Victoria Cottage Hospital, Guernsey
Victoria Cottage Hospital Guernsey was a cottage hospital in Guernsey, which opened in 1888.[1] It closed in 1940 during the German occupation of the Channel Islands.[2] The hospital was not reopened after liberation.[2]
History
On 1 May 1888 a cottage hospital was opened by the Bailiff, Sir Edgar MacCulloch for the sick needy poor in Cambridge Park, Guernsey.[2] The hospital was the idea of Dr Ernest Laurie Robinson, who had also established a local branch of the St John Ambulance and a Voluntary Nursing Corps in the two years previously.[3] Donations were made to fund the hospital by the local community.[4]
The Victoria Cottage Hospital was initially staffed by volunteer nurses and a trained superintendent.[3] It was smaller than the general hospital, and when it first opened, it had just five beds and a child's cot in two wards.[2] Patients paid to have a bed (around 4 shillings in 1888).[3] Only a few months after the hospital opened, a patient with bladder stones underwent successful experimental surgery that was written up in The Lancet.[5]
The Victoria Cottage Hospital soon expanded and in 1891 it moved to larger premises and had 13 beds.[1] During the First World War, it became an auxiliary military hospital.[6] During the Second World War, the Victoria Hospital was converted to an emergency hospital to deal with casualties of the conflict.[7] It closed in 1940 during the German occupation of the Channel Islands.[2] Matron Hall of the hospital went with other staff to the country hospital, where they continued to provide care throughout the occupation.[8]
In 1949, the new purpose-built Princess Elizabeth Hospital was opened.
Notable staff
- Mary Christiana Gadsby, Matron 1890-1896, trained at The London Hospital under Eva Luckes; she resigned because of ill health.[9][10][11]
- Captain John Follett Bullar FRCS was ophthalmic surgeon at the hospital and also bred pedigree goats.[12]
References
- ^ a b Burdett's Hospitals and Charities Annual. London: Scientific Press. 1895. p. 401.
- ^ a b c d e "On this day in Guernsey". On This Day in Guernsey. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
- ^ a b c Crossan, Rose-Marie (2015). Poverty and Welfare in Guernsey, 1560-2015. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-1-78327-040-8.
- ^ "Donation to the Guernsey Cottage Hospital". Jersey Express and Channel Islands: 2. 5 June 1890 – via www.findmypast.co.uk.
- ^ Carey (10 November 1888). "Victoria Cottage Hospital, Guernsey: A Case of Suprapubic Lithotomy: Remarks". The Lancet: 913–4.
- ^ "History". Ambulance and Rescue Guernsey. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
- ^ Dyson, Sue; McAllister, Margaret (2019-11-26). Routledge International Handbook of Nurse Education. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-12165-1.
- ^ "Sutcliffe, Richard Brook (Oral history)". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
- ^ Rogers, Sarah (2022). "A Maker of Matrons"? A study of Eva Lückes's influence on a generation of nurse leaders: 1880–1919 (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022).
- ^ "Tribute of Esteem to Miss Gadsby". Guernsey Star: 2. 7 March 1896 – via www.findmypast.co.uk.
- ^ "Presentation to Miss Gadsby". Guernsey Star: 2. 14 March 1896 – via www.findmypast.co.uk.
- ^ Venn, John; Venn, John Archibald (2011-09-15). Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-03611-5.