A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



was on the site of St. George's Hall, and was opened 

 in 1749. In 1824 it was removed to Pembroke 

 Place, and it was again rebuilt in 1890. From 1792 

 to 1879 a lunatic asylum was connected with it ; it 

 also maintained a lock hospital ; and in i860 it insti- 

 tuted, under the guidance of William Rathbone,"" a 

 nurses' home which formed the basis of the first 

 English experiment in district nursing. In 1834 a 

 medical school was established at the infirmary ; it 

 has since developed into the medical faculty of the 

 university. The other general hospitals are the 

 Northern, instituted in 1 834, rebuilt by aid of a grant 

 from the David Lewis fund in 1896-7, whence it is 

 now known as the David Lewis Northern Hospital ; 

 the Royal Southern Hospital, instituted in 1 8 14 and 

 rebuilt in 1872, which provides clinical teaching for 

 the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine ; and the 

 Stanley Hospital, established in 1867. These three 

 hospitals, together with some of the special hospitals, 

 unite to form the United Hospitals Clinical School 

 in connexion with the medical faculty of the uni- 

 versity. There is also a homeopathic hospital, 

 opened in 1887. In 1778 a dispensary was opened 

 in John Street,"" eight years after the opening of the 

 first English dispensary in London. There are now 

 three dispensaries, for the north, south, and east of 

 the city. The special hospitals, in the order of their 

 foundation, are : — the Ladies' Charity (founded in 

 1796; Lying-in Hospital opened 1841); the Eye 

 and Ear Infirmary'" (Eye 1820, Ear 1839) ; the 

 St. George's Skin Hospital (1842); the Children's 

 Infirmary (instituted in 185 1, rebuilt in 1905-7) ; 

 the Dental Hospital (i860) ; the Cancer Hospital 

 (1862) ; the Consumption Hospital (1863, rebuilt 

 1904), to which is attached a fine sanatorium in 

 Delamere Forest, founded in 1901 ; the Liverpool 

 Convalescent Institution at Woolton (1873) ; the 

 Hospital for Women (1883) ; the Hospital for 

 Diseases of the Throat, Nose, and Ear (1884) ; the 

 Home for Epileptics (1887) ; the County Hospital 

 for Children ; the Home for Female Incurables ; and 

 the Vergmont Institution for Female Inebriates. To 

 the same group belongs the District Nursing Associa- 

 tion, in Prince's Road, founded by Mr. William 

 Rathbone in 1862, the first of its kind in England. 

 The income of these charities from endowments and 

 subscriptions amounted in 1906 to more than 

 jf 80,000. But in addition to these voluntary hos- 

 pitals the corporation maintains six hospitals for 

 infectious diseases, with 881 beds; and the select 

 vestry not only maintains a workhouse infirmary, but 

 also, in conjunction with the Toxteth and West 

 Derby Guardians, a consumption hospital at Heswall 

 on the Dee. The total number of beds available in 

 all the Liverpool hospitals is over 4,000. 



For the blind, deaf, and dumb, there are : — The 

 School for the Indigent Blind (founded 1 791), the 

 oldest institution of its kind, with 210 inmates ; the 

 School for the Deaf and Dumb (1825) with 1 10 

 pupils ; the Catholic Blind Asylum (1841) with 199 

 inmates ; the Workshops and Home Teaching Society 

 for the Outdoor Blind (1859) ; ^^^ Adult Deaf and 

 Dumb Benevolent Society (1864) ; and the Home 

 for Blind Children (1874). 



ii. Homes, Orphanages, l^c.,fir Children. — In addi- 

 tion to the Bluecoat Hospital, already described, the 

 following institutions exist for the rescue of chil- 

 dren : — Female Orphan Asylum (1840), Orphan 

 Asylum for boys (1850), Infant Orphan Asylum 

 (1858), each accommodating 150 inmates ; the Shel- 

 tering Homes for Destitute Children (1872) annually 

 train and send out to Canada 250 children ; the 

 Seamen's Orphan Institution, which is comparatively 

 well endowed, maintains 350 children ; the Indefati- 

 gable training ship (1865), with which is connected a 

 sailing brigantine, prepares about 250 boys for the 

 mercantile marine ; the Lancashire Navy League Sea- 

 training Home does similar work ; the Children's 

 Friend Society (1866) maintains a Boys' Home ; the 

 Newsboys' Home takes in sixty-five street boys ; and 

 there is a group of homes for training poor girls, 

 chiefly for domestic service, including the Magdalen 

 Institution (1855) for fifty girls; the Mission to 

 Friendless Girls (1862); the Preventive Homes 

 (1865) for forty-four girls ; the Training Home for 

 Girls (1894) for thirty-two girls; and the Bencke 

 Home ; while the Ladies' Association for the Care 

 and Training of Girls maintains four distinct homes. 

 There also exist a Children's Aid Society for clothing 

 poor children attending elementary schools, and a 

 Police-aided Clothing Association, which provides 

 clothes for children engaged in street-trading (who 

 are in Liverpool required to be registered) and with 

 the aid of the police prevents parents from selling the 

 clothes. The Liverpool Society for the Prevention 

 of Cruelty to Children has been at work for a longer 

 time than the National Society. 



iii. Penitentiary Charities. — The Lancashire Female 

 Refuge (1823) maintains a home for women coming 

 out of prison, and is the oldest charity of its kind. 

 The Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society does the same 

 work on a more general plan. For fallen women 

 there are the Female Penitentiary (18 11), the Bene- 

 volent Institution and Rescue Home (1839), the 

 Home of the Midnight Mission (1875), and the 

 Home of the Liverpool Rescue Society (1890). 



iv. Homes for the Aged. — These include the Widows' 

 Home (1871) ; the Homes for Aged Mariners (1882), 

 including a large central building founded by Mr. 

 William Cliff, and seventeen detached cottages in the 

 grounds in which married couples may live ; and the 

 Andrew Gibson Home for the widows of seamen 

 (1905). 



V. Tension Charities. — ^These are numerous. The 

 Aged Merchant Seamen and Widows' Fund (1870) 

 gave 166 small pensions in 1906 ; the Governesses 

 Benevolent Institution (1849) distributes ^^900 per 

 annum in pensions ; the Seamen's Pension Fund was 

 founded by Mr. T. H. Ismay in 1887 with a capital 

 of j^20,ooo, towhich Mrs. Ismay later added ^^10,000 

 for seamen's widows ; the Shipbrokers' Benevolent 

 Society (1894) distributes annuities of not more than 

 j^30 to old employees ; and the Merchant Guild 

 administers ten distinct pension funds, chiefly for the 

 relief of distressed persons of the middle and upper 

 classes ; it awarded 1 79 pensions in 1 906, the largest 

 being of ^^42. 



vi. Of Miscellaneous Charities there are too many to 



^^° Life of W. Rathbone. 

 SSI Now North John Street. It was in 

 1781 removed to Church Street. 



9S2 Originally Ophthalmic Infirmary. 

 In 1820 was also founded the Liverpool 



56 



Institute for Curing Diseases of the Eye, 

 now defunct. 



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