The following article appeared in the Acton Gazette on 5th September 1930:
‘Although the foundation-stone of the isolation block, the first section of the new Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, Hammersmith, which contains only wards for patients suffering from puerperal fever, was laid by Princess Marie Louise as recently as November 4 last, the first patients are being received this week.
When Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood, officially declared the new building open on July 10, she expressed her admiration for its up-to-date equipment and all the precautions which have been taken for the comfort of the patients.
The isolation block comprises thirty beds, of which nine are for private, paying patients in single-bed wards.
The special nursing staff have been undergoing intensive training. These staff will be completely isolated in a specially equipped villa in the grounds, and there is a covered way to the isolation block.
In another part of the grounds is the auxiliary hospital, which is a temporary measure towards reducing the pressure on the mother hospital in the Marylebone Road, and it has been almost full ever since the first patients were received on July 9 last.’
And this snippet from the Gazette in July 2012; ‘But it took a mammoth team of staff at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in Hammersmith to deal with one woman’s pregnancy in November 1969.
Irene Hanson, 33, hit the headlines when she had quintuplets at the hospital.’
In 2011, ‘The Raven’ was featured in the local Gazette’s weekly series, ‘Pub Quiz’. I was particularly interested in the final question put to the landlord. It asked him for a historical fact about the pub.
‘We used to have a maternity hospital at the end of the road and when the child was born, traditionally the father used to come in and sign a book. We still have the old entries from the 1940’s.’ (I don’t know why he described it as being ‘down the road’?)
As I was born in Queen Charlotte’s, I later planned a visit. Eventually, myself and Bernard Lambert, popped in to investigate.
The staff were happy to oblige but pointed out that they had to be cautious as at least one of the books had been stolen because they contained various famous and well-known names.
Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Zak Starkey and American Jazz singer, Marion Montgomery’s daughter Abigal, were all born in Queen Charlotte’s.
The list also includes; Daniel Ratcliffe, Emily Franke, Mischa Barton and Dame Helen Mirren, who portrayed the hospital namesake in ‘The Madness of King George’.
I gingerly turned the pages, but the nearest entry was the day after I entered this world. Dad may well have had a pint in ‘The Sun’ or the ‘Queen of England’ after I was born, or maybe he just went home?
In 1988 it merged with the Chelsea Hospital for Women and was renamed; the Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital.
The hospital closed in 2000 and moved to new premises. After the buildings had been demolished, the site was developed into apartment blocks.
Steve Russell
(The above pic comes from the Architect & News magazine, dated 19th September 1930)