff records 5 vols., 1906 - 1971

13. Stores records 3 vols., 1952 - 1966

14. Visitors' Books 1 vol., 1924 - 1967

15. Miscellaneous 4 vols., 3 docs., 1926 - 1948, n.d.

16. Plans, photographs etc. 9 items, 1941 - 1963, n.d.

17. Miscellaneous printed material 9 items, 1932 - 1966

Liverpool Maternity Hospitals

Some of the records in this collection contain sensitive personal information. Those records containing the sensitive personal data information of children or the health records of adults are not available for public inspection for 100 years. This is in accordance with Section 1 (Principles 1, 2 and 7) of the Data Protection Act 1998. Permission to consult closed patient staff records must be obtained from the Legal Services Manager, Liverpool Obstetrics and Gynaecology Services NHS Trust, Liverpool Women's Hospital, Crown Street, Liverpool, L8 7 SS. All other records in this collections are open to any accredited.

Deposited in February 1982 by Mr. J. Lyon, Unit Administrator, Liverpool Maternity Hospital, Oxford Street, Liverpool, with a small additional deposit in February 1983

Acc. 3671

Acc. 3822

• Liverpool
• Maternal and child health

The first hospital of its kind in Liverpool, the Lying-in Hospital and Dispensary for the Diseases of Women and Children, was established in Horatio Street, Scotland Road in November 1841. It transferred to premises in Pembroke Place in October 1845. By the middle of the century new but smaller premises were needed and a new hospital was built in Myrtle Street, opened in July 1862.

At this period there also existed in Liverpool, the Ladies' Charity. This had been set up in 1796 with the object of alleviating the suffering of poor families by various means, including the provision of a midwife and where necessary, a doctor. By 1832 the Charity was described as being "... supported by subscription for the relief of poor married women in childbed at their own houses" (see Gore's Directory of Liverpool, 1932, Appendix, p. 96). The Ladies' Charity divided the town into districts, each district having its own midwife and accoucheur. During the 1860's it came to be felt that the Ladies' Charity and Lying-in Hospital should be united and in February 1869 the amalgamation of the two bodies was finally agreed. Thereafter the hospital was known as the Ladies' Charity and Lying-in Hospital.

After much dispute in the period 1879 - 1882 the gynaecological and maternity functions of the Hospital were separated and a new Lying-in (maternity) Hospital was erected on a site at the corner of Brownlow Hill and Brownlow Street. This was completed in November 1884 and opened to patients in February 1885. The hospital remained in these premises until its move to the present [1984] building in Oxford Street. The foundation stone of the Oxford Street hospital was laid in March 1924 and it was officially opened in September 1926. From this time onwards it has been known as the Liverpool Maternity Hospital.

Further details of the organisation of the Lying-in Hospital (also the Ladies' Charity) and statistics for cases treated etc. are given in T.H. Bickerton A Medical History of Liverpool ... to the Year 1920, 1936, pp. 213 - 223.

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