| Arrangement | There are 19 items in this Sub collection [HC RO/A], and because of the small amount and type of material these have not been listed in series. Where runs of material were continuous they have been kept as a group and not split across the sub-collections.
Items HC RO/A/1-7 1817-1924 are mixed minute books containing records of multiple committees in chronological order [these are not a concurrent sequence]; they cover the period from the founding of the hospital to the amalgamation. Minute books following the amalgamation are in Sub series HC RO/C/1/1.
Items HC RO/A/8-9 are minute books of the Medical Committee 1903 -1920. The final minute book records the Building Sub-committee 1916-1920 which outlines the search for bigger premises prior to the amalgamation.
This is followed a volume of Laws and Bye-Laws, HC RO/A/11, and published reports from 1874-1921, HC RO/A/12-15. Annual Reports following the amalgamation are in sub-series HC RO/C/1/3.
Material relating to the Amalgamation of the Hospitals is in sub-series HC RO/C/1/1/3. The considerable amount of ephemera in the collection has been kept as one group, HC RO/C/6 Miscellaneous Records, which includes a large group of photographs, along with postcards, newspaper clippings, programmes and so on. |
| AdminHistory | Founded as the Institute for the Relief of Bodily Deformities 1817-1858, renamed The Birmingham and Midland Counties Institution 1858-1888, renamed The Royal Orthopaedic & Spinal Hospital 1888-1925.
"The Institute for the Relief of Bodily Deformities" was founded at a meeting held on 24 June 1817 for the cure of hernia, club feet, spinal disease, contractions and distortions of the limbs and all bodily deformities. In the following months a house was taken on New Street, after several years a move to Great Charles Street and later a move to Newhall Street. For the first few years the work consisted mainly of examination and the supplying of trusses and surgical instruments to needy patients, in 1858 the institution was operating on annual income from 26 subscribers of £50.
In 1858 the organisation again moved premises to 22 Great Charles Street; in the following year under the presidency of the then Lord Calthorpe the institution was re-inaugurated, a new code of laws was drafted and a new title "The Birmingham and Midland Counties Orthopaedic Institution" for the cure of hernia, club foot, spinal diseases, contractions and distortions of limbs and all bodily deformities. From this time we see a rapid growth in the hospital. In 1878 we find 800 patients annually, the institution operating on annual income from 230 subscribers of £450. During this period operative procedures increase and it becomes desirable to make provision for in-patients and for a time the institution resorts to cottage system.
The Newhall Street buildings shared with the Ear and Throat Hospital were acquired in 1871, providing an Out-Patient Department and some accommodation for a number of In-Patients these however became inadequate. The foundation stone of the new wing was laid by the Marques of Hertford 28 July 1888, and the building opened in May 1889. The whole of the cost was raised by special donations - a donation of £50 was made by Her Majesty Queen Victoria who graciously accepted patronage and from that time is known as "The Royal Orthopaedic & Spinal Hospital." A further extension was added to the building ten years later. From 1880s - late 1890s are references to Convalescent Homes being used in the Tewkesbury and by the coast.
Kelly's Directory 1900 describes the operation: "The honorary Surgeons attend at the Institution daily and give gratuitous advice to the deformed poor two days a week each, in rotation. All cases are admitted without the necessity of procuring letters of recommendation; but in those instances where the patient requires supports or instruments of any kind, they must obtain tickets signed by the subscriber by whom they originally were recommended."
In 1906 the premises on Great Charles Street had to be given up on account of the Council House extensions and a new building was built adjoining the Hospital. From this period on the hospital was under increasing pressure through lack of accommodation and resources as more patients came from an ever widening area and the number of children increased with the introduction of Medical Inspections in the Elementary Schools.
In 1916, owing to the need for orthopaedic work in the field, the Institution was attached to the military 1st Southern General Hospital. In 1924 a house in Vicarage Road Edgbaston was placed at the disposal of the Committee to be used as an Auxiliary hospital for long treatment cases. Following over 6 years of negotiations (which were abandoned more than once) The Royal Orthopaedic & Spinal Hospital goes on to merge with The Birmingham and District Cripples Union to form The Birmingham Cripples Union & Royal Orthopaedic & Spinal Hospital (Amalgamated) on the 31st March 1925: The Royal Orthopaedic& Spinal Hospital brings to the amalgamation 2 buildings of 50 beds at Newhall Street and 30 beds Vicarage Road, Out Patients Department & Workshops etc. over 1300 subscribers and an ordinary income of £8,300. |