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| Aerial view of Seaforth in 1932 with Seafield House dominating the foreground. |
The RN Hospital Seaforth was located in Seaforth House which had been built by a William Fernie to be used as Hydro; the house was reputed to have contained 365 windows, one for each day of the year. The Hydro never materialised and it became known as Fernie's folly. The property was then acquired by the Order of the Sacred Heart, originally having been established in Bootle, and it became known as Seafield Convent. It was located on the foreshore between the International Hotel and Potters Barn. In 1908 the Order relocated, retaining the Seafield Convent name. They also had a school they established themselves on Crosby Road, using the proceeds from the sale of Seafield House to the MDHC, as the Seaforth site was required for further dock expansion. Because of the recession this developement never happened and the building remained standing. In 1914, the West Derby Union converted and extended the former convent on Waterloo Road, Seaforth to provide accommodation for what were then referred to as mental defectives.
On the 22nd of December 1916, Walter Tomkins, Head of the Boys School at Beach
Road, noted in his log that the school premises had been "taken over by
the military authorities for use as a hospital." This has usually been
taken to mean that Beach Road was, in fact, Seaforth Military Hospital.
However, an earlier log entry in the January of 1916 made it quite clear
that the Seaforth Military Hospital was already in existence and was
crowded enough to need several annexes: "On Monday, January 3rd, 1916, a
tea and entertainment was given by the teachers and girls to a party of
one hundred wounded soldiers from the Seaforth Military Hospital and
its annexes, and from Stanley Hospital...” The Beach Road premises
became another of those annexes. Also, both Litherland and
Seaforth-with-Waterloo had been separate administrative districts since
1856. Had the Beach Road premises actually been the main military
hospital rather than an annexe it would have been known as 'Litherland
Military Hospital'. This is confirmed by the 'Crosby and Waterloo Herald' of January 1st
1916 with several reports referring to entertainments for 'the wounded soldiers
in our local hospitals', mentioning Seaforth Military Hospital by name.
In the same issue a report describes a Christmas entertainment held at
Waterloo Town Hall on Thursday December 23rd 1915, noting that "Invitations were sent to the men at the Military Hospital, Seaforth
Barracks...". A separate report on the same page of the Crosby Herald
describes how the wounded soldiers in the local hospitals spent
Christmas Day. "At Seaforth Barracks....the wards were handsomely
decorated", the Herald's reporter notes. "The wards were open to the
public from 2 o’clock to 4 o’clock and there were many visitors. On
Monday evening Mrs German took a concert party to the barracks and an
entertainment was given which was greatly enjoyed by the men..." So it would appear that Seaforth Military Hospital was in Seaforth Barracks.
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| Wartime photo of RN Hospital Seaforth |
At the outbreak of the Second World War it was requisitioned and became the RN Hospital Seaforth, to take in Royal Naval casualties and Merchant Navy casualties where sadly Capt. Johnnie Walker died. In July 1944 Captain Walker felt unwell and was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital at Seaforth. The doctors said he had suffered a cerebral thrombosis and he died on the 9th of July 1944 at the Hospital aged forty-eight and his death was attributed to overwork and exhaustion.After the war the hospital was returned to MDHB sometime in the late 1950s and in the 1960s it was used by the Inland Revenue as a tax office. Eventually the site was demolished and became part of what is now Royal Seaforth Dock.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2025/08/liverpool-hospitals-lourdes-free.html
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