Grayshott Village Archive - Grayshott Clinic

Grayshott Clinic

Early days of Health Care in Grayshott

At the present time there is a proposal to demolish Grayshott Clinic and to build a number of houses on the site. The clinic closed its doors when the community nursing team moved to the Grayshott Surgery, the children’s clinic moved to Grayshott School and the health visitors moved to Haslemere Hospital. The Clinic was built in the early 1920’s and has been a prominent institution in the village up until the time of its closure.

However, health care provision for the residents of the village was available long before the opening of the Clinic.

The earliest record we have comes from the Parish Magazine when in was announced, in the edition of February 1898, that Dr. Coleclough proposed to hold a series of lectures on First Aid in the iron room of the Working Men’s Club, subject to a sufficient number of women wishing to take part. The cost would be two shillings and sixpence for the total course. In March 1898, it was announced that a number of people had expressed a wish for a St. John’s Ambulance Class and after consultation with Dr. Lyndon, Mr. Lowry undertook to organise such a course. Attendance was high and a total of twenty-three out of a course of twenty-nine succeeded in qualifying. The majority of the cost of this course was met by donations, including those from Miss I’Anson, Miss James and Mr. Whitaker.

Similar courses to those referred to above took place in the village on a number of occasions in the early 1900’s, including lectures on Home Nursing, and First Aid.

An option for health care for those with the financial means, was a Medical and Surgical Nursing Home at Headley run by a Miss Calvert. The Home, for adults and children, was run under medical supervision and terms were by arrangement, starting from three guineas per week. Miss Calvert, who was assisted by other certified Nurses, was a certified Nurse and Masseuse and the daughter of Rev. W. Calvert, M.A., F.S.A., minor Canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

In the Parish Magazine addition for November 1898, there is reference to the “Nellie Moir” Nursing Fund, in which it was announced that Nurse Fish was now at work in the village. Those requiring her services were asked to apply to Mrs. Jeakes, wife of Reverend Jeakes, at the Hermitage, through their doctor, or in the case of an emergency, direct to the nurse at Miss James’ Lodge. (Miss Nellie Moir was a well known resident and very active in village life). There is also a reference in this addition to the Grayshott Branch of the Shottermill Nursing Institute (the Nurse’s Home).

The “Nurse’s Home” at Shottermill was built by the Three Counties Nursing Association which had been formed to cover the nursing requirements of residents in neighbouring parishes. The Association undertook to supply. Nurses, both cottage nurses, who in the case of illness lived in the patients home, and private nurses, as and when required at a cost of fifteen shillings a week. Each parish had two representatives on the committee and paid an affiliation fee, varying according to its number of residents. Miss I’Anson was the first Grayshott representative, followed in 1913 by Mrs. Lyndon. Others throughout the years included Dr. Lyndon, Rev. Jeakes and F. H. Knight. The Association was also reliant on gifts and donations and a funding appeal was made in April 1910 in order to help stabilise its financial position.

In June 1911, the Grayshott & Hindhead Nursing Associations decided jointly to appoint a Resident District Nurse to cover the two parishes but it was agreed that the Three Counties Association would also continue to provide Nurses to the villages as required.

The first Nurse to take up the new appointment in Grayshott was Nurse Nidd who was to cover Grayshott and Hindhead, excluding the Hazel Grove area. An announcement was made that application for her services were to be made directly or between 9a.m. & 1 p.m. to either the Grayshott or Beacon Hill Post Offices, or the Hindhead Stores. Nurse Nidd continued in the appointment until December 1912, when she married a Mr. Roberts and the couple moved to India. Her successor was Nurse Evans who lived in the lodge of Mr. Grover in Tower Road.

In November 1911, the Grayshott & Hindhead District Nursing Association published Patients’ Rules as follows:-

Application for the services of Nurses to be made directly or messages left at either of the three appointed places previously announced.
The Nurse to collect the proper fees at each visit.
Double fees are charged for visiting new cases on a Sunday.
The Nurse does not attend infectious cases.
The Nurse is not available for night work except in cases of midwifery and in special cases of urgency.

Scale of fee to be as under, according to amount of wage earned per week by the head of the family:-

Wage	Per Day	Per Visit	Midwifery
Under 20/-shillings	1 shilling	2d.	7/6d.
From 20/- to 25/-	1/3d.	3d.	10/6d.
25/- to 30/-	1/6d.	4d.	10/6d.
30/- to 35/-	1/9d.	5d.	15/-
35/- to 40/-	2 shillings	6d.	15/-

The above charges for midwifery are made where families consist of two children only. In families consisting of more than two children, the fees shall be made in the scale arrived at by deducting from the total wage, 2/6d. for each child more than two in number, and under the age of 14 years.

Midwifery cases must be booked two months in advance, and fees paid beforehand. Nurse attends twice daily for four days after the confinement, and then once daily until the tenth day.
Any complaints are to be made to the secretary, Miss I’Anson, Pinewood, Grayshott, or to Mrs. Jenkins, Whinside, Hindhead.

Committee: Mrs. I’Anson, Mrs. Simms, Mrs. Vertue, Mrs. Ingham Whitaker, Mrs. Jenkins, Mrs. Summerhill, Mrs. Gilbert Smith, Mrs. Trevelyan.

The Peace Memorial Grayshott Clinic

The Nurses Home---Grayshot Clinic c.1920’s
The School Clinic, ex Lloyds Bank, Bramshott Camp is seen to the right

In January 1919 a meeting was held in the ‘Technical Room’, Grayshott, to discuss a way in which to express the admiration of the residents of the village for the men who gave their lives in the First World War. A proposal had been approved by the parish of Hindhead to erect a Cottage Hospital in the area, providing Grayshott would unite for this purpose. Dr. Lyndon put this proposal before the meeting. A committee was appointed to investigate how such a project could be funded and also to consider a smaller and exclusively local memorial. Following this, in April 1919, a public meeting was held in the Village Hall. At this meeting it was announced that a decision had yet to be made concerning the provision of a War Memorial but it was felt a stone cross would be appropriate. In addition, it had been decided that the project to build a Cottage Hospital should go ahead and that efforts should be made to raise some £8,200, of which £4,200 had already been promised.

In May 1919 it was noted that following the closure of the Grayshott Military Hospital, a large quantity of Hospital fittings and bedding had been retained for the use of the proposed War Memorial Cottage Hospital.

In October 1919 it was announced that the proposed building of a Cottage Hospital had met strong opposition and the scheme had therefore been abandoned. However, it was decided that Grayshott would go ahead with a scheme without Hindhead, and a proposal was to be put before a public meeting to:-

erect a cottage as a residence for the District Nurse, which would include a room to serve as a maternity ward.
the erection of a Cross at the junction of the four (five-ways) cross roads, on which will be inscribed the names of the fallen.

This proposal was adopted at a second public meeting later in the month. It was further agreed that there would be a school clinic where a travelling dentist, a new innovation within elementary schools, would attend to schoolchildren.

(Also in this addition of the Parish Magazine, it was recorded that Nurse Evans had met with a very severe accident resulting from a collision with a motor cycle and that her recovery would take some considerable time).

A “very pretty design of a commodious cottage for the purposes mentioned” was submitted by the architect Mr. Read and approved. The estimated sum required was £2,500--£3,000. Appeals for funding were made, together with arrangements for a house to house collection.

The site for the Cottage in School Road was given by Mr. Ingham Whitaker and conveyed to the trustees on behalf of the Grayshott Nursing Association . In July 1920 Dr. & Mrs. Lyndon purchased for the village, the wooden building which had been Lloyds Bank at Bramshott Camp during the war and it was agreed that this would be erected and adapted as the school clinic.

Also in July 1920, a Charitable Trust was established and the property site was transferred to the Trust to permit the land and buildings erected thereon “to be used as a residence for the District Nurse and School Clinic and for the assistance and relief in sickness of poor persons living in the Parish of Grayshott under regulations to be made by the Committee of the Grayshott Nursing Association”.

Messrs Chapman, Lowry and Puttock commenced the building of the Cottage and Mrs. Ingham Whitaker laid the foundation stone on 27th October 1920. The silver trowel used was that which Miss I’Anson had used to lay the foundation stone for St. Luke’s Church. Within was laid a copy of the days ‘Times’ newspaper and some coins. The vicar, Rev. A.E.N. Simms, conducted a short service, with two hymns. By April 1921, the building was complete at an overall cost of £1,790 and Nurse Brown, who had replaced Nurse Evans as District Nurse, took up residence.


Commemorative Plaque	Foundation Stone 27th October 1920

A report for 1922 of the District Nursing Committee stated that Nurse Brown had paid 495 visits in the district and that nine patients had been nursed in the Cottage--six maternity, one convalescent, and two babies requiring special care. Cases in the district included five midwifery and five maternity in addition to which she had attended the Baby Welfare Centre each week. A Miss Punter assisted her. The Treasurer’s Report for the year stated that total receipts from donations and subscriptions amounted to £85.19.10d against an expenditure of £119.3s.

Nurse Brown retired from her post and attended her final Baby Welfare Centre visit on 30th January 1925, at which she was presented with a gold wristwatch and a gold thimble from her former patients and colleagues. Successors to Nurse Brown were Nurse Moorey and Nurse Jones who carried on the splendid work of their predecessors.

Funding of the Nurses Cottage continued to be a problem and appeals for donations and gifts were frequently made throughout the 1920’s. Gifts received included linen, carpets, baby scales, a dustpan and brush etc. and funding was received from various events held in the village.

In July 1928, it was recorded that the Nurse had made a total of 107 visits in the month and that there were three patients in the Cottage. Sixty-eight visits were made in August, fifty-nine in September and two babies ere being cared for in the Cottage.

The Annual Report for 1933 included items as follows:-

Total cases attended by District Nurse 83.
Thirty-three Maternity cases of which,15 were in the Cottage.
Total visits 892 including 113 AnteNatal, 24 Midwifery.
Infant welfare visits 49.
The Nurse took four weeks holiday and Nurse Holmes of Shottermill covered.
A Mrs. Meacham was appointed as Housekeeper.

Nurse Cuff

In 1934 Nurse Margaret Cuff took up the appointment and continued as District Nurse and Midwife in Grayshott until her retirement in 1969. During her thirty-five years of nursing in Grayshott, Nurse Cuff attended midwifery cases in the Cottage, in private residences and Nursing Homes throughout the area, of which, twenty-five births were in the Nurses Cottage--five in 1934, fourteen in 1935, four in 1936 and two in 1937. We have no records of births in the Cottage after 1937 and assume the maternity unit was closed at this time.

In all, she attended a total of 536 deliveries, a number of which took place without a doctor in attendance. However, records reveal that twelve births during this period were attended by Dr. Hodgkinson, two by Dr. Jenkins and two by Dr. Fergus.

There was a large gathering of her friends, colleagues, and former patients at a special presentation in the Village Hall to mark the occasion of her retirement in 1969 and to pay tribute to her very long period of service to the community. Nurse Cuff was succeeded by Nurse Lloyd.

Grayshott Nursing Association Charity

In July 1948 the National Health Service Act 1946 came into effect and the County Council of Southampton, as it was at that time, took over the responsibility of providing District Nursing, including the employment of the District Nurse employed by the Grayshott Nursing Association. In November 1949 it was agreed by the Trustees of the Grayshott Nursing Association Charity that the Cottage and Children’s Clinic be sold for not less than £1850, plus legal costs and the proceeds be invested in the Charity in stocks, funds or securities. The property was duly sold and conveyed to the County Council of Southampton for £1850 on 25th March 1950.

In May 1950, a new Charitable Trust was established with the proceeds of the sale and named The Grayshott Nursing Association Charity, a Charity still in existence today. The Trust stated at the time that the dividends arising from the investment were to be applied by the Trustees to the following purposes:

for the benefit of the sick poor residents in the Parish at the discretion of the Trustees in ways to supplement the National Health Service.
in making money grants to sick and poor persons to obtain food and special medicines, medical comforts, bedding, food, medical and surgical appliances and domestic help.
To pay the expenses of convalescence or of domestic help during convalescence.

Recently the services the Cottage, or Clinic as it has become known, such as the provision of community nursing teams and the child health clinic, were moved elsewhere and with other factors regarding ongoing financial restraints and changes to legislation playing a part, the Cottage is no longer required and it will soon give way to residential housing.


Grayshott Clinic 2008

Researched & Written by Brian Tapp -- Grayshott Village Archive November 2008
Acknowledgment: Grayshott Parish Magazine: Grayshott Parish Council Record