The Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire Infirmary and Dispensary: A hospital ‘…as near perfect as it could be’

This is the third in a series of articles on the building and opening, in September 1883, of the Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire Infirmary and Dispensary. It draws on records held at Glamorgan Archives.

It was little more than 8 months from the laying of the memorial stone to the arrival of the first patients at the new hospital. The number of in-patients at the old infirmary had been steadily reduced during September 1883 to ease the transfer. By 24^th September only 9 remained, mostly those with serious fractures. The move to the new premises had begun on Thursday 20^th September, with the in-patients to be moved on the following Tuesday. Bad weather, however, forced a delay. It was not until Wednesday 26th  that they were transferred, one at a time, under the supervision of Matron Pratt, by a team from the St John’s Ambulance Society. For the short journey along Newport Road each patient was placed in an ambulance ‘cart’ which could be dismantled and carried into the hospital.

The new hospital was heralded as …unequalled by any in the Principality … and as near perfect as it could be. Yet, in September, many areas were still under construction, including the grand frontage with its 80 foot central tower. The two main ward blocks and the kitchen and laundry were, however, complete. It was just as well that the initial number of patients was low. The staff, including the House Surgeon, P Rhys Griffiths, Matron Pratt, nurses and porters were expected to live on the premises. They also had to live and sleep in one of the wards until their accommodation, in the main wing facing on to Glossop Road, was finished.

It was not all bad news. The new wards had been designed and equipped in line with the very best hospitals in Britain at the time.  Each of the two new ward blocks had two floors. On each floor there was one large ward with beds for 20 patients and three small side wards. There was also a small kitchen and a linen room. To ensure that patients had ample fresh air, at one end of the large ward there was a day room with large bay windows that could be thrown open. Patients on the ground floor had access to an outside terrace that ran the length of the ward. The architects were particularly proud of the sanitary arrangements, described as …most effective and complete. In practice this meant that up to 30 patients shared two bathrooms each with a bath, sink and toilet plus two separate toilets.

Pride of place went to the equipment installed to ensure that the wards were kept warm. This was almost certainly the Saxon Snell Thermhydric Stove used in hospitals, schools and churches across the land. It looked like a very large tiled box positioned in the centre of the ward to house a coal fireplace. The stove heated a series of iron hot water pipes that in turn heated air that was piped around the ward. This revolutionary ‘warm air’ system was hailed as the …latest and best authenticated system of heating, and it was no doubt welcomed by staff and patients as the winter months approached. The photograph of the infirmary ward below was taken much later than 1883 but it gives a good impression of how the new ward would have looked.

Staff would have been less pleased by the walkway to the wards from the kitchen block. Although the walkway had a roof, the sides were open to the elements and few would have loitered there on winter or rainy days. In a similar vein the laundry and washhouse, although equipped with …the best appliances for washing and mending the whole of the linen of the establishment, were in a separate building that lay beyond the ward blocks. It was only after numerous complaints to the Governors by Matron Platt that it was agreed that the walkway be covered in.

So why the rush to move to the new hospital? The truth was that the infirmary’s finances were often in difficulties. Just days before the move the Governors had met to discuss how they were going to find the £6,000 still needed to pay for and equip the new infirmary. The offer of £400 per annum for the old infirmary to house the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire was too good to refuse. However, the offer came with strings. The University needed the building by 29^th September so that conversion work could be undertaken for the autumn term. Hence the rapid move to the new building.

Despite the difficulties, it was soon business as usual for the new infirmary. The first ‘emergency’ may well have been …a small boy called Gibbon who had a severely lacerated back after being caught in machinery at a biscuit works. If not, we know that John Roberts was admitted just 3 days after the move to the new infirmary. A labourer at a grease works on the docks, he had been hit by an engine while wheeling a barrow across a railway line. Miraculously, although bruised and battered, he escaped without serious injury. Both cases demonstrated the dangers in the workplace in 19^th century Cardiff and the challenges that lay ahead for the new infirmary.

Glamorgan Archives holds the records of the Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire Infirmary and Dispensary. For the annual reports produced by the hospital management committee from 1837 to 1885 see DHC/48-50. For the records of the New Infirmary Building Sub Committee see DHC/44. The photograph of the hospital ward is at DHC/107/2.

Tony Peters, Glamorgan Archives Volunteer

The Llandow Air Disaster, 12 March 1950

Amongst the records held at the Glamorgan Archives there is a set of papers with details of the research undertaken by HTV as background for a documentary broadcast in 1990, ‘Shadow Across the Sun’. The collection of letters, photographs and newspaper reports tell the story of the tragic events of 12 March 1950, when 80 people lost their lives in what was, at the time, the worst disaster in the history of civil aviation.

On a Sunday afternoon an Avro Tudor aircraft, code named Star Girl, took off from Dublin with 78 passengers and 5 crew. The aircraft had been chartered to take Welsh rugby fans to the Ireland v Wales game held the previous day. For many it would have been their first experience of air travel. All had gone well on the outward flight from Llandow to Dublin, and the supporters had celebrated Wales securing the Triple Crown with a close 6 points to 3 victory over the Irish at Ravenhill.  On the return flight, however, as the plane approached Llandow airfield it lost height then suddenly rose before crashing to the ground only a short distance from the runway. The crew of 5 and 75 passengers died despite the efforts of the rescue services.  The three survivors, Handel Rogers, Gwyn Anthony and Melville Thomas, had been in the tail section of the plane that miraculously escaped much of the impact of the crash. The report produced by the Ministry of Civil Aviation found it difficult to pinpoint the reason for the disaster, although it was thought that the distribution of weight in the loading of the aircraft had affected its stability and handling.

The research compiled by HTV underlines that barely a community in south Wales was untouched by the disaster. The passenger list included people from all walks of life. Many had booked and travelled as groups from local towns and villages. They included players, coaches and supporters from several rugby clubs. As a mark of respect the Abercarn club subsequently incorporated a propeller in the club badge and Llanharan RFC a black cross. At the inquest the Coroner, struggling with the enormity of the disaster, said that, The disaster is unparalleled in recent times in South Wales and it is comparable only to the great colliery disasters of the past.

The HTV programme commemorating the 40th anniversary of the disaster was broadcast in March 1990. Many came forward to talk about their experience of the disaster, although for others the memories were still far too painful. One product of the programme was a call for a permanent memorial to mark the disaster and remember those who died on 12 March 1950.  With the support of the Welsh Rugby Union and HTV this was answered with the unveiling of a memorial in Sigingstone on 12 September 1990, exactly 6 months after the 40^th anniversary.

Placed close to the site of the crash, the memorial was unveiled by two of the survivors, Handel Rogers and Melville Thomas. The memorial was made from stone from a local quarry at Ewenny with a slate plaque. Its message was simple and to the point.

On Sunday 12 March 1950 a Tudor V Aeroplane returning from Dublin crashed 200 yards from this spot as it approached Llandow Aerodrome. 75 Welsh rugby supporters and 5 crew died. There were just 3 survivors. In Belfast the day before, Wales had won the Triple Crown.

The HTV papers include the research for ‘Shadow Across the Sun’ and the background to the unveiling of the memorial at Sigingstone. They can be seen at Glamorgan Archives at reference DX651.

Tony Peters, Glamorgan Archives Volunteer

“Come out, come out, wherever you are”: The Great Escape of 10 March 1945

On 10 March it will be 75 years since the Great Escape. The bones of the story are well known. The setting is a camp set up in the Second World War to hold prisoners of war housed in a series of huts ringed by a high barbed wire fence, swept at night by searchlights and patrolled by guards with dogs. Within the compound a group of prisoners, determined to escape, begin to dig a tunnel. Benches are cut up and bed legs are reduced in size to provide wood to shore up the tunnel. Old cans of condensed milk are strung together to make an air pipe to provide ventilation. Prisoners dispose of the earth by spreading it over the camp vegetable garden, a sports long jump pit and within a false wall built into one of the huts. After four months the tunnel is complete. It even has electric lighting. While their colleagues distract the guards with raucous singing and curry powder is thrown along the fence boundary to confuse the dogs, a large group of prisoners emerge beyond the boundary fence. One is shot by the guards but others, disguised in long overcoats with homemade maps, compasses and identity papers, escape into the darkness.

The story has echoes of the escape of 77 Allied serviceman from Stalag Luft III in Poland, which subsequently provided the basis for the film The Great Escape starring Steve McQueen. In fact, the escape on the night of 10 March 1945 was much closer to home, with German officers passing through the tunnel and fleeing into the night from the prisoner of war camp at the Island Farm Camp close to Bridgend.

The Island Farm Camp was built in 1939 to be used by up to 2000 women working at the Bridgend munitions factory. Although it was purpose built, with easy access to the factory, it was not a success, with most workers preferring to lodge locally or travel each day to the factory. Rather than abandon the facilities, Island Farm was later used by the American 28^th Infantry Division in the build up to the D Day landings. During their stay the camp had a number of well-known visitors, including the Supreme Commander of Operation Overlord, General Eisenhower, who addressed the men in April 1944.

With the opening of the second front in France there was a pressing need for accommodation for prisoners of war.  The camp that had witnessed Eisenhower’s rousing speech only months before was put to use again for German and Italian prisoners of war. The first task for many was to complete the perimeter fencing while others worked on local roads and farms. It was soon decided, however, that it would be used exclusively by German officers. As a result 1600 German officers arrived in November 1944. It was this group that brought Island Farm, renamed Camp 198, into the headlines.  After the escape on the night of 10 March many were recaptured within hours and in the following week many more were found in fields, barns and gardens across South Wales. However, one group stole a doctor’s car and travelled by car and train as far as Castle Bromwich near Birmingham. A second group, using goods trains, was eventually apprehended in Southampton. The escape spawned numerous tales, including the suggestion that they planned to rendezvous with a U Boat off the Welsh coast. Most stories of their recapture were humorous and, almost certainly, heavily embellished.

Within weeks the camp was closed, but it was to have a further reincarnation as a prisoner of war camp. In November 1945 it reopened at Special Camp 11 catering for senior German officers all ranked at General or above. Those held at the camp included 4 Field Marshals, von Rundstedt, von Brauchitsch, von Kleist and von Manstein. Many were awaiting trial and some remained at Island Farm until its closure in 1948.  Special Camp 11 was a very different regime. With the war ended the officers were given a fair degree of freedom. Letters of the Verity family held at Glamorgan Archives include two from German officers thanking the family for their hospitality in inviting them to spend Christmas day 1947 at the family home.

The escape from Island Farm was a major embarrassment for the British Government. Initial fears that the escape was part of wider plan to attack and disrupt the Bridgend munitions factory and local ports proved to be unfounded. Nevertheless the Government was anxious to confirm that the major manhunt launched across England and Wales had been successful in recapturing all of the German officers within 5 days. Most sources agree that 70 prisoners escaped although there has been some debate as to the exact number. A BBC documentary shown in 1976, Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are, opted for 67. A more recent study argued that it was as high as 84 and contended that several might have escaped through the Kent ports.

For many years the camp was left to decay. Photographs held at Glamorgan Archives and taken around prior to its demolition in 1993 illustrate that, although many of the drawings made by the POWs on the camp walls had survived, the camp itself was in poor condition.

Incidentally the drawings were not entirely innocent given that several were positioned close to the tunnel entrance to distract the guards. Fortunately, Hut 9 was saved and in 2003 the tunnel was found to be intact. What remains of the camp and Hut 9 is now in the care of the Hut 9 Preservation Group and it is open to the public on a number of days during the year.

The Verity family letters can be seen at Glamorgan Archives, reference DXCB/4/2/33. The photographs of the Island Farm camp are at D1051/1/7/3/1-9. There are also photographs of the Americans at Island Farm in 1944 at D1532/1-10.

Tony Peters, Glamorgan Archives Volunteer

A remarkable offer, and the laying of the Memorial Stone for the Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire Infirmary and Dispensary, 30 January 1883

This is the second of a series of articles on the building and opening, in September 1883, of the Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire Infirmary and Dispensary, now known as the Cardiff Royal Infirmary. It draws on records held at Glamorgan Archives.

In 1880 it appeared that there was no prospect of sufficient finance being raised to build a much needed new hospital in Cardiff. The situation changed, however, on Christmas Eve, when the following letter was received:

I have much pleasure in informing you that the Marquis of Bute has instructed me to intimate to you, as the Secretary of the New Building Committee, that his Lordship will make the necessary arrangements for presenting to the Infirmary Committee the freehold site proposed for the new building.

[Letter from Thomas Lewis of the Bute Estate to Dr Alfred Sheen, Secretary of the New Building Committee, 24 December 1880 (DD/HC/44)]

Alfred Sheen could not have received a better Christmas present. The reply issued immediately after Christmas, on the 27^th, thanked the Marquess for his …munificent gift which would …dissipate any doubts that may have existed in the minds of some as to the practicality of the project. The land in question lay on the corner of Newport Road and Glossop Road, the site of the current Cardiff Royal Infirmary. It was known at that time as Longcross Common. It had long been seen as the preferred position for the hospital, with ample room for further expansion at a later date. It had an estimated value of £10,000 and although the Bute family had offered to release it for £5000, the price was still beyond the Committee’s reach.

The offer was later amended to a long term lease at a nominal rent but from this point the project was reenergised. Plans were commissioned from the Cardiff architects James, Seward and Thomas and made available for public inspection in the Town Hall in August 1881. Five months later, on 30 January 1882, after several rounds of tenders, a local builder, Clarke Burton, was appointed to construct the hospital at a cost of £22,978. Burton was asked to commence “forthwith” and complete the work in 20 months.

Good progress was made. Almost exactly a year later, on Tuesday 30th January 1883, on a bitterly cold and wet afternoon, the Marquess of Bute braved the hail and rain to deliver a speech from a platform erected on a site that is now the entrance to the Cardiff Royal Infirmary. A great crowd had been expected and the Head Constable had ringed the platform with police. Such was the weather, however, that the number of onlookers, although large, was less than anticipated.

No doubt many present were focused on the holiday declared for the following day when the Marquess was to cut the first sod of the new Dock to be built at Cardiff at a cost of half a million pounds. So, despite the entertainment provided by the band of the Penarth detachment of the Artillery Volunteers, one newspaper reported that several of the speeches that day were …heard with some impatience by a crowd suffering from …cold feet and blue noses.

The Marquess of Bute, however, was well received for this was an auspicious day as he laid the memorial foundation stone for the new Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire Infirmary and Dispensary that, when complete, would serve South Wales for over 130 years. In exchange, he was presented with an engraved silver trowel with an ivory handle and a set of sketches of the new hospital bound in a book of Moroccan leather. It is likely that the book included the sketch of the front of the new building facing onto Glossop Road that featured in the pages of the Illustrated London News the following month on the 10th February 1883.

Despite the progress made, the Building Fund was still well short of the money required for the new hospital. At the end of the ceremony the Marquess laid £1000 on the memorial stone as a challenge to others. Possibly encouraged by the promise of a ward being named after them if they donated £1,000, the names of those who took up Bute’s challenge were a ‘who’s who’ of the wealthy and influential in South Wales at the time, including Tredegar, Windsor, Cory, Crawshay, Aberdare, Insole, Mackintosh and Dunraven.

If you visit the Cardiff Royal Infirmary you can still see the stone laid on that cold and wet afternoon in 1883. You will need to look carefully. It is at ground level on the left hand side of the doorway at the main entrance. On the right hand side you will see a similar stone commemorating the contribution made to the first hospital by Daniel Jones. It was reported that a container with coins, local papers and a description of the site was buried beneath the stone laid by the Marquess. It is just possible that it is still there today.

The sketch of the Marquess of Bute laying the memorial stone in the Illustrated London News on 10 Feb 1883 is held at Glamorgan Archives, reference DXGC147/28. The transcription of the letter from Bute’s agent of 24 December 1880 is in the minutes of the Building Sub Committee for 27 December 1880, reference DHC/44.

Tony Peters, Glamorgan Archives volunteer