This article contains a selection of photos dating from the early 1900's and obtained from various sources.
Unless stated otherwise the following photos have been reproduced by kind permission of Janet Marlowe daughter of Harry and Constance Croft who arrived in Rugby in the 1930s and are taken from a collection of photos owned by the family. A number of these photos are also in the public domain - it is probable that Mr and Mrs Croft obtained copies from the Rugby Advertiser or other sources.
The couple joined the laundry service at St Lukes and over a period of time rose to become Head Porter and Head of Laundry at the Hospital of St Cross when the hospitals were merged under the ‘Group 20’ management.
At the time the hospital administrator was Captain Cockburn and the Matrons were Ms Baxter and Ms Ryde.
The descriptions are taken from annotations on the photographs or the sources credited and a history of the Hospital (from 1884-1984) written by members of Rugby Local History Group and published on their behalf by the West Midlands Regional Health Authority.
Click on this link to read the full version of the Hospital of St.Cross, Rugby 1884 -1984 or this link to read a summary of the key dates and information up until 2012.
In 1912 a fundraising bazaar was held to fund the extension of the Hospital. Click this link to see a copy of the programme which contains some additional information and illustrations.
1900s Hatton Ward
Source www.windowsonwarwickshire.org.uk
1907 Group outside St Cross Hospital during a visit by H.R.H Princess Henry of Battenberg to open the new children's ward.
From left to right are J T Smith, G W Walton, W H Linnell, Mr Arthur James, Mrs Arthur James, Canon Baillie, Princess Henry of Battenberg, Hon Mrs Baillie, Marchioness of Hertford, Revd. Charles Elsee, Mr C F Harris and W D Muriel. Rugby. Source www.windowsonwarwickshire.org.uk
Reverend Charles Elsee - Chairman of the Local Board of Health and Urban District Council
Photo taken of the portrait on display in the Rugby Museum in May 2014
Nurses outside the original entrance to the hospital
This is believed to have been taken in 1914 - contributed by Tony Evans
1928 The first wooded orthopaedic pavilion
This was particularly used for the treatment of Tuberculosis cases and was later replaced by the Sun Pavilion
The Foundation Stone for a new Out Patients department
The stone laid by Mrs Venetia Jones on 28th September 1928
Read more about Mrs Jones who was a well connected patron at the time!
The stone is now located in a wall in a corridor in the Octapus Centre
HRH Duchess of York (later to become Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother) visited Rugby on the 27th April 1929
HRH arrived at the hospital
Ox Roasting in the ‘hospital field’
Opening of the Orthopaedic Department on 27th July 1929
1931 - 1934 The Sun Pavilion
The following information was kindly provided by David Holton of the Rugby Local History Research Group. http://rugby-local-history.org/
The foundation stone was laid at 2.30 on the afternoon of Saturday, 19th December 1931, by Mrs. H. N. Sporborg (wife of Mr H. N. Sporborg, Director & Chief Engineer of the BTH) on behalf of the Rugby Works Hospital Fund of the BTH Co. Ltd,.
The ceremony was described in the Rugby Advertiser as being 'a memorable one, taken part in by leading figures in the life of the town & hospital & the stone was dedicated by the Bishop Of Coventry (Dr. Mervyn Haigh).' The B.T.H. military band was present at proceedings, as were B.T.H. Fire brigade, Rugby Group of Boy Scouts, the Girls Life Brigade, the Boys Brigade and the Rugby Girl Guides.
The Rugby Works Hospital Fund had guaranteed to raise the monies required for the building of the Sun Pavilion (quoted at £13,000). Architect was Mr. W.T. Loveday & the builders were Messrs. Foster and Dicksee of James Street, Rugby. Mrs, Sporborg was thanked by Lord Feilding J.P. (Chairman of the hospital board of Management) as well as all the workers & helpers at the B.T.H. works.
Note regarding Mr & Mrs Sporborg. They were both of American birth, moving to the town as newlyweds in 1902, Mr. Sporborg was originally on loan from the General Electric Company in New York to assist as Traction Engineer in the early days of the BTH factory in Rugby. They however chose to settle in the town with Mr. Sporborg taking over as Chief Engineer of the company in 1907, then becoming a director of the company in 1910. He became Chairman in 1944 until his retirement in June 1945.
1932 HRH Princess Mary opens the Sun Pavilion
HRH Princess Mary, The Princess Royal inspecting Girl Guides before the opening ceremony
This note was enclosed with the Sun Pavilion opening photos:-
The Opening of the Sun Pavilion on 8th October 1932
The Sun Pavilion was the brain-child of Dr CR Hoskyn, who had first arrived in Rugby in 1910. He returned from the 1914-18 war as a surgeon specialising in diseases and injuries to bones and joints. His enthusiasm, imagination and enterprise inspired a surge forward in the provision of facilities for treating orthopaedics in the town. The population of Rugby had risen to 25,000 people and there were many who were needing treatment for non-respiratory Tubercular conditions, which in those days before modern medicines were available, were treated by sunlight. In 1918 Mrs Arthur-James had generously provided a wooden ward for treating Tuberculous cases but this was now falling into disrepair. New and improved facilities and a ward which would enable beds to be pushed out into the sunshine were desperately needed.
This time it was the Rugby Works fund of the B.T.H. factory which rose to the occasion. They “mortgaged the ‘Apprentice’s Rag Fund’ for twenty years and paid it off in three years!” The result was a ward that became the envy of other hospitals. Renamed Hoskyn Ward it is still the ward for orthopaedic and accident cases [1] at the Hospital of St.Cross.
In 1929 there was a Grand Bazaar and Carnival at the Hospital of St. Cross to raise money and in preparation for the Opening of the Sun Pavilion on 8th October by HRH The Princess Royal which was a great occasion for the town.
In 2021 the pavilions were demolished and replaced with fully equipped modular buildings which contain state of the art Operating Theatres
The Guard of Honour of the 7th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment under the command of Major NJ Pugh
The Mazda Kilties who gave a performance on the lawn in front of the Sun Pavilion while the Princess Royal had tea there. They also performed that evening and at the carnival
Nursing staff arriving to form a Guard of Honour to welcome HRH Princess Mary
The Sun Pavilion in 1934 Source www.windowsonwarwickshire.org.uk
1934-35 the Nurses Home
In 1934 the Hospital of St. Cross had been caring for the sick for 50 years. What better way to commemorate this milestone than by providing proper accommodation for the nursing staff? It was decided to combine the laying of the foundation stone with the Jubilee celebrations which were to coincide with Empire Day, May 24, and the succeeding two days.
Plans were drawn up for the extension and were within the limit of £6,000 stipulated by the Board.
The building is now called Brookfield House and is used by various management teams.
The Lord Mayor of London, Sir Charles Collet, Mrs Arthur James, Alderman McKinnell, Mayor of Rugby
Matron, Miss Lucy Shaw, with the nursing staff, awaiting the arrival of the Lord Mayor of London, to lay the foundation stone to the Nurses Home extension in 1934.
The President, Mrs. Arthur James, was instrumental in getting the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Charles H. Collet, to lay the foundation stone on May 22.
The Marchioness of Northampton opening the Extension of the Nurses Home. Seated behind her L-R:- Mr CP Evers (Chairman of the Board of Management), Mr N Edyvean-Walker and Mrs Arthur James
This plaque is held in storage at the Hospital of St Cross, minus the central figure. This document is stored together with the plaque and includes a photo showing the central figure and with the side plaques in a different order!
The document explains that A.O.F.B stands for the Ancient Order of Froth Blowers. A history of group states that it only existed between 1924 and 1931.
The following photos, from the Croft colleciton, show unknown gentlemen who are presumably officers of the Order and were visiting a development to commemorate a donation from the Order. It is not currently known which room the group built! It is assumed that is in the Hospital of St Cross or possibly St Luke's Hospital - though the entrance that the gentlemen are standing outside does not look any on the current St Cross site!!
These photos are part of the Croft collection but had no date or other information available to supplement the description copied form the back of the photos.
Nursing staff with Matron Shaw, Assistant Matron Hankey and Captain Cockburn DSO MC, the hospital administrator, in front of Brookfield before it was extended.
Red Cross nurses administer first aid to ‘a casualty’ in the National Hospital Reserve recruiting week following a ‘bomb incident’ in Castle Street, Rugby.
Sun Pavilion – later named Hoskyn Ward, used for orthopaedic patients, alongside the Medical Unit built during WWII and used for general medicine.
In front of the gardener's huts which were probably in the area between Brookfield House and Rugby School?