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Dudley Road Hospital -Peter Walker

  • Thread starter Thread starter zandrac
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zandrac

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Hi, can anyone point me in the right direction. A recently discovered lost relative was a nurse in this hospital during WW2 years. Delia Coleman (known as Fanny) Born in Westmeath, Ireland. Never heard from again. Where could I go to try and get nursing records or find out if she ws killed
 
Hi I looked here on the https://www.cwgc.org (Commonwealth war graves, they do have both service personal and civilians listed) and nothing showed up for that name.
Do you think she may have married while in the UK? If so she may have married an Englishman, a Commonwealth Serviceman, an Eruopean, or an American Serviceman. This may be one reason why the family never heard from her again.
If you can give date of birth, or other info' about what age she was, we may be able to find this out.

Chris/Pom :angel:
 
I rang the Birmingham City Hospital and got through to Human Resources (what a horrible name for staff). Anyway, no joy. Girl there said they only hold onto staff records for 7 years after they leave and was not very helpful.

I have no idea what her date of birth is as we only found out about her at a recent funeral. Her two brothers are long dead. It seems such a shame not to know what happened to her. I will try and get a DOB from the Irish Registry Office and post it if I can track it down.

Thanks for all help so far.
 
Hi,

I have found the following records ,you will only be able to verify that this is the lady you seek by obtaining certificates.

Delia Coleman married John F Troy 1944,Oct/Nov/Dec, Manchester
reference Vol 8d page 494

Searched 10 years after marriage and found.

Oct/Nov/Dec 1945, Macclesfield,Vincent C Troy mothers maiden name Coleman ref. Vol 8a page 269

Apr/May/June 1955,Surrey North,John Troy mothers maiden name Coleman.

In Sept 2000 there is a death in Surrey north of a Delia Troy age 85
date of birth given as 15th November 1914.The reference for thr certificate is
Register number NSF6, District 7571F, Entry 37
Although this is almost 9 years ago you may be able to find out something by the address given on the certificate and
who registered the death.

You can get the certificates from the General Register Office,they cost £7 each. Buy them online at
www.gro.gov.uk

I hope you find something useful here.
 
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I can't believe that you have found something so quickly. I am completely shocked. I have to find a birth certificate for her now to confirm the date but thank you so much for doing this. I will find out her DOB and get back to you as soon as I can.

Your a a little star!!!!:wave:

Thanks so much
 
zandrac - have tried to reply to your message but not sure if it got sent - so will post here. Sorry if its in the wrong place
there are 4 places you could try to get this info
1 - the NMC - nursing and midwifery council -our governing body - but have a feeling they may use data protection act.
2 - https://www.schoolsofnursing.co.uk/ a website run by like minded people who may be able to help you
3 there is a MSN website nurses reunited - can't think of their address
4- try contacting DRH or City hosp as its known now
hope this helps sue:wave:
 
Virusman , are you talking about Dudley road ,which is now called 'city' hospital, or All Saints asylum which was situated on land at the back of Dudley road hospital close to Winson green prison?
 
Virus man have just looked through the photo's and remember when Pete's mom died in there many years ago. He can't bring himself to look. Jean.
 
these are photos of Summerfield Hospital Western Rd . which was originally the workhouse.the hospital is or was at the side of Dudley Road hospital.in the 60s the Summerfield hospital became a geriatric Hospital and was still greatly feared by the older locals who thought that once admitted you would never come out
 
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Other half I used to work in a temporary office pre fab opposite Summerfield and it was horrible to watch the covered trolleys being wheeled out every day. Jean.
 
Hi Jean my other half grew up more or less next door Maggie said do you remember the old a b press button phone that was on the wall by the archway of tears
 
I worked in the temporary office block opposite round about 1965 but never went across but did visit Pete's mom but she was only in for 4 nights after suffering a massive stroke. Pete can't recolect it either. He does remember the night his mom died that the staff were so kind and there was a club room where they would go for a hot drink taking it in turns. Jean.
 
Both of my maternal grandparents died withing a few months of each other at Summerfield Hospital in 1972. It was, I have to say, a dreadful place. When my grandfather died my parents were living overseas and it was down to me to visit and, later, see to the formalities. I absolutely hated and loathed visiting that place. As usual, the nursing staff did their best, but it was so obviously a place where old people were put to die without much respect for normal human feelings and dignity. My grandfather contracted gangrene and had a leg amupated, and to this day I can recall the words of his 'doctor' who said something to the effect 'give the old boy a fortnight and he'll be out of it'. Shades of the workhouse indeed.

My mother died in City Hospital in 2000, and the difference in attitude and care could not have been greater. Fortunately she was bright as a button until almost the very end, and always said how well she was treated by both the nursing and the medical staff, who were without exception dedicated and attentive and above all cared about the dignity of their patients.

Big Gee
 
hi big gee and thanks for sharing your story with us.. what amazed me was the constrast in the two... after all 1972 was not a millon years ago but the difference in the attitude of the staff is quite astounding..

kind regards

astoness
 
Hello Astoness.

I never meant to even suggest that the Summerfield staff in those days were any less dedicated than their modern counterparts, and I hope I didn't convey that. It was just that attitudes were somewhat different then, and that the place seemed to me (and I was only 25 at the time) somewhere where old people were put to end their days without much concession to ordinary human dignities. Obviously we have moved on since then, I'm happy to say. In my mother's case I can remember going to see her not long before she died, and a nurse was sitting on the edge of her bed talking to her as friend-to-friend, and I don't think that kind of closeness was encouraged in Summerfield. Certainly the wholly humane attitude that I encountered greatly eased my mother's passing.

Big Gee.
 
My husbands gran was in Summerfield in the early 70's She was unable to walk and my mother in law could no longer look after her but felt almost guilty that her mother was in 'The Workhouse'. She went every day to see gran and would help the nursing staff by making tea, feeding those who couldn't feed them selves reading or talking to the old people. Finally she and a friend were volunteers on the ward, they woud do all the non medical jobs, and of course gran had her daughter with her until she died. My mother in law carried on until she became too old herself. I didn't enjoy visiting it was bleak I was young. I don't know about the doctors' attitude, I know that attitudes have changed a lot in the intervening years.

My own Aunt lived in a nursing home in her last years,she paid £300 a week to sit in a circle with little to keep her interested until one of us went in to see her. I'm not sure which is best, I don't want to think of either option.
 
Hi Di,

Yes, your experience of Summerfield ties in with mine. The word 'bleak' sums it up. Maybe it really was the last death-throes of the dreaded Workhouse...

The very thought of forking out big money to sit in a circle fills me with total dread - this is why I have recently completed a Living Will. I'd rather any money I had left over at the end of my useful life went to people who'd be able to put it to better use than that.

By the way, the other week I happened to be in Witton, and drove along The Broadway, Wenlock Road, Woodall Road and adjoining streets. Things, as they say, have changed....

Regards,

Big Gee
 
hi big gee... its ok i understand totally what you were trying to convey... and i am so glad your dear moms passing was made as comfortable as possible..

regards

astoness
 
Hi Graham, I walked from School down the Boadway and into Witton Road last year. Very different today.
 
Cadeau said:
Di, I don't know if that is good or bad? Good I guess when you think what it was like.
Click to expand...

Cadeau,

My name is Graham too, so maybe Di's last post was meant for me!!

This is going a bit off-thread, but I lived on The Broadway from 1946 to 1971. The area between Witton Road and Birchfield Road (we used to refer to it as Perry Barr) was, at least for the first 10 years of my life, perhaps best described as 'respectable working class' and I hope I don't offend anyone by that expression. When I was a kid a lot of our neighbours worked in manual jobs for local companies (mostly ICI Witton, as I recall), but our next-door neighbour was an accountant at Ansells Brewery. Our neighbour the other side was a precision engineer who worked for a firm that made weighing-equipment. My dad was an electrician. All very diverse. These days, that area is largely dependent upon North Birmingham College, and my old house is now a students' residence, as are many around there. Not to say that that is in any way bad, of course, but what I recall most about life there in the 1950's was just how incredibly quiet that area was. But I guess that applied to most neighbourhoods in those far-off days.

Big Gee.
 
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