Liverpool Hospitals - Liverpool Convalescent Home

Located at Woolton Manor, off Allerton Road, the Convalescent home on Woolton High Street, designed by Thomas Worthington between 1867 and 1873, owes its origin to the surplus from the Liverpool Cotton District Relief Fund, which under Sanction of the Court of Chancery accorded in 1868 was applied to the purchase of the estate comprising about twenty acres situated at Woolton about six miles from Liverpool., It was opened in 1873 as a 80-100 bed facility set in 20 acres of grounds and is today a care home.
These funds were supplemented by large private donations with The British Medical Journal in August 1873 reporting, 'On Saturday the Mayor of Liverpool presided over the opening of a new convalescent hospital at Woolton, one of the hilliest and pleasantest suburbs in the neighbourhood of that town.Mr Gladstone has handed over to the committee the sum of £1400 which was presented to him by the working men of England in the year 1868. In commemoration of this gift it has been resolved to call the finest chamber in the building the 'Gladstone Hall' and a large brass plate has been placed in the hall bearing the following inscription :- "The Gladstone Hall erected in 1873; a testimonial fund in honour of the Right Hon.William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of England."

 

In the book, Woolton Through Time, by David Paul

The lofty Gothic style structure, faced with grey-brick, with Woolton red sandstone bands and dressings, was connected by corridors with wings extended down the slope of the 20 acres of grounds to the S.S.W. On the ground floor was the dining-hall, connected with the kitchen immediately behind it. Opening upon the terrace were two nurses' rooms and eight one-storeyed wards for three beds each, divided equally between male and female patients and connected at the back by a corridor 10 feet wide. At each end of this, in separate buildings, were baths, lavatories, etc, fitted with hot and cold water apparatus, shower-baths and a douche, as well as a separate supply of cold water for drinking. On the ground floor of each wing there was a dayroom with a large outside balcony where patients could sit or lounge. 

 

The Vestibule of the Home

 

Supplementary to the treatment in the various Hospitals it was intended to restore to health and vigour patients who had undergone operations or who had otherwise suffered from infirmity or indisposition.
​Though largely used by the Hospitals, it was also available to persons in failing health who simply needed rest, pure air, change of scene and good diet for complete restoration to strength and active life. Although
​the institution was to a large extent self supporting with patients being admitted at a fixed charge of 10 shillings per week for their food and medicine, the fixed costs of the institution covered by its fund, but if nominated, by subscribers at a lower rate. By 1892 the number of patients was 892 but by 1902 had risen to 2672, clearly showing the necessity and utility of an establishment of this kind.

Mary Elizabeth "Mimi" Smith (née Stanley), the maternal aunt and the parental guardian of John Lennon became a resident trainee nurse at the Woolton Convalescent Hospital before later working as a private secretary.

 

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2025/05/liverpool-hospitals-royal-borough-fever.html