Sue Hawkins

Extending the Boundaries of Care

the emergence of children’s hospitals in 19th century Britain

Sue Hawkins

Kingston University

Childhood and Disease in 18th & Early 19th Century

• Children’s hospital in Paris, L’Hopital des Enfants Malades, opened during the French Revolution and based on Foundling Hospital

• Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, St Petersburg etc followed

• But no children’s hospitals in Britain

Treatises on Diseases of Childhood

• 1689: Acute Diseases of Infancy (Walter Harris)

• 1765: Diseases of Children and their Remedies (Nils van Rosenstein)

• 1769: ‘A Plain Account of Diseases Incident to Children’ (John Cook MD)

• 1784: Diseases of Children (Michael Underwood)

• 1848: Lectures on Diseases of Infancy & Childhood (Dr Charles West)

London Burials by Age15 Dec 1761-14 Dec 1762

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

Under 2

2-55-10

10-20

20-30

30-40

40-50

50-60

60-70

70-80

80-90

90-100

100+

Source: London General Bill of Christenings and Burials 15 Dec 1761-14 Dec 1762, published in The Gentleman’s Magazine Dec 1762 (supplement)

Early 19th Century Objections to Children’s Hospitals

"But a very little Reflection will clearly convince any

thinking Person that such a scheme as this [a children’s

hospital] can never be executed. If you take away a sick

Child from its Parent or Nurse you break its Heart

immediately ... and it very seldom happens that a Mother

can conveniently leave the Rest of her Family to go into

an Hospital to attend her sick Infant.” [i]

[i] George Armstrong quoted in GF Still ‘The History of Paediatrics’

Site of the Universal Dispensary for Children now Schiller University on the South Bank

© Copyright Oxyman and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

50 Years Later

• Of 2363 patients in London hospitals, only 26 were children under 10.

• Of 50,000 persons dying annually in London, 21,000 are children of that age.

• London Hospital: no children under 7 (except for amputation or cutting for stone)

• Guys: an exception for a while, with 15 beds for children. But building closed in 1850 and not replaced

Charles West

Trained London, Paris, Bonn and Berlin

1839: Universal Dispensary for Women & Children, Waterloo Road

1849: Campaign for hospital for sick children

The Main Ward at Great Ormond Street c1858

19th Century Growth in Children’s Hospitals

London• GOSH 1852• Victorian Hospital for Children Chelsea 1866• Alexandra Hospital for Hip Disease 1867 • Evelina 1869• Paddington Green 1883

Provinces• Norwich (Jenny Lind) 1853• Manchester 1856• Edinburgh 1859• Liverpool 1859• Birmingham 1861• Newcastle 1861• Nottingham 1869• Sheffield 1876• Aberdeen 1877• Glasgow 1883

Statistics

No. Hospitals1852

11901

31

No. Beds1852

101901

2037

No. In Patients

c21,000

No. Out Patients

c250,000

Source: Small and Special: the development of hospitals for children in Victorian Britain by Elizabeth Lomax