BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON 



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Clergy and all who have any property in the County, 

 with regard to the establishment of a County Hospital 

 in Northampton.' The subject was brought up 

 before the Grand Jury at the Assizes on 21 July, and 

 the design being approved, a subscription was started 

 on the spot. The project was warmly supported both 

 by the county, the corporation, and the influential 

 minister of Castle Hill Chapel, Dr. Doddridge, who 

 preached a sermon on 4 September 1743, " In favour of 

 a design to erect a County Infirmary,' in which his 

 detailed account of the eleven e.xisting provincial and 

 London infirmaries suggests that he 

 must share with Rushworth and 

 Stonhoase the honour of originating 

 the scheme. A large edition of this 

 sermon was printed. At a meeting 

 of the subscribers on 20 September 

 1743, a committee was elected, and 

 on 17 November 1743 the statutes 

 and rules for the government of the 

 hospital, modelled upon those of the 

 Winchester Infirmary, were confirmed; 

 and a house in George Row, to the 

 west of the County Gaol, was obtained 

 and fitted up by December. ' Thus 

 has the project of a County Hospital 

 at Northampton, of which some per- 

 sons there wholly despaired, been 

 brought to maturity in less than two 

 months from the first meeting on this 

 occasion.'** Three physicians, includ- 

 ing Dr. Stonhouse, two surgeons and 

 an apothecary, were appointed to the 

 staff. All those who subscribed £2 

 a year or more were governors, the Grand Visitor 

 was the Duke of Montagu, and the Perpetual 

 President the Earl of Northampton. The formal 

 opening took place on 27 March 1744.** The hospital 

 contained thirty beds at its opening, and issued 

 its first report in October 1 744, when 103 in-patients 

 and 79 out-patients had been treated. Up to 1829 

 the subscribers used to assemble on Anniversary Day 

 to hear the annual report, and proceed to All Saints' 

 Church to hear a special sermon and contribute to 

 collections when the bag was taken round by the 

 Countess of Northampton and other ladies of title. 

 In 1753 the building was enlarged and the number of 

 beds increased to 60, the financial strain being met by 

 fresh appeals to the public, and in spite of setbacks 

 the work of the hospital developed steadily and a 

 further enlargement was made in 1782. In 1790 it 

 was resolved to erect a new hospital, in view of the 

 unfavourable report of Dr. Kerr, one of the governors, 

 on the site, the offices and the water supply." The 

 new hospital was to accommodate 90-100 patients ; 

 and amongst other conditions it was laid down that 

 each patient should be allowed 90 square feet, that 

 no ward should contain more than 10 beds, and that 

 the lavatories should be out of the wards. The new 

 site was near St. Giles' Church, and had formerly 

 been part of the possessions of St. Andrew's Priory. 

 The new building was completed and opened for use 



in October 1793, palicius from other counties besides 

 Northamptonshire being admitted for treatment. 

 In January 1804 the practice of free vaccination of 

 out-patients was begun, and 1,882 persons were 

 inoculated in the next five years. It is interesting to 

 note that the building of the London and Birmingham 

 railway, 1835-37, produced so many casu.ihics that the 

 Hospital Committee resolved ' that the managers of 

 the railroad within reach of Northampton be informed 

 that it is impossible that any more cases of simple 

 fracture can be received into the House ; compound 





9 lO'OL 'llilf- 





-TSJ ,, Will'iTHmilllllllHI'l, 



'TSlJlliilllliilliliiiliririjiiii 



Northampton : Dr. Dan vers' House before 1924 



fractures or such cases only as arc attended with 

 danger can be admitted.' The use of anesthetics for 

 surgical operations began in January 1847. In 1872, 

 1879 and 1889 further additions were made to the 

 hospital, the last to commemorate Queen Victoria's 

 jubilee ; in 1896 a new operating theatre was added. 

 The name of General Infirmary was changed in 1903 

 to ' The Northampton General Hospital.' In 1901 

 two new wings were erected, and the old building 

 became a home for the staflF, with a library and labora- 

 tories : the new buildings were opened on 2 June 1904, 

 The constitution of the hospital was drastically 

 revised in 1904 and a new board of management set up. 

 The hospital has now 231 beds, with an average yearly 

 number of 2,891 in-patients and 12,449 out-patients. 



Other hospitals now existing in Northampton are : 

 St. Andrew's Hospital (for Mental Diseases), the 

 scheme for which originated at a meeting of the 

 governors of the General Infirmary in 1814, but which 

 owes its beginning to a gift from the second Earl 

 Spencer in 1828. It was opened in 1836-7. The 

 Northamptonshire poet, John Clare, died here in 1864. 

 It will hold 500 patients, many of whose payments are 

 assisted from the charity. 



The Royal Victoria Dispensary, opened in 1845, 

 served a useful purpose till the 20th century in 

 pro\'iding medical service, on an assisted contributory 

 basis. It was dissolved in February 1923, the 



" Gtnt. Ma^. xiii, 6io. The editor of 

 thii periodical, Edward Cave, the pro- 

 prietor of the Cotton \fiUi then recently 

 •tarted in Northampt., wa> one of the 

 original lubtcriberi to the hoipital. 



•• The lermon preached by Dr. R. Grey 

 on the opening day wai printed by W. 

 Dicey of Northampt., together with the 

 ■tattite* of the infirmary, and an engrav- 



39 



ing, after a drawing by K. Gravelot, of a 

 ward in the infirmary. 



•' Northampt. Mercury^ 9 Jan. 1790. Dr. 

 Kerr wji turgeon at the Infirmary, 1765- 

 1815. 



