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Dudley Road Hospital -Peter Walker

hi,everyone, is there any lists, of ww2, soldiers who where injured, & stayed at dudley rd hospital, for treatment?. i am looking for a patrick sharkey, can anyone help with info please. many thanks, in advance,..regards,...christy..
 
Great photos for posterity's sake, though what a bleak and ghostly looking place it was. Thanks for sharing the pics. Stuart.
 
hi stuart..it is indeed a scary looking building...i had to pass it many times over the last 3 months while visiting dad...i have taken some pics of it but there is now 6ft fencing round it....virusmans pics are excellent..

astoness
 
hello,folks, is there anyone on the forum who has info on summerfield house,i,e childrens register & parents from 1906- onwards i amm sure my grandfather was there 1918-9. he then went to shenley-fields cottage homes till 1928, is there any info left to say they where there? please help!!. there mother also was in the work houses, aston. his name was jack preen, his mother clematina preen.. regards...christy..
 
hi stewart...thanks for putting the badge on the forum..its intriguing...it certainly looks like its a reference to dudley road hospital....hope you get some answers soon....

astoness:):):)
 
hi - this is indeed a qualified nurse badge from DRH - the blue top is for SRNs and a sinilar version with green top is SENs. Have tried to post some photos of this and others that may interest you
sue
 
Around 1967 I, along with a neighbour who was a semi-professional singer, went to entertain some of the male residents at Summerfield Hospital. I used to play guitar and sing folk songs. I can remember the corridors and the dark green and cream tiles. Very depressing place.

There were no windows the in room where we held the concert, just rows of chairs, a piano and a table with a couple of barrels of beer. The audience enjoyed the concert, singing along with If I Had a Hammer and Tom Dooley! One man had a harmonica and played it (quite tunelessly) the whole time!

Hope I contributed to a small ray of sunshine in a very dark world.

I
 
Stuart W said:
Hi All.
:confused2:Got this intriguing badge recently which I believe represents Dudley Road Hospital. It was awarded to a ‘M. J. O’Dowd 1939’ Would this person have been a nurse there? Anyone know why this badge was issued? I’ve included links to the pics.
Many thanks.
Stuart.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/23885771@N03/3389797612/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23885771@N03/3388987517/
Click to expand...

This response is a year late! I trained as a State Registered Nurse at DRH from 1955-8. The green badge with DRH was the badge we used to pin up one side of our white aprons. The other was pinned up with a watch. We wore blue uniforms with white cuffs and caps - like the Royal nurses programme. Black stockings - no trousers allowed. We worked 8am - 8pm with 3 hrs off during the day. We had one day off a week and one evening which often was not before a day off. On night duty we worked
12 hrs a night for 5 nights then had 2 off. To get a weekend we worked 10 nights of 12 hrs. Dudley Road Hospital was a general hospital and not the same as Summerfield - the old workhouse was in the same grounds. It was built according to Florence Nightingales reccommendations and staffed intially by Nightingale nurses. The standard of nursing was very high - no infections - absolute cleanliness was important when we only had 2 antibiotics in those days. Infected wounds were a disgrace! It was very hard work but very fulfilling. I was really happy there.
Muri
 
Seeking information on Mary Ann Jones-Nurse.
Henry James Smith-Visiting barber.
1914-1918.
 
Hi Sue.
Thank you for sharing the pictures of Dudley Road Hospital badge. They look great and very interesting too. I notice the used the DRH logo for the centenary medal. I wonder if that was the official logo of the hospital?

Hi Muri.
Thank you for the information. I have noted it and much appreciated.

Stuart.
 
One of my Grandads whom I remember quite well, died in Dudley Road Hospital 1951. Very sad to say, in 1994 my younger brother also died there. My other Grandad died in Western Road Hospital 1940 but I can't remember much about him, at one time he had a shoe shop in Winson Green.
Hopefully I shall write to the appropriate forum soon of the tragedy when his wife, my Gran took her own life in the local canal.
 
my great grandad died at 1 western road... i think its like a respite/ rest home and an annex of and just round the corner from dudley road hospital like a place to go to die for terminal patients
 
hi guys
i don,t know whether or not about some member as mentioned before now that dudley rd hospital was listed as 77 dudley rd
on birth certif; i have just received abirth certif;
for my mthers first child and its stated only 77 dudley rd
she told us many years ago that he was born in dudley rd hospital
and the wording of hospital was not mentioned [ just 77 dudley rd ]
any ideas as to why they did not put it on in those days
the year was 1937 i thought i would mention it as i am sure a long time ago some body asked about 77 dudley rd and people was not to sure of it , so i thought i would say yes its the hospital of yesterday
i was also born there and brought into the world by dr tracy
whom lived in selwyn rd edbaston and he was a heart specialist
and he held a surgery down spring hill in ingleby st
facing bulpitts before they used it as a ware house
it was the big dance hall the de pallie
have a nice day every body best wishes astonion ;;;
 
Astonian, thanks for that bit of info on 77 Dudley Road. I was born there in 1944 and in 1953 I won our coronation street party fancy dress wearing N° 77 and it's been my lucky number ever since that day!

Graham.
 
hi graham
i liked your fancy dress . was it the old andy pandy suit
and was the little girl lubie lou thats what i remember on the BBC childrens hour at 2 oclock them days
like your self i was born in dudley rd many years ago
they tell me its changed very dramitically, i have not been in there for donkeys years i was last in the westeren rd section
many years ago around the sixries or the sevenyies
when it was summerfield hospital for the aged
and the old routin house which changed for an hostel for the old single men in those days of the seventys
which was right next door to it infact it was right next door to the head porters office that was postioned in the arch way of the
summerfield entrance to the summerfield hospital
and the mortuary office where mr ridding whom did live in ickneild port rd him self was the mortuary attendant in those days unfortuately he and his family have all died i knew the family well
but getting back on track the old wards was smelling of death
it was over coming i had to leave my mother in there on here own the smell of death and seeing these elderly people being surported by strapps was over whelming and brought tears to my eyes and seeing my grand mother was to much for me
its certainly brrought memorys flooding back to me the mention of dudley rd and seeing this birth certif ;;
as i have said i was born there but mine did not have 77 typed on it it was the whole word dudley rd and no number on it but there again i was born later years so may be thats why they changedit i do not know but prior to1937 it was only addressed as 77 dudley rd
best wishes have a nice day astonion;;;;
 
Astonian,

Thanks for the reply the little girl, in my fancy dress photo, is covered in sweets as they had just then been taken off the ration. The little boy thinks that they are real sweets and he's trying to pick them off her dress!

I've heard that before about that smell of death at Dudley Rd. It must have been a terrible place and I think that there I must have picked up every child disease going at that time. I spent just about my first three years of "life" in hospital with, among other diseases, double pneumonia and meningitis and was given the last rites twice but you don't get rid of a real Brummie that easy! We’re tougher than weeds.
:D
 
hi cadeau
great photo I was born at Dudley Road 25/1/1947, it has Dudley Road UHC on my birth cert, I remember well sweet ration ending my dad came home with bags for us all blue bird toffees and a frys chocolate bar (small) we were all amazed.
regards
paul
 
Hi Paul,

I'm glad that the photo brings back memories of sweet rationing, what a big deal that was in 1953 for the British public and economy! We (Britain) were sending the Germans $1 000 000 a day in goods leaving us kids with one ration bon per week for 1/4 onz of sweets, that is if we could find the 6 (old) p to pay for them!:cry:

Graham.
 
No 77 Dudley Road where my mother and uncle born in war years, then whisked away..........
Hey, those flickrphotos of derelict hospital are great - very arresting - especially the rubbish of documents! That small white room is eerie -
 
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My father was born in a hospital in Birmingham in 1936 - does anyone know if the Dudley Road Hospital had a maternity unit in 1936? His family were living in Blackheath/Halesowen border, so Dudley Road is a likely place.
 
Virusman, thank you so much for the link to the photos of the Archway of Tears. I live fairly local to and have links, through my grandmother, to the old workhouse. Also a keen interest in urbex so these photos made for fascinating viewing..thanks again. :)
 
Hi can anyone help me my grandfather died at number 1 western rd is that dudley rd hospital? Also how do i obtain hospital records i know he died of bowel cancer in 1953 but he lost his arm at some point and im trying to find out how and where. He worked as a brick burner and his name was ernest samuel smith he lived at number 9 denmark street aston birmingham with my nan mary kathleen blake.
 
stewart I know that the old dudley road hosp was the old work house for winson green , I was born there in 1947.
 
Hi thanks for your reply would the hospital of had a number at that time because on his death certificate it has number 1 western rd or was there houses on that road thankyou,
 
STEWARD said:
Hi thanks for your reply would the hospital of had a number at that time because on his death certificate it has number 1 western rd or was there houses on that road thankyou,
Click to expand...
1 Western Road is the address that was used for that hospital for many years. My Gt. Grandfather died in there in 1939 and 1 Western Road is given as his last address on his burial records.
I think they started to use that address when it was still the workhouse so that it would appear on birth and death certificates as a proper address - then less people would know you had been born or had died in the workhouse.
Of course by the time your father had died it had been a hospital for many years.
:)
 
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