Catalogue description INDUSTRIAL ORTHOPAEDIC SOCIETY

Records of the Society relating to Manor House Hospital, Golders Green and associated sites of treatment. The archive includes minutes of committees, matron's and surgeon's reports to the House Committee which include details on named patients and deaths (1920-1968) (H53/A/03/03) and comprehensive series of annual reports.

Also held are rules, circulars and subject files of the General Secretary (later the Chief Administrative Officer in 1980s and Chief Executive in the 1990s) on a wide range of subjects including membership, scope of treatment, staff, premises including Inverforth House and the Pergola and Ivy House, regional organisation, funds and royal visits. Also held are a presentation volume to Lord and Lady Hague with original artwork depicting the premises and a book of remembrance presented to the hospital after the Second World War (H53/B/11/001-002). Financial series (H53/C) include annual returns and cash books.

Records on patients treated at Manor House Hospital (H53/D) are incomplete. They comprise of admission and discharge and operation registers (1933-1978), lists of members by firm (1931-1993) and bed statistics. The volumes do not provide detailed information on patients and their treatment.

Records of the Society's regional areas and districts (H53/E) consist mainly of extensive series of minutes held by regional and district secretaries across England, Scotland and Wales. The Northern Area records include subject files and financial records.

Printed material (H53/F) includes comprehensive series of press cuttings with indexes, publications, brochures, articles, histories and newsletters. There are souvenir brochures for openings of premises, royal visits and related events, and some artefacts including badges.

Also held are papers of A V Alexander, President of the Society (H53/H) including photographs, artwork, correspondence and history.

Extensive series of photographs and slides depicting the buildings, staff and events (H53/G) remain uncatalogued. Please contact staff for further information.

These records are arranged as follows:
H53/A GOVERANCE
H53/B ADMINISTRATION
H53/C FINANCE
H53/D PATIENTS
H53/E REGIONS AND DISTRICTS
H53/F PRINTED MATERIAL AND ARTEFACTS
H53/G PHOTOGRAPHS (this section remains uncatalogued: please contact staff for further details)
H53/H ALEXANDER, ALBERT VICTOR

See also archives of Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (H08)

Also TUC archives held at Modern Records Centre, Warwick, which also holds collections which document trade union links with Manor House Hospital.

There has also been a Friendly Societies Research Group based at Open University.

Industrial Orthopaedic Society x Manor House Hospital

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 2018

The main archive was gifted to City of London in 2004 with smaller additional gifts made in 1999, 2008 and 2014:;B99/047;B04/076;B08/096;B14/050

The Industrial Orthopaedic Society was founded and first registered as The Allies Hospital Benevolent Society in 1915 (Friendly Society number 1483) to treat wounded French soldiers in Normandy during the First World War. In 1919 the society was renamed The Industrial Orthopaedic Society and the head office moved from 10 Duke Street, Adelphi, Westminster to the Manor House, Hampstead Heath near Golders Green where a new hospital was built.

The Society governed the Manor House Hospital as well as additional sites which included Ivy House Recovery Hospital, Inverforth House Women’s Hospital, Industrial Diseases Medical Institute and rehabilitation centres including at Clapham Park, Bedford, Bedfordshire and Elton Hall, Stockton-on-Tees. The Society’s hospitals continued to be run privately and independently after the establishment of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948.

As a benevolent society, the organisation was supported by subscriptions from members working in the heavy industries, where risks of industrial accidents in the workplace were high. Subscriptions also came from their contributing firms and trades unions across the United Kingdom. By paying a weekly subscription, members were eligible for specialised treatment in the Society’s hospitals for conditions caused by industrial accidents involving the musculoskeletal system. In addition to orthopaedic treatment, general surgical treatment for the membership and dental and optical treatment was provided for members and their families. Individuals who were treated worked in mines, quarries, railways, factories, harbours and docks as well as construction and shipping. A network of Area Councils and District Committees in industrial regions was established to promote the Society’s work and receive subscriptions.

The society later became a registered company, the Industrial Orthopaedic Friendly Society Limited and traded in 1990s as 'Manor House Healthcare'. In 1996 the company was incorporated under the Friendly Societies Act 1992 as Manor House Friendly Society Limited (registration number 457F). In that year the company's registered office remained at Manor House Hospital, North End Road with its head administrative office at Hillside, 151 North End Road and branch offices in Derby, Derbyshire; Hove, Sussex; Leeds, Yorkshire; London; Luton, Bedfordshire; Neath, West Glamorgan, Wales; and Sunderland.

Manor House Hospital closed in 1999 and the offices moved to Stag House, Old London Road, Hertford, Hertfordshire where they remained until 2004. The hospital site was demolished and redeveloped by Octagon Homes as 'Manor Heights', a luxury gated estate with 16 large town houses and 33 apartments.

In 2000 the company's trading name became Simplyhealth and in 2002 Simplyhealth merged with the Hospital Saving Association Limited (HSA) based in Hambledon House, Waterloo Court, Andover, Hampshire with the aim to provide businesses healthcare products in their provision of employee healthcare. The merger added private medical insurance business to HSA's portfolio. In 2004 it was announced that Simplyhealth would change its brand to HSA.

Further details on the history of the Society are given below. For further information on central governance and administration see introductions to H53/A and H53/B and for regional administration see introduction to H53/E.

For more information about the hospital's early years see: 'Manor House Hospital: a personal record', Samuel James Woodall, 1966 Routledge and Kegan Paul Limited (H53/F/03/007). There are also further histories under series H53/F/03.

ORIGINS

In September 1914 Dudley Wright and others established a hospital in Normandy, Northern France to care for French soldiers injured during the First World War. A number of employers and employees, registered as a Friendly Society under the title The Allies Hospital Benevolent Society, which organised the hospital named ‘L'Hopital de l'Alliance’, at Yvetot, near Havre, France with about 300 beds. Its work was covered under the War Charities Act 1916. In two years about £50,000 was raised and in 1915 the hospital was taken over by the French Medical Service. In December 1916 the Hospital was handed over as a gift to the Societe des Blesses Militaires, Paris.

The Society decided to continue orthopaedic treatment in London for disabled British troops. In 1916 the Manor House Estate was commandeered by the War Office and given to the Allies Hospital Benevolent Fund for the erection of a ‘model’ hospital to treat injured servicemen. Temporary hospital buildings were quickly erected and the hospital formally opened on 29 September 1917 with 102 beds housed in temporary huts and its administration located in the Manor House at Golders Hill, which had originally been built by John Bone, Lord of the Manor of Hendon in the 1790s. Among those present at the opening were King Manuel of Portugal, Sir Alfred Keogh, Director General of Army Medical Services and Robert Perks, Mayor of Hampstead

Between 1918 and 1925 the Manor House Hospital was a recognised orthopaedic centre under the Ministry of Pensions and a medical officer of the Ministry, Colonel Gowland, supervised its work. In 1925 the last of the war pensioners was discharged and the hospital concentrated fully on the treatment of its members in industry.

TREATMENT FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS

From 1919 the society began to establish close ties with industry, members being recruited through the workplace and trades unions. The Hospital began to treat victims of industrial accidents who were either ‘Annual Members’ who subscribed at least one guinea a year or ‘Associate Members’, subscribing one penny a week. Income increased with gifts of money from supporters.

Industrial workers were sent for treatment by insurance companies who had in 1920 an agreement with the Society to pay 12 shillings a day for treatment. In 1922 received support from the membership of staff from the London General Omnibus Company. By 1923 the hospital was receiving publicity through Trade Unions and passing of a resolution at Trade Union Congress in 1924.

Between 1920 and 1922 bed occupancy quadrupled, income increased and the original temporary buildings needed replacement. The hospital lacked the funds to pay for new buildings but they were built through the generosity and work of patients giving up their time and skills for this purpose. In 1927 the hospital finally had the capital funds to buy the Manor House Estate from the Hampstead Land Company Limited which had held it in trust for them since 1917.

A permanent hospital was built at North End Road, Golders Green. In 1930 the foundations were laid for the first ward block and it was opened by Duke of York (Later King George VI) on 22 October 1931. In 1932 a separate residence was built for the resident surgeon, the hospital’s senior medical officer. During 1938 a new operating suite and the second permanent wing were opened, the latter by Queen Mary.

At the beginning of the Second World War the hospital had 145 beds and the Ministry of Health requisitioned 48 beds as part of the Emergency Medical Service. Once the bombing started these were filled with civilian casualties with 100 beds allocated through agreement with the Government. The hospital suffered severe blast damage when a bomb landed on the site in October 1940. A second bomb damaged the nurses’ home. No casualties were suffered among staff or patients. Funds donated by British and American Relief Societies in 1940s allowed the Society to purchase sites for two rehabilitation units at Bedford, Bedfordshire and Stockton on Tees. By 1947 membership increased by 30,000 and following a gift of £10,000 from T&GWU members of the London Passenger Board, an Industrial Diseases Medical Institute was formed.

Following negotiations with the Ministry of Health, Manor House Hospital and the Rehabilitation centres at Clapham Park, Bedford and Elton Hall, Stockton-on-Tees, were exempted from the National Heath Services (NHS) Act, 1948; one of only three examples. The Hospital remained independent of the NHS as the society was national and provided a specialist service for its members. Dental and Optical Departments continued to serve members but their services were under the NHS Scheme. At the same time the weekly contribution rate for members was increased from 1 pence to 2 pence a week. This later this increased from January 1966 to 6 pence a week to meet the Society's costs for property and building renovations. High inflation and industrial decline led to an increase to 10 pence a week by 1974.

The treatment for women at Manor House Hospital began in September 1957. A new four-storey wing with 52 beds and an operating theatre opened in 1969 and in 1981 a new Department of Radiology was established. The hospital was closed in 1999.

OTHER HOSPITAL SITES AND TREATMENT CENTRES

IVY HOUSE
Women supporters had been building a fund in order that the Society could find premises and they could become members and be treated. In 1932 the Society bought Ivy House, situated opposite Manor House Hospital, for £12,000 using £30,000 fund raised through loan of £15000 from Transport and General Workers Union. This 18th century house had once been owned by the Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, until her death in 1931. After some extensive internal refurbishment, the ground floor became the Out-Patients Department of the hospital, while the upper storey provided accommodation for the sisters and nurses. The butler's pantry and storeroom became a consulting room and a laboratory. It had been the intention to build a women's hospital in the grounds of Ivy House but building restrictions at the time prevented work beginning on the project.

In 1955 when Inverforth House was left to the organisation, Ivy House was no longer required for the women's hospital. Ivy House was sold to the New College of Speech and Drama for £48,000. Its gardens were kept as the Society wished to sell the land to a builder, but planning permission was refused and the land was sold to the College for £40,000.

INVERFORTH HOUSE
In 1955 The Hill, a 60-room mansion in 8 acres of ground, was unexpectedly bequested by the shipping merchant, Lord Inverforth (Andrew Weir, 1865-1955) to the Society for use as a Women’s Hospital. The Hill was originally owned by the Hoare family, bankers and the original house was demolished in 1896 and rebuilt and lived in by George Fisher 1900-1905. He sold the premises to William Heskell Lever, MP (later Lord Leverhulme) who lived there 1906-1925.

The Hill was renamed Inverforth House and following the gift in 1956, conversion work continued until 1961 when the site was opened by Elizabeth, The Queen Mother becoming the women's section of Manor House Hospital, with about 100 beds and a Nurses' Home for 60-70 staff. The Hill gardens became a public park in 1960 and were later sold by the Society and restored in the 1990s and the 800ft-long Grade-II-listed pergola refurbished and managed by the City of London Corporation.

CLAPHAM PARK REHABILITATION CENTRE
In 1944, talks began with the Ministry of Labour regarding the establishment of a rehabilitation department to be situated in the country near London. This was the result of a suggested gift from the American Trade Union Movement. In 1949 the centre opened with a reception for patients on 3 October and was officially opened on 3 December with representatives from the American Trade Union present. In 1956, however, the hospital reported that the centre had 'not met with the success deserved or anticipated. The executive committee, have, therefore, reluctantly decided to dispose of the Bedford premises and transfer rehabilitation to Ivy house'.

REGIONAL CLINICS
Following a review by a management consultant in 1982, the Executive Committee agreed new services with greater member participation and supervision, with regional facilities including physiotherapy services, out-patient consultations and 'well woman clinics'. The first Regional Clinic was opened in Neath, West Glamorgan in South Wales, followed by Coventry Manor House Centre in 1988.

ASSOCIATED COMPANIES AND CHARITIES

Manor House (Pools) Limited was formed in July 1935 by George Angwin Carter and Alfred Wiliam Coucher as 'bookmakers, commission agents and sporting accommodation, proprietors, organisers and managers of totalisators, pools, competitions, games and other pastimes'. A deed of covenant from Manor House (Pools) Limited to Trustees of Manor House Hospital was established in February 1937 for profits to go to the hospital. The company’s registered addresses were Ivy House, Golders Green and the firm was wound up in 1945.

Manor House Hospital League of Friends was formed in July 1956 with the object to raise funds for the Hospital by means of lotteries. S Clare was Chairman with C H Watson, Secretary and W H Scrutton, treasurer. Based at the hospital they continued to meet until at least 1978, with separate League of Friends established and raising funds including Kent and Leeds, Yorkshire. Later an independent self-governing organisation, the League was re-formed as a direct result of the Hospital's Executive Committee's policy in 1977 to co-ordinate fund-raising from a central department, the Manor House Hospital National Appeals Department.

This Department's National Appeals secretary took over the reorganisation of the League of Friends which became a registered charity in 1983. Later in 1980s under provisions of the Gaming Act, the League absorbed the Department's work and became instrumental in the foundation of the other charity, the Manor House Hospital Supporters' Association to promote the Hospital's major, twice yearly national lotteries. In 1988 the organisation of appeals and lottery promotion was staffed in office in Halstead, Essex.