| AdminHistory | The Birmingham Medical Mission was created by an interdenominational committee of Birmingham philanthropists to provide for the spiritual and medical needs of the urban sick and poor. The Mission opened its first dispensary on Park Street on 15 February 1875. The medical activities of the Mission were initially the responsibility of Committee member Dr F.H. Maberley, who remained in this post until a full time Superintendent could be appointed. The number of patients admitted to the Mission for consultation and treatment increased rapidly, requiring staff to limit admissions to one hundred per day. During its first ten months dispensary staff conducted over 3,400 consultations. By the next year this figure rose to over 14,000.
The demolition of the Park Street site led the Mission to relocate to leasehold premises on Barn Street, the new dispensary opening its doors on 17 September 1876. The move to Barn Street coincided with the appointment of Dr W. Thomson Crabbe of Edinburgh as Superintendent of the Mission. This move allowed Dr Maberley to return to his work as joint Mission secretary (together with Joel Cadbury).
The number of consultations recorded at Barn Street rose rapidly as did the number of calls to patient homes in the Digbeth and Deritend area, 1,699 such visits being recorded for the year ending 30 June 1877. The high demand for medical services forced the Committee to conclude that the Barn Street premises were insufficient for the task. Funds were raised for the construction of a new purpose built dispensary on Floodgate Street with work beginning in April 1878. The new Mission premises, which opened on 28 February 1879, included a hall with a seating capacity of three hundred, doctor’s offices, waiting rooms, kitchens and bedrooms. Donations from the William Dudley Trust and Mr Walter N. Fisher, combined with proceeds from charity sales and appeals, allowed for the completion of the final phase of construction by late 1880.
Under the leadership of Dr. Crabbe the reputation and fundraising power of the Mission steadily increased. In addition to offering medical services the Mission held regular prayer meetings, Sunday Schools, Bible classes and an annual sale of work. Members of the 'Flower Mission,' under the direction of Mrs Samuel Lloyd, distributed small bouquets of flowers with an attached Bible verse to each patient admitted to the Mission. Mr Grubb of Joyner and Co. led the 'Penny Bank,' a programme designed to teach the poor about the value of saving money. The Mission was also a strong advocate of Temperance and actively opposed the licensing of public houses. It was the position of the Mission that the consumption of alcohol was intimately tied to the moral depravity and social decay evident in Birmingham.
The success of the Mission led to the establishment of a branch mission in 1892 on Granville Street that was subsequently moved to Ellis Street in 1899. A second branch mission was created in conjunction with the Presbyterian Church in Long Acre during the 1890s. Admissions to the Mission and its branches during this period confirm that patients were drawn not just from Digbeth and Deritend but also from Hockley, Smethwick, Aston, Sparkbrook and Selly Oak. The regional diversity of patients underscores the excellent reputation of the Mission.
Funding for the Mission came from a variety of sources including annual subscriptions and donations, an annual sale of goods event, Mission collections from religious services, Bible sales and special charity appeals. In particular the Avery, Cadbury and Lloyd families could all be called upon for regular and generous donations to the work of the Mission.
On 13 February 1899 Dr Crabbe died at the age of 55. His post was ably filled by Dr Horace Bagster Wilson with the assistance of Crabbe’s son, Dr John Sanderson Crabbe. Wilson was a zealous opponent of licensing and petitioned the Licensing Bench and the Justices of the Peace to refuse further applications to open public houses in the city. His efforts were supported by a cross section of Birmingham philanthropists, religious leaders, politicians and businessmen. Wilson would remain in his post for over thirty years.
During the First World War and interwar years the Mission continued to offer medical and spiritual aid as well as distributing food to the poor. However, demographic changes brought about by the slum clearance policy of the city removed many of the families the Mission existed to help. Additionally many residents of the inner city were voluntarily choosing to relocate to the suburbs. As a result of this shift it was decided to move Mission activities from the Floodgate Street premises to the branch mission in Lea Hall Estate that had been established in 1938. In 1945 the property on Floodgate Street was sold and Mission work was formally relocated to the Lea Hall Mission.
A number of changes occurred in the post-war years under the tenure of Superintendents Alexander, Allen and Hoyte. Dr Hoyte, who retired in 1959, presided over a shift in Mission priorities away from medical work to other charitable activities. This was partly due to the creation of the National Health Service in 1948 and the introduction of free health care. By 1959 the medical activities of the Mission had ceased and patients were referred to a local GP practice in Lea Hall.
Under the leadership of Mrs Paul Cadbury the Mission continued charitable work through the 1970s and 1980s. In addition to retaining earlier activities such as Sunday School classes and the Ladies Committee Annual Sale of Work (previously the Ladies Auxiliary Sales Committee), the Mission also formed an Adventure Club for children and The Good Companions to work among the housebound. The work of the Mission has now been absorbed by the Kitts Green Evangelical Church. |