Altrincham - Infectious Diseases Isolation Hospital

In 1911 a new Isolation Hospital for Altrincham was officially opened on the corner of Sinderland Road and Craven Road in Broadheath. This replaced the Lloyd’s Fever Hospital on Lloyd Street in Altrincham.

A Brief History of Altrincham’s Isolation Hospitals

The first facility for isolating patients with serious infectious diseases in Altrincham was a small building constructed in 1840 on Hale Moss near where Stamford Park is now situated.[1]

This was essentially a wooden hut, with no facilities for treatment, the purpose of which was to prevent diseases like smallpox spreading through the town’s population. It soon outgrew its purpose as the number of inhabitants of the town expanded and it was closed in 1850.[2]

Dr Robert Rawlinson’s Report to Altrincham’s General Board of Health in 1851 highlighted that the mortality rate in the town was very high compared to other well-regulated districts, and particularly poor for a town that was so favourably situated. Typhus Fever was a regular annual occurrence and there were many cases of dysentery caused by an inadequate water supply, poor drainage and sewerage and sub-standard living conditions. [3] 

In August 1850 a meeting was held with a view to obtaining subscriptions towards establishing a memorial to the late Edward Jeremiah Lloyd of Oldfield Hall, Altrincham in Bowdon Church. It was further agreed that the subscription should be opened to the general public to obtain further funds for the erection of a hospital to be called “Lloyd’s Hospital”.[4]

Construction started by November 1852[5] and ready for the committee superintending the building work to inspect by March 1853. ‘It appears to be a very commodious and suitable building for the purpose, and one that has been wanted at Altrincham for years.’ 

The land had been donated by the Earl of Stamford and the building was completed for the sum of £600.[6] This was on land that was formerly the pinfold, where stray animals had been kept, and where Lloyd’s Gardens now stands.

The building contained four large wards for patients, five smaller rooms, a kitchen, baths and every convenience. The rooms were described as ‘lofty, airy and well ventilated’.[7]

The first page of the report of Lloyds Hospital and Children’s Dispensary for the year 1858, reported that:

‘The Hospital is intended for the reception of patients resident in the township of Altrincham and Bowden [sic] affected by fever or infectious nature and also for cases of serious accidents occurring to poor and destitute persons of the same township.’[8]

The report also showed that the hospital had no medical staff, but any doctor attended his own patients there.

The Lloyd’s Hospital Charity was very successful and ran the establishment very efficiently, and, in 1861, the additional service of the Provident Dispensary was created to extend its work. [9] It treated ten fever in-patients in the year, with nine surviving, and 343 out-patients in the year of the report. Low-cost membership for working families was taken up by 654 members.[10] 

However these facilities were proving insufficient for the increasing population and in 1870 the new Altrincham Provident Dispensary and Hospital was established on the corner of Market Street and Regent Road.

Lloyd’s Fever Hospital continued its work on Lloyd Street[11] but, as early as March 1877, a proposal was put from the trustees of Lloyd’s Fever Hospital to hand its running over to the Altrincham Local Board. One Board member opined that the Fever Hospital was ‘in the wrong place, as there was a large quantity of cottage property surrounding it and numerous children were constantly playing about it.’ [12]

This sowed the seeds of the idea of relocating the isolation hospital further from the town. An outbreak of smallpox in that year highlighted the inadequate hospital accommodation in the town - 66 cases between January and the beginning of June, with 23 deaths, 12 of which occurred at Lloyd’s Fever Hospital.[13]

By August an additional building with a brick foundation and a timber frame covered in galvanised corrugated iron sheets was constructed behind Lloyd’s Fever Hospital to provide an additional twelve beds at a cost of £550.[14]  In 1890 the hospital’s capacity was increased to forty-four beds and included a children’s ward with twelve cots.[15] 

By 1897 there was a proposal to rebuild Lloyd’s Fever Hospital as, in recent years the situation in which it was situated had completely altered and, instead of being in a rural district, it was now in the midst of a densely populated area [the development of Newtown]. Both the District Council and the trustees of the hospital believed it would better serve the public if it were to be removed to a more spacious environment.[16] 

In 1902 Cheshire County Council wrote to Altrincham Urban District Council applying pressure on the Council to provide adequate accommodation for isolation of infectious diseases.[17]

In February the following year the Council decided not to proceed with the purchase of Oldfield Hall for an Isolation Hospital.[18] In March that year there was a case of smallpox in a labouring man who was lodging in Chapel Street who was removed to the temporary hospital in Sinderland,[19]  and two weeks later there were four patients.[20] In the same month the Joint Councils of Altrincham and Bowdon decided to go ahead with the construction of a new isolation hospital.[21]   

In September 1903 the Altrincham Council confirmed that a new infectious diseases hospital with accommodation for 30 beds would go ahead[22] and a year later it decided that it would be on a site in Oldfield Road.[23] This did not happen and by July 1907 it was announced that the Earl of Stamford had provided a site in Sinderland Lane, Dunham Massey at a nominal price, and that Cheshire County Council had agreed to contribute one third of the structural and establishment expenses.[24]

Altrincham Council would be making an application to the Local Government Board for a loan of £11300 to pay for its construction.[25] Bucklow Rural Council objected to this location on the grounds that it had spent a large sum installing a sewer to enable the development of housing in Dunham Massey,[26] and the development would reduce the  rateable values.[27]

However, following an inquiry, the Local Government Board sanctioned the loan on condition that Altrincham Council would take patients from the wider Bucklow District when beds were available.[28]

By 1909 Lloyd’s Fever Hospital had been in use for 56 years.[29] In 1912, after the opening of the new hospital, the Charity Commission published a notice that the site and building of Lloyd’s Fever Hospital would be sold for a sum of £850.[30]

The Architect

William Owen (19 Feb 1852 – 5 Ag 1909) of Altrincham and Duchy Chambers, Clarence Street, Manchester was the appointed architect. He was born in Altrincham and educated in Bowdon and Manchester School of Art. He was responsible for designing several buildings in the Altrincham area. These include: - Navigation Road School, Broadheath; Normanhurst, Brooklands Road, Sale; Chapel at Altrincham General Cemetery, Hale Road, Hale and the Baptist Chapel on the corner of Byrom Street and Hale Road, Bowdon.[31] 

The contractor was M. Stone & Sons, Altrincham. The accepted tender was £8700 which was £410 more than the lowest of the ten tenders submitted, but the Council explained that the contract was awarded to a local firm to provide employment for local people.[32]

On 3 February 1909 the first sod of the new hospital on the corner of Sinderland Lane and what is now Craven Road was cut by Mr G. Thompson.[33] A tender for laying out carriage ways at the new hospital was put out in July 1910, [34] followed by a furnishing contract in November that year.[35]

The Plans

Trafford Local Studies possesses two envelopes of plans which were drawn up in April 1907. (PLA/2/BUC/1907/1/1167 envelopes 1 & 2) Included in the second envelope is a notice of intention to build signed 26 Aug 1907, with a note dated 19 May 1908 stating that amended plans had been presented.

Above are the proposed plans for the Block Plan of the site and the two-bedroom Porter’s Lodge.

The block plan indicates the position of the three patient blocks for Scarlatina, Typhoid and Diphtheria, the Administrative Block, the Laundry, the Porter’s Lodge, an Out Bathroom Block and a small Observation Block at the centre of the site. It also includes two sites for future extension.

Plan 2 shows the designs for the Administrative Block. This was a two-storey block with an imposing entrance door and bay windows on the ground floor. There were four rooms downstairs at the front of the block, two each side of the entrance hall.

On the left were rooms for the Matron(s) and the Doctor, and on the right were the Nurses’ Dining and Sitting Rooms. Behind these stores for clothing and bedding and toilets and, on the right a kitchen, servery and scullery.

At the rear of the building on the far side of the yard were stores for tools and fuel and a larder and pantry.

Upstairs above the front part of the building were four bedrooms for nurses and two for servants as well as a store for bedding and a bathroom and a toilet.

The Diphtheria Block and the Out Bathroom Block are detailed on Plan 3. The Diphtheria Block is over 122 feet in length and contains two wards, one for two and one for three patients. At each end of the building is a Vent Lobby with outside access for soiled laundry and utensils.

Between the two wards is a Duty Room, an Entrance Hall, stores and a room for bathing and receiving patients. The Out Bathing Block consisted of four rooms – a bathroom with a Dressing and Undressing Room on each side and a W.C.

Plan 4 shows the layout and elevation of the Laundry with a Wash House, a Drying Room, a Mortuary, an Ambulance House and an Incinerator. The Observation Block consisted of a pair of single bedrooms, each with its own bathroom and W.C. Between the rooms was a Duty Room and a lobby which provided entrance to the two bedrooms.

The Scarlatina Pavilion was 160 feet long and contained two wards of the same size, each designed to accommodate nine patients. These were separated by a Duty Room and a corridor and a single bed Separation Ward for each of the larger wards. At each end was a patient receiving entrance divided into three rooms - a bathroom, a W.C. and a slop sink (Plan 6).

The Typhoid Pavilion was just over 111 feet long and was designed on a similar layout to the Scarlatina Pavilion. This contained two wards, one for two patients and one for three. (Plan 6)

Both buildings were designed originally with covered verandahs outside, but these were omitted from the final design. These were joined together by a glass covered way, 44 feet in length.

In order to ensure the optimum amount of fresh air to circulate in the hospital the adoption of the " Anstral " system was proposed, in which the window below the transom consists of two frames, balanced together, which turn on horizontal pivots, and can be inclined at any desired angle.[36] These can clearly be seen in the photograph of the Scarlatina Ward above.

The First Matron

This post of Matron was taken by Miss Lilian A. Parsons who held it for five and a half years before moving to the Chelsea Infirmary and then to be Matron of the Princess Patricia Hospital in Bray, Ireland.[37] Some of her successors are named in the endnotes.[38]

Official Opening

Arrangements were made to enable the public to inspect the institution in mid-September 1910.[39]

On 18 January 1911 the hospital was officially opened by Mr J. Taylor Hughes, Chairman of the Hospital Committee, who was presented with a silver key and a tablet in the Hall which bore the names of the architects and members of the Council.

It was set in four acres of land and would provide 32 beds for patients with scarlatina, typhoid and diphtheria.[40] An article in the Alderley & Wilmslow Advertiser,[41] celebrated the fact that ‘public authorities were at last beginning to understand the extreme gravity of their responsibilities regarding the provision of quarters for fever patients’, before describing all the facilities in detail.

The Inhabitants

The 1911 Census shows that the Matron, Lilian Parsons, aged 32, was in charge of four nurses, a cook, a housemaid, two ward maids, a between maid and a married couple who were the Porter and the Laundress. At the time of the census the hospital had just two resident patients, both children under ten years old.

The 1921 Census records two trained nurses, four nurses in training and 4 servants. The porter and laundress, a married couple, lived in the lodge at the main gate and a boilerman lived with his family in Denmark Street, Altrincham. There were eight patients in residence, 5 between six and eight and three one-year olds.

The picture in 1939 is less clear as a proportion of the records, probably child patients, remain closed. It is still possible to identify the matron, a staff nurse, some probationer nurses, a cook, a ward maid, a nurse maid, a kitchen hand, and the porter and his wife.

Some Events in the History of the Hospital

The Hospital began to embrace new technology when it received a check for £100 from the Mayor’s Land Trustees in 1927, £25 of which was to be used for installation of a wireless.[42] At a meeting of Altrincham Council in January 1928 it was confirmed that the local speakers were working but the installation of headphones had not yet been completed.[43]

Two reports of fires at the Isolation Hospital have been located. In April 1934 a man living in the vicinity of the hospital prevented a serious outbreak in the Administration Block. He noticed flames in a large bedroom occupied by the maids and with the assistance of hospital staff and another man who happened to be passing, used extinguishers to put the fire out.
The fire occurred through a curtain from an open window encountering a lighted gas mantle. Damage was limited to the window frame, a portion of bedding and a small quantity of furniture.[44]

The second fire, in Jun 1936, was believed to have started by a flash of lightening striking a corrugated iron and timber structure used for the recreation of convalescent patients. The Matron and nurses moved the children in the nearby scarlet fever observation ward to the far end of the ward and kept them calm.[45]

In 1934 a scandal at the hospital resulted in the matron, sister, and four members of the domestic staff being asked to resign. The reason given was that the Council were not satisfied with the administration of the hospital, though it found no fault with the nursing staff.[46]  An inquiry was held in secret under the chairmanship of Councillor Weston, Chair of the Hospital, Fire and Ambulance Committee. This was kept a secret by the Council for some three months.

The issues seem to have been the breakdown of discipline, with rules being flagrantly disobeyed, the filthy state of the administration block and unsatisfactory condition of the kitchen, and allegations that terrier dogs had been bred in the administration block. The painting of the building was in a sorry state. The grounds and the trees were neglected. There was no working telephone connection between the administration block and the wards. Councillor Weston was criticised for speaking to the press on these issues without the authority of the council and was forced to make a public statement of apology that the Council accepted.[47]

Perhaps a reflection on the effectiveness of the efforts to prevent infectious diseases and the hospital itself is that in February 1938 the Altrincham district had its first case of Typhoid for many years. The patient was moved from Altrincham to Monsall Hospital, Manchester. The was, however an outbreak of diphtheria in the area of Oldfield Brow which had lasted from October to February.[48]

Jock McAvoy, the British Middleweight boxing champion, was admitted to the Isolation Hospital with diphtheria.[49] His real name was Joseph Patrick Bamford, from Burnley, and he adopted the name Jock McAvoy so that his mother would not know that he was boxing.

He was in the hospital for three weeks and was advised by the Medical Superintendent at the hospital to wait for a month to six weeks before returning to the ring. His daughter, Leonora was also brought to the hospital and had to remain for another week after her father was discharged on 23 Jan 1939,[50]

A crisis in staffing the Isolation Hospital was experienced in June 1945. Councillor Weston reported at an Altrincham Borough Council meeting that, “…two people there were trying to run the show without any domestic staff and cases are coming in from outside districts.” He complained that, despite advertising, they had not been able to recruit staff.[51] The issue made the daily press which reported that six weary women, the matron, sister and nurses were having to do all the domestic work, but central government were replying to appeals that “the labour is not available.”[52]Altrincham Maternity Hospital

The Isolation Hospital closed around 1947 and was converted to become Altrincham Maternity Hospital. An early indication of its change of purpose is that the new maternity hospital was advertising for staff in December 1947.[53]

The hospital was still functioning as a maternity hospital in the nineteen seventies but in 1977 it handled only 56 births.[54] The announcement that the 22 bed Altrincham Maternity Hospital would close on 31 Aug 1978 was reported in the Manchester Evening News.

Replacement maternity services would be provided at Urmston Cottage Hospital or Wythenshawe.[55] The reason for the closure was given as a shortage of midwives, though one letter to the same newspaper questioned whether the real reason was shortage of patients. [56]

A facility known as Gibson House Hospital operated on the site of the Maternity Hospital under the Mental Health Directorate of Trafford Health Authority[57] and there was a Geriatric unit on the site in 1985.[58]  Some other services such as the Psychiatric Nursing Team and the Area Works Team continued to be based on the site.

On the May Day Bank Holiday in 1993 Gibson House Hospital was ravaged by fire, and all of its records were destroyed.

Gibson House was described as ‘recently demolished’ in November 1993 when outline planning permission was granted for it to be developed for fifty-six homes by the Family Housing Association.[59] The approval of these plans was reported in March 1994.[60]

The Site Today

A modern housing development now sits on the site of the Altrincham Isolation Hospital. It is served by a new road, Gibson Road.

The boundary walls of the hospital are still standing on three sides. These enclose the estate of new houses, including housing association apartments.

Further Research

You can find more building plans and archival records using the Trafford Local Studies catalogue

Sources

[1]  Chas. Nickson, Bygone Altrincham, p. 87.

[2]  David Eastwood, One Hundred and Seventy Years of Healthcare Part 1: 1850s to the Beginning of the National Health Service, Altrincham History Society, Occasional Paper 27, 2014.

[3] Dr Robert Rawlinson, Report to the General Board of Health into the Sewage, Drainage &Supply of Water, and the Sanitary Conditions of the Inhabitants of Altrincham, London: Clowes & Son for HMSO, 1851.

[4] Manchester Courier, 10 Aug 1850, p.8.

[5] Manchester Courier, 6 Nov 1852, p.8.

[6] Alfred Ingham, A History of Altrincham and Bowdon, Warrington: Prism Books, 1983 (First published 1879).

[7] Manchester Courier, 19 Mar 1853, p.8.

[8] Anon, Altrincham Hospital and Provident Dispensary, a Sketch of the History of the Institution, Unknown publisher, undated. Trafford Local Studies, TRA 875/2/1-11. [8]

[9] Annual Report recorded in the Northwich Guardian, 29 Nov 1862, p.5.

[10] Northwich Guardian, 29 Nov 1862, p.5.

[11] Runcorn Examiner, 10 Sep 1870, p.2.

[12] Northwich Guardian, 10 Mar 1877, p.6.

[13] Liverpool Daily Post, 4 Jun 1877, p.6.

[14] Northwich Guardian, 29 Aug 1877, p.3

[15] Runcorn Guardian, 16 Oct 1901, p.5.

[16] Altrincham, Bowdon and Hale Guardian, 6 Nov 1897, p.4.

[17] Manchester Evening News, 3 Dec 1902, p.2.

[18] Manchester Evening News, 4 Feb 1903, p.6.

[19] Northwich Guardian, 4 Mar 1903.

[20] Manchester Evening News, 16 Mar 1903, p.3.

[21] Manchester Courier, 4 Mar 1903, p.6.

[22] Manchester Courier, 15 Sep 1903, p.5.

[23] Manchester Evening News, 4 Sep 1904, p.2.

[24] Manchester Guardian, 3 Jul 1907, p.12

[25] Manchester Courier, 3 Jul 1907, p.8.

[26] Manchester Courier, 4 Jun 1908, p.10.

[27] Manchester Guardian, 4 Jun 1908, p.9.

[28] Northwich Guardian, 22 Aug 1908, p.5.

[29] Manchester Guardian, 4 Feb 1909, p.9.

[30] Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser, 6 Sep 1912, p.1.

[31] Isolation Hospital Sinderland Road Dunham Massey Altrincham - Building | Architects of Greater Manchester.[Accessed 7 Feb 2025).

[32] Building News, 22 Jan 1909, p.162.

[33] Manchester Guardian, 4 Feb 1909, p.9.

[34] Northwich Guardian, 29 Jul 1910, p.2.

[35] Northwich Guardian, 4 Nov 1910, p.2.

[36] Report on Isolation Hospitals in the Fortieth Annual Report of the Local Government Board 1910 – 1911, Supplement in continuation of the Report for the Medical Officer for the Board for 1910 – 11 by H. Franklin Parsons, M.D., HMSO 1912  Full text of "Report on isolation hospitals"[Accessed 7 Feb 2025].

[37] Weekly Irish Times, 5 Aug 1916, p.6.

[38] At the time of the 1921 Census Miss Mawr was Matron. Other Matrons included Miss G. Atkinson who left to go to an appointment in Rochdale in September 1925.  The hospital was again seeking a new Matron in June 1934. Mrs Edith Duckers was Matron in June 1936, and in June 1939 Miss G.W. Allen departed to take up a post at an Isolation Hospital in Castleford. Harriet Thomas was Matron at the time of the 1939 Register. Miss M. Dodding had been Matron for five years in June 1945.

[39] Manchester Evening News, 17 Sep 1910, p.6.

[40] Manchester Courier, 19 Jan 1911, p.8.

[41] Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser, 21 Apr 1911, p.4.

[42] Alderley & Wilmslow Advertiser, 10 Jun 1927, p.11.

[43] Alderley & Wilmslow Advertiser, 6 Jan 1928, p.11.

[44] Manchester Guardian, 17 Apr 1934. P.6.

[45] Liverpool Echo, 20 Jun 1936, p.5.

[46] Manchester Guardian, 6 Sep 1934, p.11. 

[47] Alderley & Wilmslow Advertiser, 14 Sep 1934, p.11.

[48] Manchester Guardian, 7 Feb 1938, p.12.

[49] Leicester Evening Mail, 14 Jan 1939, p.12.

[50] Manchester Evening News, 23 Jan 1939, p.5.

[51] Manchester Evening News, 6 Jun 1945, p.4.

[52] Daily Mirror, 8 Jun 1945, p.3.

[53] Manchester Guardian, 8 Dec 1947, p.2.

[54] https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1979/mar/23/maternity-units [Accessed 9 Feb 2025].

[55] Manchester Evening News, 26 Jul 1978. p.4.

[56] Manchester Evening News, 4 Aug 1978, p.12.

[57] Manchester Evening News, 9 Jan 1992, p.55.

[58] Manchester Evening News, 4 Apr 1985, p.59.

[59] Manchester Metro News, 19 Nov 1993, p.35; Construction News, 11 Nov 1993. https://www.constructionnews.co.uk [Accessed 24 Feb 2025].

[60] Manchester Metro News, 25 Mar 1994, p.29.