Catalogue description Records of Kent and Canterbury Hospital

Note on the Records

The records of the hospital, which span a two hundred year period, are very varied. They include minutes of governors and committees, various registers and other records of patients, annual reports, rules and plans of the hospital, financial records, some staff records, and records of affiliated organisations (Nurses' Institute, Nurses' League and the Samaritan Fund).

Unfortunately, there are large gaps in some series of records. No doubt this is partly due to the vicissitudes of time, although the decision taken by the hospital at some point to burn some of the old records almost certainly resulted in the total destruction of material. Of those records which survived the fire, a large number have been damaged too badly to use until remedial repairs can be carried out. The doctors' case notes seem to have borne the brunt of the damage, although other records, mainly registers of patients, minutes and financial records, have also been affected.

Catalogued by C. M. Russell, May 2001-February 2002

CLASSIFICATION SCHEME

A ADMINISTRATION 1790-1984

Minutes of Governors 1790-1948

AM 1/1-3 Registers of proceedings 1790-1798

AM 2/1-2 General Board 1903-1948

AM 3/1-6 Board of Management 1903-1948

AM 4/1-9 Weekly Board 1841-1885

Minutes of Committees 1901-1953

AMc 1/1-2 Buildings and Maintenance Committee 1925-1948

AMc 2/1 Carnival Committee 1938

AMc 3/1 Contributory Scheme Committee 1938-1948

AMc 4/1-3 Finance Committee 1925-1948

AMc 5/1-4 General Purposes Committee 1925-1948

AMc 6/1-2 Hospital Committee 1901-1924

AMc 7/1-2 Medical Board 1923-1953

AMc 8/1-3 Nursing Committee 1925-1948

AMc 9/1 Propaganda Committee [1927]-1938

AMs 1-3 Special and sub-committees 1926-1948

AMz 1-2 Miscellaneous committees [British Hospitals Committee - East Kent Area/Regional Committee] 1926-1943

Bequests and Charities 1937-1960

AB 1/1 General bequests 1937

AB 2/1 Longbotham Charity 1953-1960

AC 1-9 Correspondence 1942-1973

AE 1 Employee records 1943-1944

Reports 1793-1967

AR 1/1-24 Kent and Canterbury Hospital 1793-1947

AR 2/1-4 Canterbury Group Hospital Management Committee 1950-1953

ARz 1-6 Miscellaneous reports 1847-1967

AS 1-7 Statutes, rules and regulations 1793-1943

AZ 1-12 Miscellaneous 1886-1984

F FINANCE 1891-1958

Fa 1 Auditor's reports - 1905x1914

Fc 1-2 Cash books 1913-1947

Fd 1 Deposit accounts 1929-1935

Fe 1 Employee records 1929-1943

Ff 1-3 Fee books 1945-1947

Fj 1 Journals 1919-1944

Fr 1-2 Receipts 1924-1958

Fs 1-15 Recommendation papers and subscribers' registers 1891-1920

K RECORDS OF PATIENTS 1793-1979

Ki 1-22 In-patient registers 1793-1956

Kt 1-23 Out-patient registers 1793-1920

Ktz 1-2 Miscellaneous out-patient registers 1928-1946

Bed Area: Day and Night Books 1975-1979

Kb 1/1-12 Day books (minor operations only) 1975-1979

Kb 2/1-3 Night books 1976-1977

Kb 3/1-2 Day and night books (not minor operations) 1977

Kb 4/1-5 Overnight observation (beds only) 1978-1979

Case Notes 1929-1945

Kc 1/1-12 A. B. Beresford-Jones 1929-1945

Kc 2/1-3 F. L. Cassidi 1931-1938

Kc 3/1-7 T. A. Clarke 1930-1939

Kc 4/1-5 E. Freshman 1940-1945

Kc 5/1-5 R. H. Lucas 1934-1939

Kc 6/1-3 C. E. S. Oxley 1941-1943

Kc 7/1 J. P. Saville Peck 1937

Kc 8/1 C. J. Rogerson 1934

Kc 9/1-8 I. H. K. Stevens 1936-1945

Kc 10/1-7 H. A. Treble 1938-1944

Kc 11/1-8 H. Stewart Wacher 1929-1938

Kc 12/1 M. T. Williams 1929

Kc 13/1-4 Miscellaneous doctors 1939-1946

Kd 1-3 Dental registers 1877-1938

Ke 1-22 Casualty registers 1940-1969

Kez 1 Miscellaneous casualty register 1939-1949

Kh 1 House surgeon 1912-1914

Km 1 Military patients 1916-1919

Registers of Operations 1919-1978

Ko 1/1-48 General Surgery 1919-1978

Ko 2/1-3 Out-Patients 1939x1952

Ko 3/1-7 Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) 1952-1969

Ko 4/1-5 Bell and Lucas Theatre 1969-1974

Ko 5/1-7 Theatre and Plastic Room 1970-1975

Kw 1-2 Warning books (out-patients) 1839-1885

Kz 1 Miscellaneous register 1864-1887

M RECORDS OF MEDICAL CARE 1838-1964

Ma 1 Attendance register (medical officers) 1838-1849

Md 1-2 Registers of dangerous drugs 1962-1964

Mp 1-6 Prescription books 1852-1915

P MAPS AND PLANS 1836-1952

P 1/1-14 Kent and Canterbury Hospital 1836-1838

P 2/1-4 Canterbury Technical Institute 1943-1952

S AFFILIATED ORGANISATIONS 1887-1987

SN Nurses' Institute/Nurses' League 1887-1987

SN 1/1-2 Nurses' Institute: annual reports 1887-1908

SN 2/1-50 Nurses' League: magazines 1936-1987

SS Samaritan Fund 1896-1968

SS/AM 1/1-2 Administrative Committee 1896-1947

SS/AM 2/1-2 Case Committee 1924-1932

SS/AM 3/1-2 Samaritan Committee 1932-1967

SS/AMd 1-3 Draft minutes (Samaritan Committee) 1945-1967

SS/AMi 1 Index book 1930-1962

SS/AZ 1 Address book 1896x1967

SS/F 1/1 Debit and credit account book 1947-1968

SS/F 2/1-35 Balance sheets: receipts and payments account 1932-1966

Z MISCELLANEOUS 1797x1990

Z 1-4 Miscellaneous items 1824-1974

ZA 1-8 Articles and theses 1797x1967

ZH 1-4 Histories of the hospital 1797x1990

CC/BB, CC/S Canterbury City Council records relating to local hospitals and medical matters. Includes correspondence and plans for Kent and Canterbury Hospital (CC/BB/172/2, 10; CC/BB/436). Held at Canterbury Cathedral Archives

CC/PE/CP5/33 Canterbury City Council records - bequest to Kent and Canterbury Hospital

Held at Canterbury Cathedral Archives

DCc/BB Dean and Chapter records relating to local hospitals and the Board of Health

Held at Canterbury Cathedral Archives

MH/HA 1 Records of the Canterbury Group Hospital Management Committee (currently uncatalogued)

Held at East Kent Archives Centre

U23/Q7 Kent and Canterbury Hospital - printed reports, 1820-1827

Held at the Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone

U85 Records of the Hales family, including items relating to the sale of the Longport site

Held at Canterbury Cathedral Archives

U250 Canterbury Casualty Bureau - admissions and discharges

Held at Canterbury Cathedral Archives

U253 Canterbury and District Nursing Association

Held at Canterbury Cathedral Archives

U513/E14 References to bequest to county hospital at Canterbury, 1809

Held at the Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone

NOTE: records of the Ministry of Health can be found at the Public Record Office

Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury

Under the Public Records Act 1958, some classes of documents are subject to statutory embargo periods. These include medical records, which are closed for 100 years; personnel or sensitive records, which are closed for between 50 and 75 years; and administrative and financial records, which are closed for 30 years. All closed records are listed as such.

Limited access to closed records can be granted, but only after compliance with strict guidelines. Please ask staff for further information.

Accessioning Details

These records were deposited under the terms of the Public Records Acts:

Dec. 1984: Minutes of Longbotham Charity, 1953-1960

Deposited by Canterbury and Thanet Health District

Accession Number: R1984/53 (part)

MH/T4/AB 2/1

May 1999 Records of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital Samaritan Fund, 1896-1968

Deposited by the East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust

Accession Number: EK 1999/7

MH/T4/SS/AM 1/1-2; MH/T4/SS/AM 2/1-2; MH/T4/SS/AM 3/1-2; MH/T4/SS/AMd 1-3; MH/T4/SS/AMi 1; MH/T4/SS/AZ 1; MH/T4/SS/F 1/1; MH/T4/SS/F 2/1-35

Feb. 2000 Records of Kent and Canterbury Hospital, 1877-1979

Originally deposited at the Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone, August 1993, by the Kent Postgraduate Medical Centre

Accession Number: EK2000/56

MH/T4/Fc 2; MH/T4/Fe 1; MH/T4/Fr 1; MH/T4/Kb 1/1-12; MH/T4/Kb 2/1-3; MH/T4/Kb 3/1-2; MH/T4/Kb 4/1-5; MH/T4/Kc 1/9/3; MH/T4/Kc 10/5; MH/T4/Kd 1-3; MH/T4/Ke 1-22; MH/T4/Kez 1; MH/T4/Kh 1; MH/T4/Ki 15-18, 20-22; MH/T4/Km 1; MH/T4/Ko 1/1-48; MH/T4/Ko 2/1-3; MH/T4/Ko 3/1-7; MH/T4/Ko 4/1-5; MH/T4/Ko 5/1-7; MH/T4/Kt 21, 23; MH/T4/Ktz 1-2; MH/T4/Md 1-2

Feb. 2001 Records of Kent and Canterbury Hospital, 1790-1990

Deposited by the Kent Postgraduate Medical Centre

Accession Number: EK2001/8

MH/T4/AB 1/1; MH/T4/AC 1-9; MH/T4/AE 1; MH/T4/AM 1/1-3; MH/T4/AM 2/1-2; MH/T4/AM 3/2-3, 5-6; MH/T4/AM 4/1-2, 5-7, 9; MH/T4/AMc 1/1-2; MH/T4/AMc 2/1; MH/T4/AMc 3/1; MH/T4/AMc 4/1-3; MH/T4/AMc 5/3-4; MH/T4/AMc 7/2; MH/T4/AMc 8/2-3; MH/T4/AMc 9/1; MH/T4/AMs 1-3; MH/T4/AMz 1-2; MH/T4/AR 1/1-24; MH/T4/AR 2/1-4; MH/T4/ARz 1-6; MH/T4/AS 1-7; MH/T4/AZ 2/1-2; MH/T4/AZ 3-8; MH/T4/AZ 9/1-2; MH/T4/AZ 10/1-2; MH/T4/AZ 11-12; MH/T4/Fc 1; MH/T4/Fd 1; MH/T4/Ff 1-3; MH/T4/Fj 1; MH/T4/Fr 2; MH/T4/Fs 1-3, 5, 7, 9-11, 13, 15; MH/T4/Ki 1-5, 7-9, 11-13; MH/T4/Kt 1-4, 6, 9, 12, 17, 19; MH/T4/Kw 1-2; MH/T4/Ma 1; MH/T4/Mp 1-6; MH/T4/P 1/1-14; MH/T4/P 2/1-4; MH/T4/SN 1/1-2; MH/T4/SN 2/1-50; MH/T4/Z 1, 3-4; MH/T4/ZA 1-8; MH/T4/ZH 1-3; MH/T4/ZH 4/1-2

April 2001 Records of Kent and Canterbury Hospital, 1824-1948

Originally deposited at the Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone, August 1993, by the Kent Postgraduate Medical Centre

Accession Number: EK2001/23

MH/T4/AM 3/1, 4; MH/T4/AM 4/3-4, 8; MH/T4/AMc 5/1-2; MH/T4/AMc 6/1-2; MH/T4/AMc 7/1; MH/T4/AMc 8/1; MH/T4/AZ 1; MH/T4/Fa 1; MH/T4/Fs 4, 6, 8, 12, 14; MH/T4/Kc 1/1-8; MH/T4/Kc 1/9/1-2; MH/T4/Kc 1/10-12; MH/T4/Kc 2/1-3; MH/T4/Kc 3/1-7; MH/T4/Kc 4/1-5; MH/T4/Kc 5/1-5; MH/T4/Kc 6/1-3; MH/T4/Kc 7/1; MH/T4/Kc 8/1; MH/T4/Kc 9/1-8; MH/T4/Kc 10/1-4, 6-7; MH/T4/Kc 11/1-8; MH/T4/Kc 12/1; MH/T4/Kc 13/1-4; MH/T4/Ki 6, 10, 14, 19; MH/T4/Kt 5, 7-8, 10-11, 13-16; MH/T4/Kt 18, 20, 22; MH/T4/Kz 1; MH/T4/Z 2

Useful Reading: Specific

A. B. Beresford-Jones, The Kent and Canterbury Hospital, 1790 to 1940. 1941.

F. Marcus Hall, Richard S. Stevens and John Whyman, The Kent and Canterbury Hospital 1790-1987. 1987

Useful Reading: General

Susan Bourne and Andrew H Chicken, Records of the Medical Professions: A Practical Guide for the Family Historian. 1994

Joan Lane, The Making of the English Patient - A Guide to Sources for the Social History of Medicine. 2000

Dorothy Porter, Health, Civilization and the State - A History of Public Health from Ancient to Modern Times. 1999

• Canterbury, Kent
• Health services

Towards the end of the eighteenth century, medical provision in England was a predominantly ad-hoc affair. Patients were largely dependent on local doctors who charged to attend them in their own homes. However, there was an increasing trend nationally for voluntary hospitals to be founded for the treatment of the poor, while their wealthier counterparts continued to be tended privately at home.

It was against this social backdrop that the idea for a new hospital for the poor of the county of Kent was first mooted by local gentry attending the Canterbury Races in August 1790. The following month, on 13 September, an inaugural meeting attended by local gentry and clergy was held to launch the General Kent and Canterbury Hospital (as it was first known). It was decided to build the hospital in Canterbury, its cost to be met through subscriptions. At that first meeting, over £1700 was raised.

Of four potential sites, a parcel of land at Longport in the south east of the city was deemed to be the most suitable. A former graveyard in the grounds of St. Augustine's Abbey, it was purchased for £600 from Sir Edward Hales in 1791. The successful architect was Mr. Saxon of London, while John Matthews of Palace Street, Canterbury, was appointed surveyor and clerk of works. The contract to build the hospital was awarded to Mr. Cooper, a carpenter of Broad Street, Canterbury, in May 1791.

Mr. Cooper was given until Midsummer 1792 to complete the building. Although he did not quite meet the deadline, it was actually the lack of sufficient subscriptions that delayed the opening of the hospital until the Spring of 1793. Successful though the initial fund-raising effort had been, sustaining the momentum proved more problematic. In fact, financial crises were to dog the hospital for its duration as a voluntary institution (i.e. until the National Health Service took over in 1948).

When the hospital opened its doors to the public on 26 April 1793 it was capable of receiving twenty permanent patients, as well as four occasional patients brought in as emergencies. Criteria for entry to the hospital was stringent: those wealthy enough to afford private medical treatment in their own homes were excluded, as were children under the age of seven, pregnant women, vagrants, those likely to die and anyone suffering from fits, phthisis or suspected venereal diseases.

Despite these exclusions, the hospital quickly expanded, so much so, in fact, that the building was almost constantly in need of alteration and enlarging, not to mention repair. The most extensive of these works took place during 1837 and 1838 when the hospital had to close temporarily to in-patients to allow substantial extensions and improvements to be made. The architect responsible for the changes, William Edmunds of Margate, later presented his plans to the hospital [see MH/T4/P 1].

During the 1920s, it was decided that the Longport building was no longer sufficient to meet the needs of patients. Consequently, a new site, and substantial subscriptions and contributions, were sought. Mr. C. Burns was the successful architect; his plans allowed for 164 beds, 18 of which were private. In 1935, the foundation stone for the current hospital building was laid by the Duke of Kent. Situated in the south of Canterbury, on Ethelbert Road, the hospital was officially opened by the Duke and Duchess of Kent two years later in the Summer of 1937. The Longport site was subsequently sold for use as Canterbury Technical Institute (the buildings were later demolished at some point between 1971 and 1980).

In July 1948, Kent and Canterbury Hospital's status as a voluntary hospital, which had lasted for over 150 years, ended when administration of the hospital was taken over by the National Health Service (NHS).

Key Dates

13 Sept. 1790 Inaugural meeting of clergy, subscribers and benefactors to discuss founding a new hospital for the county of Kent.

1791 Site at Longport in the grounds of St. Augustine's Abbey purchased from Sir Edward Hales for £600. Mr. Saxon of London was the successful architect while John Matthews of Palace Street, Canterbury, was appointed surveyor and clerk of works.

12 May 1791 Contract to build the hospital awarded to Mr. Cooper, carpenter of Broad Street, Canterbury.

9 June 1791 First foundation stone laid during a ceremony attended by Sir Edward Knatchbull, among others.

26 April 1793 First patients received. The first in-patient was Thomas Page of St. Paul's, Canterbury; the first out-patient was John Hadaway/Heddaway of Swalecliffe.

1837-1838 Hospital closed to in-patients for a time to allow substantial extensions and improvements to the hospital. These were designed by William Edmunds, architect of Margate.

June 1875 The Nurses' Institute was founded by two sisters, along with two probationers, who were sent by Florence Nightingale from St. Thomas' Hospital, London, to start the Nurses' Training School. The Institute was taken over by Kent and Canterbury Hospital's Board of Management in 1920.

1914-1918 Some wards taken over by the government for military use during World War I. Military personnel admitted included Australians, Belgians, British, Canadians and New Zealanders.

1920 The word 'General' was dropped from the name General Kent and Canterbury Hospital.

25 January 1928 Decision to build a new hospital between Ethelbert Road and Nackington Road, South Canterbury, officially approved. The purchase of the site for £2500 had been decided in June 1925.

12 July 1935 First foundation stone of the new hospital laid by the Duke of Kent. The architect was Mr. C. Burns.

14 July 1937 New hospital officially opened by the Duke and Duchess of Kent.

December 1937 Longport site sold for use as Canterbury Technical Institute.

1939-1945 Military personnel admitted during World War II included Australian, British, Canadian, French Moroccan and Polish soldiers. The hospital was included within the EMS (Emergency Medical Service).

5 July 1948 Administration of the hospital taken over by the newly-formed National Health Service (NHS).

1971x1980 Old hospital buildings at Longport demolished.