A picture paints a thousand words: new images of nurses in east London
There’s nothing like a spring clean unearth hidden treasure. And a clear out of the executive offices at Newham Hospital have done just that.
Decantation of the offices, to allow building works to be completed, revealed a group of old, black and white photographs of nurses. Understanding that they may hold some historic significance, the team transferred the photographs to the Barts Health Trust archives, in the hope they could provide some information on the images.
They didn’t disappoint. The archivists established that the photographs came from two hospitals, both of which served the London Borough of Newham before Newham Hospital opened in 1983:
- Queen Mary's Hospital for the East End, formerly known as the West Ham and Eastern General Hospital)
- The Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum, later known as St Andrew’s Hospital.
Queen Mary’s Hospital for the East End. Source: online
Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum. Source: Newham Hospital / Barts Health Archives
The individuals within the photographs are groups of nurses and sisters at these hospitals in-and-around the 1920s. But the team didn’t stop there.
Comparison of the photographs with ones from the collection of the Imperial War Museum helped identify the matron in the Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum images as Sarah Ann Pike Hannaford. Sarah took up post in 1895, and was the first matron at the hospital to be a trained nurse. This meant she was responsible for introducing trained nursing staff throughout the hospital and in turn ending the use of ‘pauper labour’ (residents from the workhouse who staffed the hospital). The photos from Queen Mary’s Hospital were taken shortly after the First World War, and several nurses wear medals which were most likely awarded for services in the war.
Looking back on old photographs of nurses on International Nurses Day reminds us that nurses are an invaluable part of any hospital or healthcare team, and have been so for centuries.
Staff at Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum, including Matron Sarah Hannaford, c 1910s-1920s. Source: Newham Hospital / Barts Health Archives
Staff at opening of Nurses’ Home at Queen Mary’s Hospital for the East End, 1923. Source: Newham Hospital / Barts Health Archives
The Barts Health Trust Archives hold historic records of over 30 current and former hospitals in the City and East End, including these two. But not many photographs survive in the collections for either of these hospitals. The new acquisitions provide an exciting new record of the faces of nursing at the hospitals in the early 20th century. They will be added to the archives’ online catalogue and made available to researchers, Trust staff and the general public.
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