Catalogue description WITHINGTON WORKHOUSE AND HOSPITAL

The collection mainly comprises registers of various kinds. When a register was opened, inmates or patients who had not yet been discharged were brought forward from the old register with the effect that many of the registers appear to have been opened earlier than in fact was the case.

CONTENTS

INFORMATION GIVEN IN THE REGISTERS

REGISTRAR'S RECORDS

M327/1/1/1-10 Birth registers: Date of birth, male/female, parents' or mother's name, parish, when baptised, baptismal name, remarks.

M327/1/2/1-22 Death registers: Date of death, name, age, from what parish admitted, where buried, [M327/1/2/18-22 contain certified cause of death].

M327/1/3/1-6 Death register indexes: Date of death, ward, name, year of birth, date of admission, relieving officer. [M327/1/3/2-6 also give township].

WORKHOUSE AND HOSPITAL REGISTERS

M327/2/1/1-7 Admission and Discharge registers: Date of admission, age, name, township, number in relief list, relieving officer, date of discharge.

M327/2/2/1-36 Creed registers: Date of the entry, date of admission, name, age, from whence admitted, religious creed, name of informant, date of discharge or death.

M327/2/3/1-20 Registers of inmates: Afterwards transferred, date of admission, name, date of birth, religion, discharged or dead, name and address of friend or relative.

M327/2/4/1-16 Registers of patients: Afterwards transferred, date of admission, name, date of birth, religion, discharged or dead, name and address of friend or relative.

M327/2/5/1-20 Interment registers: Date of death, name, age, department or ward, religion, date of burial, place of burial, particulars of those organising the funeral i.e. relationship, name, address, undertaker's signature.

M327/2/6/1 Reference book to the plan (not deposited) of Chorlton Union Cemetery: Name, number in Registrar's book, place of chargeability, date of interment, by whom interred.

M327/2/7/1-2 Chaplaincy registers of baptism: Date of birth, date of baptism, father's name, mother's name, child's name, signature of minister.

M327/2/8,9 Auxiliary Hospital:

M327/2/8/1 Admission and Discharge register: Date, name, age, ward

M327/2/9/1-3 Registers of paying patients: Date of admission, name, year of birth, religion, discharged, number of days maintenance, from whence admitted, address of relatives.

MEDICAL REGISTERS [RESTRICTED ISSUE]

M327/3/1/1-18 Operation registers: Date of admission, name of patient, number in the official register, name of operator, age, sex, accident or disease, date of operation, ward, nature of operation, result and at what date, date of discharge, remarks.

M327/3/2/1-2 Ward registers: Date of admission, name of patient, date of previous admission, disease, date of discharge, remarks.

M327/3/3/1 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) register: Serial number, date, ward, name, civilian casualties, police casualty or sick, service casualty or sick, diagnosis, destination.

M327/3/4/1 Register of ante-natal private patients: Date of entry, name, address, age, condition, previous obstetrical history, expected date, remarks.

NURSES' RECORDS

M327/4/1/1-6 Probationers' registers: Name, date on duty, duties.

M327/4/2/1-5 Probationer nurses' undertakings: Name, age, occupation, status, residence, conduct.

M327/4/3/1-3 Probationer nurses' reports: Particulars at time of appointment, summary of reports (examinations, conduct, training, certificates, work since), duty, leave of absence.

M327/4/4/1 Nurses' register of holidays and sickness: Name, date to commence, ward, nature of duty, holidays, sickness.

M327/4/5/1 Seamstress and Maids' register: Name, age, date of birth, name and address of nearest relative, position, date commenced/appointed/left, references, salary, remarks.

Withington Institute

Withington Hospital

Registers containing personal medical information about individuals are subject to one hundred years closure (ref. M327/3/1-4)

The following records were deposited by the Manchester Area Health Authority (South District) in 1979 (ref:M327/1-3) and Miss E.Y.W. Mullen, District Nursing Officer, Withington Hospital in 1979 and 1980 (ref: M327/4).

• Withington, Manchester
• Health services

The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 transferred responsibility for the provision of poor relief from the parishes to the newly-created poor law unions which were administered by boards of guardians. One of the tasks of the guardians was to provide workhouse accommodation or 'indoor relief' to those in need; typically the old, the sick, the handicapped, children and unmarried mothers. The workhouses had sick wards or sometimes separate infirmaries: conditions were often appalling, though by the end of the nineteenth century there had been much improvement in this respect.

At the beginning of the twentieth century there were strong movements towards changing the poor law. In 1913 it was decreed that union workhouses should be referred to as 'poor law institutions', thus attempting to remove the stigma of the workhouse, but it was not until the Local Government Act of 1929 that the administrative structure of the Victorian poor law was dismantled. With effect from 31st March 1930, the boards of guardians were dissolved and their responsibilities transferred to the county and county borough councils. The poor law institutions were now known as 'public assistance institutions', and though some were converted for specialised purposes, most continued to function in much the same way.

The surviving remnants of the poor law were brought to an end by the National Assistance Act of 1948, one of the measures which inaugurated the welfare state. Many workhouse buildings were demolished or fell into disuse, but some were converted to serve other purposes, most commonly as hospitals.

In Manchester the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 created three unions: Manchester Union, Prestwich Union and Chorlton Union. The Chorlton Union Workhouse, Nell Lane, Withington was opened in 1855. Five hospital blocks or pavilions, designed by Thomas Worthington, were built 1864-1868, making Withington the first institution to adopt the 'pavilion system', which was, in the opinion of the day, a healthier form of hospital architecture. Further blocks were added in 1884, 1890 and 1913. The workhouse site also included the Chorlton Union Cemetery (ref: M327/2/6/1) which served the Chorlton Union area as well the workhouse and hospital until it reached its capacity in 1920. The cemetery was formally closed in 1970 and the remains were re-interred at Southern Cemetery where some remains had already been re-interred in order to accommodate the building of Princess Road over the old cemetery site.

In 1910 all the townships in Chorlton Union were amalgamated to form the Township of South Manchester for poor law purposes. In 1915 the Township of South Manchester was joined to the Township of Manchester and the Prestwich Union to form the Manchester Union. Although the Withington Institution continued to function as a poor law institution down to the 1940's (ref: M327/2/3/1-20), M327/2/5/20), it was in its capacity as a hospital that it developed the most. During the First World War the hospital section was made over to the military authorities and was temporarily known as Nell Lane Military Hospital. In 1922 the Auxiliary Hospital for private or paying patients was set up and it continued to function until 1948 (ref: M327/2/8,9). From the outset the hospital had made progress in the training of nurses under the auspices of the Workhouse Nursing Association, but 1922 saw the beginning of organised classroom teaching when the first nurse tutor was appointed (Probationer nurses' records ref: M327/4/1-3).

After the Local Government Act of 1929 Withington Hospital sought to disassociate itself from the poor law image. Now in the hands of the Corporation of the City of Manchester, the hospital was developed and extended. By 1948 it had become one of the largest general hospitals in the country and was established as the focal point for the hospitals of the newly-formed South Manchester Group under the overall control of the Manchester Regional Hospital Board.

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