– Princess Christian Hospital
Published in Windlesora 13 (1994)
© WLHG
Her Royal Highness Princess Christian’s Hospital at 12 Clarence Road in Windsor is celebrating its centenary in 1994 and it is fitting that we now remember its beginnings and its place in early nursing history in Windsor.
In the first records of the Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Institute for Nurses Register No 2 it is recorded that H R H Princess Christian’s Home for Trained Nurses was founded by the wish of H R H Princess Christian. This was not just a whim, for Helena, Queen Victoria’s third daughter, had been involved with nursing since her early twenties, soon after her marriage to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. In a letter dated 16th August 1870 she offered her help with a proposed Ladies Committee and when that committee was formed Helena presided over it and Florence Nightingale sat as a member.
Princess Christian’s involvement in the founding of the British Red Cross was enormous. Her concern for the sick remained with her all her life. She was dedicated to laying a foundation of high standards of care for patients; and establishing the role of nursing as a profession. It was her desire to ensure that the sick poor of Windsor should benefit from these skilled nurses who were properly trained, that led her to address a meeting in December 1886 to propose that the work of the Rural District Nursing Association should be extended into Windsor. The association had already been established and by 1885 many areas were already realising the importance of a trained nurse in their communities. It was almost inevitable, therefore, that the Royal Borough would follow this lead.
Both Prince and Princess Christian were already closely connected with the Windsor Dispensary, which had been established in 1817, and the Prince was elected President in 1888. They are known to have made frequent visits there.
Princess Christian’s concern for standards of care by nurses was outlined in letter she wrote to the Times of 19th July 1888 as President of the newly formed British Nurses Association. She wrote:
“It is hardly necessary to say that the education of trained nurses in this country has been greatly due to the experience of the Crimean war and to the noble efforts then made by Miss Nightingale to provide for the proper care of the sick and wounded . . . . Nurses are trained in hospitals and in order that their training may be effectual and may fit them for all the duties which they may be called upon to discharge, it must be of considerable duration and embrace a variety of experience, and must be guided by careful and systematic teaching.”
The founding of the District Nurses Fund and New Windsor Institute was the fulfilment of the wish of Princess Christian. The first nurse to be appointed was Miss Jane Wade who was 41 years old and had trained at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh and received her district nurse training at the Metropolitan and National Society.
Princess Christian reported to the Royal Borough Committee:
“I feel sure it will be of interest to the members of this Committee to have information laid before them as to the character of the work which has been carried out during the past two months by Miss Wade of Windsor. The details of the cases which I propose to give you now will, I believe, afford ample evidence of the great need that exists for such skilled nursing here, and of the beneficent results which are likely to arrive among the poor from the maintenance and possible development of the work. It is true that Windsor has for a long time done without anything of the sort, but I feel sure that no serious person will regard that unfortunate fact, as an argument why we should restrict our efforts and leave in their sad discomfort the sick and suffering among us who have no means of providing for themselves that alleviation of their burden to which the skilled hand of a well trained nurse can administer . . .”
Princess Christian’s report continued to identify all the work that Miss Wade had done since her appointment and justified her request for more funds to appoint a second nurse and to find accommodation for the extension of this work.
Miss Anna Marie Simpson was the first Windsor nurse to give her address as No 4 Clarence Villas in the Register of the Royal British Nurses Association in 1889. The same address was given by all the nurses who registered until 1894. This house was rented for the trained nurses but in 1894 Nos 1 and 2 Clarence Villas were purchased by Princess Christian and became the focal point for all the work carried out and is referred to as the Mother House in Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Institute records. By this time Miss Simpson had been appointed as lady superintendent. This is the site of the present Princess Christian’s Hospital, which has been re-numbered as 12 Clarence Road.
District Nursing continued to expand through the environs, with experienced nurses appointed to Eton, Addlestone, Egham, Ascot, Staines and Chertsey, all reporting to and inspected by Miss Simpson on a regular basis. Princess Christian Home was inspected by Miss Emily Mansell, inspector of the Queen Victoria Jubilee Nurses Institute which was formed in 1887 and to which they were now affiliated. They were still known as Princess Christian trained nurses and wore the badge designed by the Princess herself and the brazard of the Queen Victoria Jubilee Nurses Institute.
The work expanded rapidly from 1886 and twenty years later the annual report reveals that as well as the lady superintendent there was one assistant, four district nurses, two midwives and thirty private nurses.
A house at 23 Trinity Place was purchased and used as a maternity home for the women whose husbands were fighting in South Africa in 1899 and it was registered for the training of midwives after the Midwives Act was passed in 1903.
In 1904, numbers 3 and 4 Clarence Villas were purchased and the name of the home was changed to The Prince Christian Victor Nursing Home in memory of Princess Christian’s son who had died in the South African War. The original name was restored in 1926 following the death of the Princess.
Nurses from the home went to South Africa and joined the Princess Christian Army Nurses Reserve during the Boer War and they suffered great hardship. The Royal Red Cross, one of the highest nursing honours was awarded to Miss Margaret Whitman for her work in South Africa in 1902. Miss Whitman had worked at Windsor from 1896 to 1898.
Nursing the sick has continued at the hospital through a hundred years and many changes have occurred during that time. I am at present writing the complete history in much greater depth than in this short article. Through my research I have identified the first 50 nurses who worked at the home and records show that their experience and training gave the quality and high standard of nursing care required, thus fulfilling the wish of Princess Christian.
Kathleen Whelan
Miss Whelan was formerly matron of Princess Christian Hospital.
References
British Red Cross Society Archives, Bramshill, especially the “Wantage Papers”.
RBN Association, Wellcome Institute, British Journal of Nurses.
Windsor Local History Group 