Rainhill Hospital
Posted: 30 Jul 2009 10:08
I came across a reply on the St Helens Board in response to an enquiry about the above, so thanks to Margie for the following information, thought I'd keep it on here for posterity.
Ref. No M614 RAI
Title Rainhill Hospital
Date 1851-1981
Description Admissions records
1 Admissions papers
2 Criminal lunatic admissions papers
3 Haydock Lodge admissions
4 Index books
5 Admissions registers ('civil registers')
6 Private patients: registers of admissions
7 Register of temporary patients
Case records
8 Casebooks: female patients
9 Annexe casebooks: female patients
10 Death and discharge books: female patients
11 Casebooks: male patients
12 Annexe casebooks: male patients
13 Death and discharge books: male patients
14 Death and discharge papers: male and female
Patient status records
15 Medical registers
16 General register
17 Special reports and certificates book
18 Regrading books
19 Patients register: charges on local authorities
Death or leaving records
20 Death statement and notice book
21 Register of deaths
22 Register of discharge and departures
23 Register of discharges of patients upon trial
24 Discharge certificates
Clinical or medical records
25 Pathological reports
26 Reports of specific conditions
27 Other clinical records
28 Medical officers journal
29 Head night nurse report book (female)
Administrative records
30 Committee of visitors: minute books
31 Committee of visitors: visitor's book
32 Chaplains reports
33 Hospital Management Committee
34 Finance Committee
35 Finance Sub-Committee
36 General Purpose Sub-Committee
37 Building and Planning Sub-Committee
38 Farm Committee
39 Staff changes
40 Annual reports
41 Printed material
42 Miscellaneous administrative records
Records of other organisations
43 Institute of Hospital Administrators
44 St Helens Hospital
45 Whaley Bridge and Openshaw rent books
Admin. History
Rainhill Hospital (formerly named Rainhill Lunatic Asylum and later Rainhill Mental Hospital) was a large psychiatric hospital situated a few miles outside St Helens. The original building was designed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes (the architect of St George's Hall in Liverpool) who died in 1847, 4 years before the hospital opened in 1851 as one of the Lancashire county asylums. The asylum was badly needed: it was built to accommodate 300 patients and opened with approximately 220. By 1852, the committee was having to admit 400 patients and from then onwards was constantly reporting that the asylum was overcrowded.
Expansion began in an attempt to accommodate these increasingly large numbers of patients. In 1859, additional wards were built to house another 228 patients and 32 single rooms were added to existing wards, along with a recreation hall and new workshops. In 1860 it was decided that the hospital should purchase the farm on the opposite side of the road, for £2100.
The problem of accommodation was aggravated by the fact that chronic and incurable patients were being admitted to the hospital, using beds that could otherwise have been taken by acute cases. The hospital committee wanted these cases to be taken by the local workhouses. In 1877, the Medical Superintendent, Dr Rogers, started a crusade for a new asylum. He decided that if land were available, it would be an advantage to expand Rainhill Asylum, rather than build a separate establishment, and to split the site between chronic and acute cases.
In 1878, the county authorities purchased land for the building of the annexe. It was designed by G E Grayson to house around 1000 patients and was opened in April 1887; it was used for patients whose conditions had seriously deteriorated.
Further expansion of the hospital included the building of a detached Infectious Diseases Hospital between 1892 and 1895, a Nurses Home which opened in 1896, the Roman Catholic Chapel and extensions to both the main building and annexe in 1898. Reeve Hall was built in 1936 and the old recreation hall it had replaced was converted into kitchens in 1938. In the same year a new Admissions Hospital, latterly the Benedict Clinic, was approved by the committee. During the 2nd World War, this building was used to accommodate more than 100 patients admitted from the armed forces. By 1949, the building had been vacated and was returned to its intended purpose as an admissions hospital. In 1956 the Hospital Committee decided to dispose of the hospital farm which was eventually sold.
In 1991 the gradual closure of the hospital through the 1980s was completed; most of the patients went into community care, while the acute cases were transferred to Whiston Hospital.
AccessConditions Some records in this collection contain sensitive personal health information and are closed for 100 years. This is in accordance with Section 1 (Principles 1, 2 and 7) of the Data Protection Act, 1998. Permission to consult closed records should be sought from the Assistant Director of Operations, Whiston Hospital, Warrington Road, Prescot, Merseyside L35 5DR. Access to all other records is open to any accredited reader.
Source: Liverpool Record Office
Central Library, William Brown Street, Liverpool L3 8EW
and thanks to Scipio for the following
Against M614RAI- Rainhill Hospital 1851-1981 it states
"Some records in this collection contain sensitive personal health information and are closed for 100 years. This is in accordance with Section 1 (Principles 1, 2 and 7) of the Data Protection Act, 1998. Permission to consult closed records should be sought from the Assistant Director of Operations, Whiston Hospital, Warrington Road, Prescot, Merseyside L35 5DR. Access to all other records is open to any accredited reader."
and if you think your ancestor may have been buried or cremated in St Helens Cemetary as a result of dying in Rainhill Hospital, you can search here
http://crem.oltps.sthelens.gov.uk:8080/ ... ch#results
Ref. No M614 RAI
Title Rainhill Hospital
Date 1851-1981
Description Admissions records
1 Admissions papers
2 Criminal lunatic admissions papers
3 Haydock Lodge admissions
4 Index books
5 Admissions registers ('civil registers')
6 Private patients: registers of admissions
7 Register of temporary patients
Case records
8 Casebooks: female patients
9 Annexe casebooks: female patients
10 Death and discharge books: female patients
11 Casebooks: male patients
12 Annexe casebooks: male patients
13 Death and discharge books: male patients
14 Death and discharge papers: male and female
Patient status records
15 Medical registers
16 General register
17 Special reports and certificates book
18 Regrading books
19 Patients register: charges on local authorities
Death or leaving records
20 Death statement and notice book
21 Register of deaths
22 Register of discharge and departures
23 Register of discharges of patients upon trial
24 Discharge certificates
Clinical or medical records
25 Pathological reports
26 Reports of specific conditions
27 Other clinical records
28 Medical officers journal
29 Head night nurse report book (female)
Administrative records
30 Committee of visitors: minute books
31 Committee of visitors: visitor's book
32 Chaplains reports
33 Hospital Management Committee
34 Finance Committee
35 Finance Sub-Committee
36 General Purpose Sub-Committee
37 Building and Planning Sub-Committee
38 Farm Committee
39 Staff changes
40 Annual reports
41 Printed material
42 Miscellaneous administrative records
Records of other organisations
43 Institute of Hospital Administrators
44 St Helens Hospital
45 Whaley Bridge and Openshaw rent books
Admin. History
Rainhill Hospital (formerly named Rainhill Lunatic Asylum and later Rainhill Mental Hospital) was a large psychiatric hospital situated a few miles outside St Helens. The original building was designed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes (the architect of St George's Hall in Liverpool) who died in 1847, 4 years before the hospital opened in 1851 as one of the Lancashire county asylums. The asylum was badly needed: it was built to accommodate 300 patients and opened with approximately 220. By 1852, the committee was having to admit 400 patients and from then onwards was constantly reporting that the asylum was overcrowded.
Expansion began in an attempt to accommodate these increasingly large numbers of patients. In 1859, additional wards were built to house another 228 patients and 32 single rooms were added to existing wards, along with a recreation hall and new workshops. In 1860 it was decided that the hospital should purchase the farm on the opposite side of the road, for £2100.
The problem of accommodation was aggravated by the fact that chronic and incurable patients were being admitted to the hospital, using beds that could otherwise have been taken by acute cases. The hospital committee wanted these cases to be taken by the local workhouses. In 1877, the Medical Superintendent, Dr Rogers, started a crusade for a new asylum. He decided that if land were available, it would be an advantage to expand Rainhill Asylum, rather than build a separate establishment, and to split the site between chronic and acute cases.
In 1878, the county authorities purchased land for the building of the annexe. It was designed by G E Grayson to house around 1000 patients and was opened in April 1887; it was used for patients whose conditions had seriously deteriorated.
Further expansion of the hospital included the building of a detached Infectious Diseases Hospital between 1892 and 1895, a Nurses Home which opened in 1896, the Roman Catholic Chapel and extensions to both the main building and annexe in 1898. Reeve Hall was built in 1936 and the old recreation hall it had replaced was converted into kitchens in 1938. In the same year a new Admissions Hospital, latterly the Benedict Clinic, was approved by the committee. During the 2nd World War, this building was used to accommodate more than 100 patients admitted from the armed forces. By 1949, the building had been vacated and was returned to its intended purpose as an admissions hospital. In 1956 the Hospital Committee decided to dispose of the hospital farm which was eventually sold.
In 1991 the gradual closure of the hospital through the 1980s was completed; most of the patients went into community care, while the acute cases were transferred to Whiston Hospital.
AccessConditions Some records in this collection contain sensitive personal health information and are closed for 100 years. This is in accordance with Section 1 (Principles 1, 2 and 7) of the Data Protection Act, 1998. Permission to consult closed records should be sought from the Assistant Director of Operations, Whiston Hospital, Warrington Road, Prescot, Merseyside L35 5DR. Access to all other records is open to any accredited reader.
Source: Liverpool Record Office
Central Library, William Brown Street, Liverpool L3 8EW
and thanks to Scipio for the following
Against M614RAI- Rainhill Hospital 1851-1981 it states
"Some records in this collection contain sensitive personal health information and are closed for 100 years. This is in accordance with Section 1 (Principles 1, 2 and 7) of the Data Protection Act, 1998. Permission to consult closed records should be sought from the Assistant Director of Operations, Whiston Hospital, Warrington Road, Prescot, Merseyside L35 5DR. Access to all other records is open to any accredited reader."
and if you think your ancestor may have been buried or cremated in St Helens Cemetary as a result of dying in Rainhill Hospital, you can search here
http://crem.oltps.sthelens.gov.uk:8080/ ... ch#results