Catalogue description Records of the David Lewis Northern Hospital

1. [General] Committee Minute Books, 5 vols., 1833 - 1926

2. Committee of Economy Minute Books, 6 vols., 1891 - 1898, 1910 - 1926, 1931 - 1937

3. Finance Committee Minute Books, 3 vols., 1910 - 1937

4. House Committee Minute Books, 2 vols., 1939 - 1970

5. Medical Board Minute Books, 7 vols., 1861 - 1978

6. Nursing Committee Minute Books, 1 vol., 1930 - 1934

7. Sub-Committee Minute Books, 1 vol., 1914 - 1922

8. "Clifford Temple" Home of Recovery Committee, 1 file, 1924 - 1936

9. Thyroid Clinic, Staff Meetings Minute Books, 2 vols., 1957 - 1973

10. Annual Reports, 16 items, 1873, 1918 - 1937 (incomplete run)

11. Dispensary Books, 36 vols., 1935 - 1976

12. Drug Books, 12 vols., 1916 - 1970

13. Operations Registers, 3 vols., 1940 - 1967

14. Patients Registers, 1 vol., 1933 - 1936

15. Visitors' Books, 2 vols., 1901 - 1978

16. Miscellaneous papers, 25 items, 1874 - 1959, n.d.

Ladies Association:

17. Minute Books, 2 vols., 1913 - 1949

18. Miscellaneous papers, 2 vols., 43 docs., 1932 - 1945

David Lewis Northern Hospital, 1834-1978, Liverpool

Access will be granted to any accredited reader. However some of the records contain sensitive health information and are therefore closed for 100 years. Permission to consult closed patient records must be obtained from: Chief Executive, Royal Liverpool University and Broadgreen Hospitals NHS Trust, Prescot Street, Liverpool, L7 8XP.

Acc. 3131

Acc. 3372

These records were deposited by the Area Administrator, Liverpool Area Health Authority (Teaching), in April 1978. Some stray volumes were deposited later and in January 1980 a deposit of additional material was received from Col. Cook

• Liverpool

The early nineteenth century saw a rapid expansion on the northern side of Liverpool, with a growth in population and an increasingly busy dock area. These conditions created a need for hospital accommodation and for facilities in dealing with accident cases. In March 1833 a meeting was held in the Committee Room of the Manchester and Bolton Railway Company as the result of which a Committee was formed to consider the establishment of a new hospital. On 10th April 1833 a meeting was held in the Sessions House, Chapel Street, presided over by the Mayor of Liverpool, at which it was resolved that "... steps should be taken immediately to establish a public hospital in the northern part of the town, to be confined, as much as possible to the reception of accidents and severe cases". On 10th March 1834 the Northern Hospital, with 20 beds, was opened at No. 1 Leeds Street, a large house belonging to R.B. Blundell Hollinshead Blundell. This was in "... a neighbourhood eminently calculated to prove the benefit of such an Institution, being in the immediate vicinity of the canal and the Princes and Clarence Docks - a part of the town where accidents requiring the utmost promptitude of treatment are daily occurring ..."

By 1838 the Hospital had expanded to fill three houses, now with 106 beds, but the need for more extensive accommodation continued. In 1843 the Corporation offered a site in Great Howard Street and a purpose-built hospital, designed by the architect Edward Welch, was opened there on 30th September 1845. The old Leeds Street premises were vacated.

By the 1880's the condition of this hospital was deteriorating and in 1882 the opinion was expressed that "... the insnaitary conditions and general inconvenience of the arrangements within the hospital made it necessary for it to be re-built". With the financial support of the David Lewis Trust a new hospital was planned. The foundation stone was laid on 19th October 1896 and the building was opened on 13th March 1902 as the David Lewis Northern Hospital. This building occupied a site bounded on one side by Great Howard Street and on the other by Leeds Street. Although various additions to the building were made the hospital never again left this site (except during the 2nd World War period, 1939 - 1947, when the hospital was evacuated to St. Katherine's College, Childwall). The David Lewis Northern Hospital was closed in 1978 prior to the opening of the new Royal Liverpool Hospital.

These notes are based on information given in Chapter One : Bricks and Mortar, pp. 2 - 33, from A.L.M. Cook Liverpool's Northern Hospital, 1834 - 1978 published by the Liverpool Area Health Authority (Teaching) 1981, (ref. Hq 362. 112 C00). A typescript, illustrated history of the Hospital is also available - The David Lewis Northern Hospital, 7 vols., [c. 1979] (ref. Hq 362. 112 DAV).

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