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Lordswood Maternity Home

DJRVST

DJRVST

master brummie
Do any photographs exist of Lordswood Maternity Home Harbourne? I belive it was first used pre WW11 and demolished in the 60's or 70's. (Too late now for a Blue Plaque for me!!!)
Thanks
DJRVST
 
And another, 1950 for me, unfortunately didn't have my camera with me...


regards
Neville.
 
Hi
My wife was born at lordswood Maternity home in 1952. Is the building still there, or has it been demolished.
 
LORDSWOOD MATERNITY HOSPITAL

Brief History of the Property

Lordswood Maternity Hospital started life as a large private house - Lordswood House - built in 1856 by the Rev. Thomas Smith, the first vicar of the original St. John's Church, who lived there for eleven years. Later, the house became the home of Hume Pinsent, a solicitor with offices in Bennett's Hill. In November 1911, Hume' s wife Ellen Pinsent became the first woman to be elected to Birmingham City Council, standing in the Edgbaston Ward. She was made a Dame of the British Empire for her mental health reform work in 1938 and died in 1949. The Austrian philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, was a close friend of David Pinsent, Hume and Ellen's son, and stayed with the family in 1912 and 1913.



In May 1915, two years after the Pinsents moved to Oxford, the house became a Voluntary Aid Detachment hospital during the Great War. This "Convalescent Hospital" originally had 30 beds but increased to 70 and treated 2,152 casualties during World War I. Shirley Elliott wrote that her Canadian father was treated in the Hospital after being in the front line at Passchendaele and added "Dad had nothing but glowing praise for the care he received in Birmingham".



In 1926 it became Lordswood Residential Nursery for "bottlefed infants" and nursery nurses were trained there. In October 1938 the children and nurses were evacuated to Overbury in Worcestershire ostensibly for the duration of the war but in fact the nursery never returned to Lordswood House. Its use was changed again and it became Lordswood Maternity Hospital in the mid-1940s until its closure in 1968.

Reminiscences of Monica Barratt

Monica, a longstanding member of the Harborne Society, is a Harborne lady born and bred. She was born in Moorpool A venue, lived most of her life at 12 Park Hill Road (where her mother remembered the cows in a nearby field), only moving in the last three years to a retirement flat. Her school was always St. Paul's in Vernon Road, Edgbaston.

Monica trained to be a nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (now the "Old QE"), living under a strict regime in the nurses' home in Nuffield House where one had to be in by 10 p.m! She moved to London to do her Part 1 Midwifery training, returning to Birmingham to do her Part 2 and become a practising Midwife at Marston Green Hospital.

From Marston Green she was "loaned" in 1957 to Lordswood Maternity Hospital for 6 months, but stayed for 11 years, becoming the departmental Sister running the labour and postnatal wards. She was there until it closed in 1968, finishing her career at the Sorrento Maternity Hospital in Moseley.

Lordswood was a Maternity Hospital, not just a "Home", as they did operations there. It was not a private hospital; patients were referred there by their G.P.s. The address was 44 Lordswood Road and that address was on many birth certificates as "Place of Birth".

There were about 40 patient beds, with some wards downstairs and some upstairs. Mothers at that time were kept in for 10 days. They were not allowed to walk upstairs, so anyone who needed to be transferred was wheeled to the foot of the stairs and then carried up on a stretcher canvas by two nurses, assisted by the one porter if available. Many a nurse developed back problems in those days before Health and Safety rules. It was not until 18 months before the Hospital was closed down that a lift was installed. While that work was going on the patients were transferred to Redditch and the staff were taxied there.

The entrance was to the side of the building. At one end were the kitchen and a staff sitting room. The staff dining room was at the back overlooking the lovely garden. The gardener, John, once discovered a crate of glass feeding bottles, presumably left there from the days when the house served to train nursery nurses. To one side of the Hospital were small allotments and a type of portacabin was erected there which served as a clinic. The house next door, 42 Lordswood Road, which had previously been the home of the poet W. H. Auden, became the nurses' home. Monica herself lived there for 6 months.

Monica delivered many Harborne babies over the years. One such was handed to his mother with the words _ "he's got daisy crushers" (referring to his big feet) "_ he'll be a copper". She was delighted when many years later the Mum introduced herself, reminded Monica of her prediction, and confirmed that he was, in fact, now a Police Inspector! Monica is also proud that she delivered the son of the President of the Harborne Society, Mary Abbott.



Margaret Miles















Lordswood House Matwernity Home.jpegLordswood House pic.jpegLordswood Maternity Hospital rear.jpg
 
Dennis Williams said:
LORDSWOOD MATERNITY HOSPITAL

Brief History of the Property

Lordswood Maternity Hospital started life as a large private house - Lordswood House - built in 1856 by the Rev. Thomas Smith, the first vicar of the original St. John's Church, who lived there for eleven years. Later, the house became the home of Hume Pinsent, a solicitor with offices in Bennett's Hill. In November 1911, Hume' s wife Ellen Pinsent became the first woman to be elected to Birmingham City Council, standing in the Edgbaston Ward. She was made a Dame of the British Empire for her mental health reform work in 1938 and died in 1949. The Austrian philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, was a close friend of David Pinsent, Hume and Ellen's son, and stayed with the family in 1912 and 1913.



In May 1915, two years after the Pinsents moved to Oxford, the house became a Voluntary Aid Detachment hospital during the Great War. This "Convalescent Hospital" originally had 30 beds but increased to 70 and treated 2,152 casualties during World War I. Shirley Elliott wrote that her Canadian father was treated in the Hospital after being in the front line at Passchendaele and added "Dad had nothing but glowing praise for the care he received in Birmingham".



In 1926 it became Lordswood Residential Nursery for "bottlefed infants" and nursery nurses were trained there. In October 1938 the children and nurses were evacuated to Overbury in Worcestershire ostensibly for the duration of the war but in fact the nursery never returned to Lordswood House. Its use was changed again and it became Lordswood Maternity Hospital in the mid-1940s until its closure in 1968.

Reminiscences of Monica Barratt

Monica, a longstanding member of the Harborne Society, is a Harborne lady born and bred. She was born in Moorpool A venue, lived most of her life at 12 Park Hill Road (where her mother remembered the cows in a nearby field), only moving in the last three years to a retirement flat. Her school was always St. Paul's in Vernon Road, Edgbaston.

Monica trained to be a nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (now the "Old QE"), living under a strict regime in the nurses' home in Nuffield House where one had to be in by 10 p.m! She moved to London to do her Part 1 Midwifery training, returning to Birmingham to do her Part 2 and become a practising Midwife at Marston Green Hospital.

From Marston Green she was "loaned" in 1957 to Lordswood Maternity Hospital for 6 months, but stayed for 11 years, becoming the departmental Sister running the labour and postnatal wards. She was there until it closed in 1968, finishing her career at the Sorrento Maternity Hospital in Moseley.

Lordswood was a Maternity Hospital, not just a "Home", as they did operations there. It was not a private hospital; patients were referred there by their G.P.s. The address was 44 Lordswood Road and that address was on many birth certificates as "Place of Birth".

There were about 40 patient beds, with some wards downstairs and some upstairs. Mothers at that time were kept in for 10 days. They were not allowed to walk upstairs, so anyone who needed to be transferred was wheeled to the foot of the stairs and then carried up on a stretcher canvas by two nurses, assisted by the one porter if available. Many a nurse developed back problems in those days before Health and Safety rules. It was not until 18 months before the Hospital was closed down that a lift was installed. While that work was going on the patients were transferred to Redditch and the staff were taxied there.

The entrance was to the side of the building. At one end were the kitchen and a staff sitting room. The staff dining room was at the back overlooking the lovely garden. The gardener, John, once discovered a crate of glass feeding bottles, presumably left there from the days when the house served to train nursery nurses. To one side of the Hospital were small allotments and a type of portacabin was erected there which served as a clinic. The house next door, 42 Lordswood Road, which had previously been the home of the poet W. H. Auden, became the nurses' home. Monica herself lived there for 6 months.

Monica delivered many Harborne babies over the years. One such was handed to his mother with the words _ "he's got daisy crushers" (referring to his big feet) "_ he'll be a copper". She was delighted when many years later the Mum introduced herself, reminded Monica of her prediction, and confirmed that he was, in fact, now a Police Inspector! Monica is also proud that she delivered the son of the President of the Harborne Society, Mary Abbott.



Margaret Miles















View attachment 151223View attachment 151224View attachment 151225
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I am remiss in not replying before about this interesting post. I was born there in 1946 and 44 Lordswood Road is given as the place.
 
DJRVST said:
I am remiss in not replying before about this interesting post. I was born there in 1946 and 44 Lordswood Road is given as the place.
Click to expand...
I was also born there in 1950 and yes it says 44 Lordswood Road as place of birth on my birth certificate. I always look over to the area whenever I go past. Jen
 
if you put lordswood maternity hospital in the search box we have a few posts about it...

lyn
 
Hi, my grandad's birth certificate lists his place of birth as 44 Lordswood Road, which we've researched and have seen that this was once Lordswood Maternity home. He was born in October 1955 and then fostered out. We have been trying to trace his birth family as we only have the name of his birth mother on his birth certificate, but we aren't sure if this was her actual name. I'm wondering if anyone has any information about the hospital at this time, or some advice on how to find information about his birth (such as how long would she have stayed here, would she have had to be from the local area to use this hospital, would they have been the ones to register her name etc...). Any help would be lovely, thank you!

(he was born in October of 1955, then fostered out in 1957 by County Borough of West Bromwich Children's Committee, which we know nothing about either. He was fostered by a couple who changed his name but never adopted him officially. We don't know how long he was actually in foster care for before being fostered out. Unfortunately my grandad passed away in 2011 and my dad has been continuing his search ever since, so I've been trying to help out. We have done an Ancestry DNA test and do believe we know the name of his birth father, but his birth mother has been a lot harder to narrow down.)
 
hi izzy...never an easy one...not sure if the west brom childrens committee still exists..i have never heard of them but have you tried phoning birmingham social services even if they dont have your grandads records someone must have them and they maybe able to point you in the right direction of how to access your grandads foster records..

lyn
 
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