File RCHS/1/5 - Connaught Hospital Trainee Nurse Registers

From Lost Hospitals of London: https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/connaught.html In the late 19th century Walthamstow residents Mr and Mrs Tudor opened a 'Cottage for Sick Children' in a private house in Brandon Road. The Hospital moved to larger premises in Salisbury Road in 1880 and became known as the Leyton, Walthamstow and Wanstead Hospital. In 1894 the gift of Holmcroft in Orford Road enabled the hospital to expand so that it could also provide general services, and it was duly renamed the Children's and General Hospital for Leyton, Leytonstone, Walthamstow and Wanstead. It was enlarged in 1897 and again in 1903. By 1925 it had 50 beds. The Leyton and Leytonstone War Memorial Ward was added in 1927. In 1928 it was renamed the Co aught Hospital, as the Duchess of Co aught had been patron since 1866. The Duke of Kent had helped to raise £17,000 for its ru ing costs. By this time it had 100 beds. Comely Bank in Orford Road was acquired as a clinic in 1930. In 1934 the Hospital was enlarged again and by 1939 had 118 beds. Although mooted in 1945, the prospect of building a larger hospital never materialized and, in 1959, the old Walthamstow Town Hall, built in 1866, was incorporated into the Hospital and became its main entrance. This expanded it to 128 beds. In 1948 the Hospital joined the NHS under the control of the Forest Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. In 1974, following a major reorganisation of the NHS, it came under the auspices of the Enfield District Health Authority, part of the North East Thames Regional Health Board. The Hospital finally closed in 1977 due to financial cutbacks in the NHS.