Devonshire hospital and Buxton Bath charity : instituted for the relief of poor persons from all parts of Great Britain and Ireland suffering from rheumatism, gout, sciatica, and neuralgia ; pains, weakness or contractions of joints or limbs, arising from these diseases, or from sprains, fractures, or other local injuries ; chronic forms of paralysis ; dropped hands, and other poisonous effects of lead, mercury, or other minerals ; spinal affections ; dyspeptic complaints, uterine obstructions, etc. etc. ; supported by annual subscriptions and voluntary contributions : annual report for the year 1884 ; completion of the hospital extension ; action and purpose of the governors of the cotton districts convalescent fund ; management, history, annual statement, accounts, rules and regulations, list of subscriptions and benefactions &c., Bath charity report for 1785, and copies of conveyances of hospital and baths from the Duke of Devonshire to the trustees.

Devonshire Royal Hospital (Buxton, Derbyshire, England)

Date:: 1885

Credit: Devonshire hospital and Buxton Bath charity : instituted for the relief of poor persons from all parts of Great Britain and Ireland suffering from rheumatism, gout, sciatica, and neuralgia ; pains, weakness or contractions of joints or limbs, arising from these diseases, or from sprains, fractures, or other local injuries ; chronic forms of paralysis ; dropped hands, and other poisonous effects of lead, mercury, or other minerals ; spinal affections ; dyspeptic complaints, uterine obstructions, etc. etc. ; supported by annual subscriptions and voluntary contributions : annual report for the year 1884 ; completion of the hospital extension ; action and purpose of the governors of the cotton districts convalescent fund ; management, history, annual statement, accounts, rules and regulations, list of subscriptions and benefactions &c., Bath charity report for 1785, and copies of conveyances of hospital and baths from the Duke of Devonshire to the trustees. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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late Duke of Devonshire, as testified on the stone on the south front of the building, on which is inscribed : The last munificent Charity of William Spencer, 6th Duke of Devonshire, K.G., who allowed these buildings to be converted to the use of the sick poor, January, A.D., 1858. A considerable sum of money that had been collected for the construction of the Hospital was expended upon the work. The walls and roof of the structure were fortunately found to be iu good preservation; the interior was entirely removed,and re-arrang'ed ; the subsoil carefully taken away; and about two-thirds of the building occupied for the purposes of the Hospital, by a chaplain's house, a dispensary, and a dispenser's apartments, a house for the master and matron, kitchen, day-rooms, dining-hall, and spacious dormitories, affording separate beds for 120 patients, in addition to the beds provided for cases of accident, and in addition to the rooms required for the servants of the establishment. During the year 1868, a legal Conveyance of the buildings and grounds of the Hospital was given to the Trustees by the present Duke of Devonshire at the nominal rent of five shillings yearly, on the condition that they shall be used exclusively for the purposes of the Charity. (A copy of the Conveyance is appended at page 24.) During the year 1872, the duties of Chaplain to the Hospital were kindly undertaken by the Yicar of Buxton, and the Chaplain's House was converted to the general purposes of the Hospital; the number of beds for patients was raised to 150; and better accommodation afforded to the out-patients, dispensary, &c. During the twenty-six years since the Hospital was opened, there have been 37,947 patients under treatment, of which number 33,056 have been treated beneficially; and 4,322 or about one-ninth of the whole, were not suffering from any of the forms of rheumatism, but were such cases as are ordinarily met with in hospitals. On the averag'e of the twenty-six years, the patients remained under treat- ment 24.07 days ; and 33,625 cases of rheumatism, embracing every conceivable variety of this obstinate disease, were thus extensively relieved by the remedial agency of the]Buxton mineral watei's. During the year 1881 the great extension works of the Hospital were practically completed, and the Hospital was formally opened by the Patron, His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, and the Governors of the Cotton Districts Convalescent Fund, on the 11th of October. The accommodation for the additional number of patients under the grant of £24,000 from the Cotton Districts Convalescent Fund was obtained by the removal of the two walls which traversed the entire circuit of the main building, and formed the corridor communicating with the various wards ; the whole space from the outside to the inside of the building was thus thrown open, and inner and outer windows supplied to all the wards; the internal area was thus increased very greatly, and ample space provided for wards and day- rooms to receive and accommodate the 300 patients. But an indepen- dent means of access to all the rooms of the Hospital was rendered necessary in consequence of this arrangement, and this could only be

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