~ THE KENT & CANTERBURY HOSPITAL ~
LONGPORT STREET, CANTERBURY
OPENED APRIL 26, 1793
under the auspices of the late Dr. William Carter and partronised by the principal inhabitants of the city and county
Established 1793, enlarged 1829, 1838 & 1871 and closed in 1937 *the building was demolished sometime in the 1970's
There is a book on the hospital entitled "The Kent and Canterbury Hospital 1790-1987" by F. Marcus Hall, Richard S. Stevens and John Whyman ISBN 0 951 2464 0 2
"Kent & Canterbury Hospital" a detail from South View of Canterbury, Hasted
(also showing Ethelbert Tower on the left and St. Pancras Chapel ruins on the right of the hospital)
January 1807 - Died at Canterbury - Aged 70, Mrs. Hillbrook, she has left 100l. to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, and 20l. to the poor of St. Dunstan's in that city. (The Athenaeum, vol1)
On Sunday, April 5th, 1891, my 3x great grandfather John TERRY was a patient at the Kent and Canterbury hospital, he was 71 years old at the time. John passed away later that year of apoplexy exhaustion at 11 Old Dover Road in Canterbury. While he was in the hospital, Zachariah Prentice was the House Surgeon and Arthur Charles Elliman the Assistant House Surgeon. Frances Amelia Learmouth was the Matron and there were 14 nurses.
The East Kent Archives hold:
Reference MH/T4
K RECORDS OF PATIENTS 1793-1979
Ki 1-22 In-patient registers 1793-1956
Kt 1-23 Out-patient registers 1793-1920
Showing the Kent & Canterbury Hospital c. 1912
There are Hales Family Estate Records (1250-1868) available at the Canterbury Cathedral Archives CCA-U85, which include a Conveyance of 1868 by Thomas Papillon to trustees at Kent and Canterbury Hospital of legal estate in hospital buildings and land, and Deeds and Documents (8) of 1791, concerning the establishment of the Kent and County Hospital on part of St. Augustine's Abbey in Longport in 1791.
Kentish Register 1793 - Saturday, September 28. At a weekly board of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, it appeared that since its first institution on the 26th of April, that 57 patients have been admitted, and 23 discharged; of whom 15 have been cured, 7 have received benefits, 1 no relief, 4 have died, and 30 remain on the books.
From the report of the managers of the General Kent and Canterbury Hospital, for the last year, it appears that the in and outpatients on the 31st of December, 1805, were 126; and that 592 persons have been since admitted. Of these have been discharged cured 294; received benefit 62; discharged for irregularity 25; died 43. The number remaining in the house is 36; and the outpatients on the books are 100. During the same period 384 persons have been innoculated with the cow-pox, at the hospital, gratis. MM1807
1815 - Died at Canterbury, 75, Mr. John Williamson, surgeon apothecary, and senior surgeon to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital from its first institution, and for some years past treasurer to the Kent Medical Benevolent Society.
419 in-patients and 470 out-patients, were admitted, during the last year, into the Kent and Canterbury Hospital. 1308 were, in the same period, inoculated for the cow-pox. MM1815
Kent and Canterbury General Hosptial. (1793) - number of beds, 120. Operating days at discretion. Physicians, Alfred Lochee, M.D., Edward Scudamore, M.D., Surgeons, David B. Major, Price B. Hallowes, Henry Denne, Henry Crawford. Medical Times, Vol 9
The Kent and Canterbury Hospital 1794, showing Ethelberts tower on the left
"...that Sir Edward Hales, bart. obligingly parted with a field of about three acres, walled round, on the East side of the city, on an elevated, airy situation, and in every respect adapted to the design."
Died at Canterbury, Mrs. Ann BATGER, matron of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital. TNMM1816
1824 Extraordinary Operation - An extraordinary operation was lately performed at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, and which has been attended with the happiest results. A patient was received some time since with a very bad case of diseased liver; after some time the case assumed the worst possible appearance, and it was resolved, as the only chance of preserving life, to tap the liver. The operation was ably performed by Mr. FITCH, senior surgeon of that institution, in the presence of other gentlemen of the faculty connected with the establishment. Upon the liver being touched, upwards of five pints of diseased matter immediately flowed from the wound. A tube, nine inches in length, was then introduced and retained in the wound, through which a pint of the same fluid was daily evacuated for a week. Kentish Paper
"The Kent and Canterbury Infirmary was opened for the reception of patients on the 1st of September, 1793, under the auspices of Dr. William CARTER, and patronized by the principal inhabitants of the city and county. The building, which is spacious, and well adapted to the purpose, was erected on part of the ancient cemetery of St. Augustine's Abbey, and contains apartments for a house surgeon and sixty patients, the latter receiving the gratuitous attendance of two physicians and four surgeons."
From the 1831 Topographical Dictionary
1838
Patron, The Most Rev. William Howley, D.D. (archbishop), Lambeth Place
President, The Earl of Winchelsea and Nottingham, Eastwell Park
Trustees, Sir Brook W. Bridges, Bart., Goodnestone and Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Knatchbull, M.P., Mersham Hatch, and Sir H. Bart Oxenden, Broome and J. P. Plumptre, M.P., Fredville
Auditors, Rev. J. RUSSELL, D.D., Precincts and Rev. C. OXENDEN, Bishopsbourne
House Inspectors, Hon and Rev. William EDEN, Harbledown, and George GIPPS, Howletts
Treasurer, James B. WILDMAN, Chilham Castle
Assistant Treasurer, Deane John PARKER, St. Stephens,
Physicians, Robert Chisholm, M.D., St. Margaret's Street
John M'Divitt, M.D., St. Margaret's Street
Consulting Physician, H. William CARTER, M.D., Kennington place (near Ashford)
Consulting Surgeon, William FITCH, Friars
Surgeons
D. B. MAJOR, Watling Street
William H. RENWICK, Burgate Street
Price B. HALLOWES, Watling Street
Henry DENNE, Friars
House Surgeon, Alfred REED, Hospital
Chaplain, Rev. Joshua STRATTON, Gren Court
Clerk, Thomas SOUTHEE, St. Peter's Lane
Matron, Ann BANFIELD, Hospital
Apprentice, C. HOLTTUM, Parade
"In 1838, it was enlarged, and completely remodeled, so that now there is ample accommodation for one hundred and twenty patients. Since the commencement of this Samaritan institution, up to December 1845, no less than 19,582 in-patients, and 28,389 out-patients, have partaken of its healing benefits."
History, Gazetteer & Directory of Kent, Vol. II, 1847
1847
Cornelius Harrison Browne, House Surgeon, Canterbury Hospital
"Kent & Canterbury Hospital" a view from the air
"Death, March 17th, at Canterbury, aged 72, Edward Scudamore, esq. M.D. one of the Physicians of the Kent and Canterbury hospital." GM1850
1813 - death at Canterbury, 72, Edward SCUDAMORE, esq. many years an eminent surgeon. MM vol 36
1850
Mr. Cornelious Harrison Browne, F.R.C.S., Surgeon
Mr. James Lovell, Dispenser
Thomas Southee, Clerk/Secretary
Miss. S. McMurdie, Matron
"Obituary, February 13, 1853, At the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Cornelius Harrison Browne, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, and fifteen years House Surgeon at the above named institution." GM1853 *he is noted in the Royal College of Surgeons 1844
1848-49 Cholera Outbreak
"While the printers are preparing this Number for our readers, the British Medical Association is concluding a very pleasant meeting at Canterbury by after-dinner speeches. The Address of the New President, Dr. Lochee, on Tuesday, was considered by all present to be a great success. It was a very able and thoroughly satisfactory Address. In the evening some very stringent resolutions against professional intercourse with Homeopaths were passed almost unanimously. The precise words shall be given in our next Number. On Wednesday, after a public breakfast, Dr. Markham read the Address in Medicine, which was extremely well received. Papers on Ovarian Disease, by Mr. Spencer Wells; Excision of Joints, by Mr. Price; Special Hospitals, by Mr. Martin; and Cardiac Apnea, by Dr. Richardson, followed. Mr. Martin's Paper was succeeded by a long and interesting discussion, but no resolution was brought before the Association. In the afternoon the Dean Accompanied the members round the Cathedral, and became a most kind and instructive guide. The clergy vied with their Medical friends in entertaining the members, and many were the pleasant dinner parties in the old town. In the evening the Deanery was thrown open, and a selection of glees and songs by members of the choir made a very brilliant soiree, graced by many of the fair daughters of Kent, unusually pleasant. Little very important business was done, but there was a great deal of very agreeable gossip, and many a busy Doctor will hereafter recall his holiday at Canterbury as one of his most pleasant recollections."
The Medical Times and Gazette July 27, 1861
Medical Times and Gazette - 1854
A boy aged 12, in good health, a patient in the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, had suffered for about six months. A stone consisting of lithates, and weighing five scruples, was extracted. Recovered.
A man of irritable constitution, aged 24, a patient in the Kent and Canterbury Hospital. He had suffered very severely from the stone, and his health was considerably undermined. A large oxalate of lime calculus was removed, which weighed three ounces and a half. Although coated with phosphates, it had a very rugged exterior, marked with many sharp prominences. No bad symptoms followed, and the man recovered well.
Vacancies - General Kent and Canterbury Hospital - There is a vacancy for a Dispenser and Assistant House-Surgeon.
1858
D.A. Haffenden, Esq., House Surgeon
Thomas Gambier, Dispenser
Rev. C.W. Bewsher, Chaplain
Thomas Southee, Secretary
Miss Jane Young, Matron
Medical Times and Gazette - 1859
A man aged 66, under care on account of albuminuria, was suddenly seized with laryngitis. The symptoms having become urgent, laryngotomy was resorted to; but it was too late, and death took place before the operation was completed.
Then at Canterbury we have a case of poisoning by mistake, by a Druggist, who seems to have sold a draught containing a third part of laudanum for a black draught, and killed a young man in 12 hours. As the Druggist has been committed to take his trial for manslaughter, we need not say more about this case at present. The public have been startled to find that, but for a circumstance almost accidental, at least two other unfortunate persons whose death is now the subject of inquiry, might have gone to their graves and no suspicion been excited that their death was other than a natural one; for it is certain that, had not the accused, by his conduct and voluntary statements, set the inquiry afoot, it never would have taken place. In many cases where the poisonous black draughts were swallowed they produced great pain and vomiting, which lasted many hours; but the poison having been thus thrown off the stomach, death did not follow.
Poisonings by Mistake - The carelessness of a chemist at Canterbury has caused much anxiety in that city. A young man named Cole being unwell, his wife purchased a black draught and blue pill at the shop of Mr. Reeve. The pill was administered in due form at night, the draught in the morning. About an hour after taking the draught he became unable to walk, was got into bed, became drowsy, and in three hours died. He was buried; but the suddenness of his death occasioning talk, his corpse was exhumed and examined; and was found to contain laudanum in considerable quantity. In fact, in making up the medicine, the shopman had taken up a bottle from which the label had dropped, and which contained laudanum, and used it for a constituent of the black draught, in proportion at least one-third of the whole. The chemist was committed on a charge of manslaughter. It is well known that the formula of "blue pill and black draught" is highly popular and in great request; it is frequently made in considerable quantities; and this fatal phial appears to have contained only its proportion of a large decoction. Consequently the alarm spread far and wide. Many persons had taken a "blue pill and black draught," purchased at Mr. Reeve's shop; many had been violently affected after it, and some were said to have died. The corpse of another person was disinterred and an inquest held; but the circumstances clearly pointed to a natural death. It does not appear that death was in any other case reasonably traced to the carelessness of Mr. Reeve or his shopman. AR1859
Noted on the back of the card "Patients & Matron???, 14th M.B.F.A. Isolation Hospital, Canterbury"
There was a Sanatorium/Isolation Hospital in Stodmarsh Road (Dr. Frank Watcher)
Charge of Manslaughter against a Druggist. John Reeve, a very respectable young man, surrendered to take his trial for the manslaughter of Thomas Benjamin Cole*. The prisoner carried on the buisness of a chemist at Canterbury, and his brother, a youth of seventeen, acted as his assistant. The deceased was a young man, a tailor, at Canterbury, and on the 19th of December he complained of a sick headache, and went to the prisioner's shop and obtained a draught and some pills. On the following day he sent his sister to the prisoner's shop for some more medicine, and he handed her a phial which was supposed to contain the ordinary black draught, and told her that her brother was to take it with the pills. The deceased took the draught as directed, and very shortly afterwards he became very ill, and a medical gentleman named Andrews** was sent for, who from the symptoms he exhibited formed an opinion that he was suffering from epilepsy, and he prescribed some remedies which had no effect, and the deceased died a few hours afterwards. A coroner's inquest was held upon the body, when the jury upon the evidence before them, returned a verdict of "Natural Death." The result of further inquiries that were made however, left very little doubt that a quantity of opium had been by mistake administered in the draught taken by the deceased. There was, however, no evidence to show by whose hand the draught was made up, and according to the medical testimony the symptoms exhibited by the deceased were more in conformity with the supposition that the death arose from epilepsy than from a narcotic poison. The learned Judge having summed up, the jury, after a short deliberation, returned a verdict of Not Guilty.
The Chemical News 1860
*Thomas Benjamin Cole, could be the son of George Cole, Tailor of Canterbury, the family was living at 11 Broad Street in 1851
**There was a Thomas Andrews and Alfred B. Andrews both M.R.C.S.L, L.A.C, General Practioners in Canterbury in 1851 on St. Alphage Lane
Medical News - June 22, 1861 - appointments - Dr. Thomas Boycott was recently elected one of the Physicians to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury
1861
William Blasson, Surgeon & Apothecary (Resident Medical Officer)
ELIZA TERRY, Matron, age 41
James L. Wilson, Assistant House Surgeon
Ann Dalryample, Nurse
Ester Porter, Nurse
Ellen Dalryample, Nurse
Susan Barry, Nurse
Mary A. Gilham, Nurse
March 6, 1869, The Lancet - Mr. J. LAIRD has been appointed assistant house surgeon and dispenser to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, vice B. P. B. Burroughs, M.R.C.S.E. resigned.
June 12, 1869, The Lancet - Serious constructive defects having been found to exist in the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, plans for necessary alterations have been adopted.
1871
Thomas Southee, Secretary of the Kent & Canterbury Hospital (10 Orchard St)
1875
Vacancies - Listed in the Medical News, April 24, 1875
Kent & Canterbury Hospital - Assistant House Surgeon and Dispenser. Candidates must be duly qualified and registered. Applications with testimonials to the secretary, at the hospital, Canterbury, on or before April 30.
June 5th, 1875
Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury - Surgeon. Candidates must be duly qualified. Applications, with testimonials to the Secretary, before June 18. Also a vacancy for House Surgeon and Dispenser, Candidates must be duly qualified and registered. Applications with testimonials to the Secretary on or before June 25.
May 3, 1879, The Medical Times and Gazette
Vacancies
Kent and Canterbury Hospital - Assistant House Surgeon and dispenser. Candidates must be unmarried, registered as legally qualified to practise medicine, and not more than fifty years of age. Qualifications and testimonials to the Secretary on or before May 23. *ran May 10th, and 17th as well
1880's
William Shaw, House surgeon
Archibald H Montfont, Surgeon
Annie G. Cook, Matron
Nurses
Mary Arnell
Georgiana Hayes
Rebecca Fines
Emma Penticost
Martha Bailey
Elizabeth ?enaham
Mary Payne
Jane M. L. Laker
Annie Mara
Mary Ann Congdon
*June 5, 1880 - The British Medical Journal
Kent and Canterbury Hospital - House Surgeon. Salary £80 per annum, with board, lodging, and washing. Applications not later than June 25th.
"The Kent and Canterbury Hospital, in Longport street, which owes it's origin to the late well-known Canterbury physician, Dr. Carter, late fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, was finished in 1793; two additional wings have been added; and there is also a Dispensary."
Kelly's Directory of Kent, 1882
1882
East Kent Medical Library, Kent & Canterbury Hospital; Charles Holttum, librarian
Physicians
Alfred Lochee M.D. (worked 1838-1883)
Henry Alexander Goharty M.D.
James Reid, Consulting surgeon
Surgeons
Charles Holttum
Frank Wacher
Thomas Whitehead Reid
J. Greasley
Dental surgeon, Vacant
Rev. H. T. Maitland M.A. Chaplain
George Coulson Robins Bull L.R.C.P. Lond. House Surgeon
Archibald Henry Montfort M.D. Assistant House Surgeon & dispenser
Secretary, Vacant
Miss A. G. Cooke, Matron
1884
Royal College of Physicians of London. The following candidates were admitted Licentiates on January 31, 1884:
Frederick Edmund HUBBARD, Kent Hospital, Canterbury
1886
Dec. 4, 1886 - Kent & Canterbury Hospital - Trained Night Nurse required. Wages £22, with full board and laundry apply, Matron
1889
The times for visiting patients were: Sunday and Wednesday afternoons, from two 'till four.
Consulting Physician
Physician
Henry Alexander Gogarty, Esq.
Consulting Surgeon
James Reid, Esq.
Surgeons
Charles Holttum, Esq.
Frank Wacher, Esq.
Thomas Whitehead Reid, Esq.
John Greasley, Esq.
Dental Surgeon
Martin Luther Bell, Esq. (age 33), Dentist, L.D.R.S. Eng.
House Surgeon
Z. Prentice, Esq.
Assistant House Surgeon and Dispenser
F.K. Holman, Esq.
Secretary
Charles H. Read
Matron
Miss F. A. Learmonth
Chaplain
Rev. P.W. Loosemore
Porter
William Bishop
"Kent & Canterbury Hospital" detail from the map in J. Chales Cox; Canterbury A history of the ancient city, 1905
"This building is situated in Longport, on part of the grounds formerly belonging to the Monastery of St. Augustine. On the north side of it is the wall which bounds the precincts of the Abbey. This hospital was finished in 1793, the expenses being defrayed by voluntary contributions, upon which depends its maintenance. It was considerably extended and enlarged by the late James Tillard, Esq., of Street End, near this city. Two wings have since been added by public subscription, and the whole edifice has undergone complete renovation."
Goulden's Guide to Canterbury and the Cathedral c. 1890's
1893
A.C. Elliman Esq. M.R.C.S., House Surgeon
L.A. Winter Esq. M.R.C.S., Assistant House Surgeon
Miss A. M. Messum, Matron
Rev. H. Heward, Chaplain
Mr. A.J. Lancaster, Secretary
1901 - 30 Officials and their families and 74 inmates in the Kent and Canterbury Hospital30 of
1902 - Miss Fanny Blackman of Ramsgate, Kent left 10,000 £ to the hospital in 1902, to found a Blackman Ward
1903 - East Kent & Canterbury Medical Library - Henry Alexander Gogarty B.A., M.D. hon librarian, Kent & Canterbury Hospital, Longport
KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL
To the Editor of the Kentish Observer
Dear Sir - We are glad ot be able to announce that the Hospital is now free from scarlet fever, and that we are in a position to receive in-patients as usual.
Will you please make it known that we are in want of the following: - Old linen and calico, warm left-off dressing gowns, night gowns for children, and a set of baby clothes, and we should be very much obliged if any of your readers would kindly help us with a fresh supply.
Yours truly,
Arthur J. Lancasters, secretary
January 31, 1894
July 1896 - A grand fete in connection with charitable institutions in Canterbury, but particularly the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, took place on the 9th.
1903
H. A. Gogarty M.D. physician
James Reid F.R.C.S. England, consulting surgeon
F. Wacher, M.R.C.S., consulting surgeon
T.W. Reid M.R.C.S., surgeon
J. Greasley M.R.C.S., surgeon
Sidney Wacher F.R.C.S., surgeon
Z. Prentice M.R.C.S., surgeon (*Zachariah Prentice)
R.S.N. Faro L.D.S., England, dental surgeon
Norman Routh Phillips M.R.C.S. England, L.R.C.P. London, house surgeon
William H. Duncan L.R.C.P. & S. Edin. assistant house surgeon
Rev. M. F. Evans, chaplain
Arthur J. Lancaster, secretary
Miss A. M. Messum, Matron
Reception of the Royal East Kent Yeomanry in front of the Hospital - a postcard in my collection
Nurses and patients. Posted from Canterbury (not sure if this is actually Canterbury nurses) *from my collection
...two additional wings have been added and it now contains 91 beds: the number of in-patients treated during the year 1912 was 1,084 and of out-patients, 1,350 and 1,320 casualties, besides 784 dental cases; the daily average of in-patients was 71 and their average time in the hospital was 25 days. In 1902 the late Miss Fanny Blackman of Ramsgate, bequeathed £10,000 to the hospital to found a Blackman Ward. 1913
Irish VAD Nurse Hilda Knight, Canterbury Military Hospital, May 3rd 1917
Picture courtesy of the family
c1927
Kent & Canterbury Hospital, at this site, closed 1937
The New Hospital - a postcard in my collection
© T. Machado 2014