Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital

The Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital in Taplow, Buckinghamshire, was a civilian hospital and a centre for research into rheumatism in children until its closure in 1985.

Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital
Canadian War Memorial Garden, all that remains of the hospital
Shown in Buckinghamshire
Geography
LocationTaplow, England, United Kingdom
Coordinates
Organisation
Care systemPublic NHS
TypePublic
Services
Emergency departmentNo Accident & Emergency
History
Opened1914
Closed1985
Links
ListsHospitals in England

History

War time origins

In 1914, during the First World War, the Astor family invited the Canadian Red Cross to build a military hospital on part of the Cliveden estate.[1] The Red Cross built a small hospital, the HRH Duchess of Connaught Hospital, on the site.[2] It was named after the Duchess of Connaught who had served as Viceregal consort of Canada from 1911 to 1916.[3]

In the Second World War, the Canadian Red Cross demolished many of the existing buildings to make way for a new, larger hospital with more equipment; this was named the Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital.[2]

General Hospital

After the war the hospital was donated to the British Government for use as a general hospital and research centre into rheumatism in children.[2] After opening to the public in 1947, it came under the supervision of the newly formed National Health Service.[2] The hospital also developed a large maternity unit at this time.[2]

The painter Stanley Spencer, who lived in nearby Cookham, died in the hospital in 1959 from cancer, having undergone an unsuccessful operation there the year before.[4] Dr Barbara Ansell, the founder of paediatric rheumatology, worked at the hospital from the 1960s through to the 1980s.[2]

Closure

Cliveden Village on site of former Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital

The hospital closed and was abandoned in 1985 and lay derelict for two decades while the National Trust, who owned the site since 1942, explored options for its development.[2] Many pieces of the hospital's old equipment lay there for years. It was demolished in 2006 to make way for a housing development for people aged 55 and over called Cliveden Village.[5][6]

References

  1. "Life is greener on the retirement side for village people". The Guardian. 3 June 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  2. "History". CRCMH.com. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  3. "Princess Louise Margaret, Duchess of Connaught". The Royal Watcher. 14 March 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  4. "Stanley Spencer". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  5. Pearman, Hugh (9 February 2015). "Heaven can wait: Modernist retirement homes help fund Cliveden". RIBA Journal. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  6. BBC, Local, Berkshire: I live in Cliveden, 18 May 2007.

Further reading

  • Ansell, B. M., C.B.E. et al. The Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital Cliveden, Taplow, England. Barbara M. Ansell, 1997. ISBN 0 953 09920 2
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