The Passmore Edwards Wing West Ham Hospital 1895

History

When Passmore Edwards opened the Public Library at Canning Town, in February 1893, he received representations to provide a much needed new wing for the West Ham Hospital, a request that he was pleased to accept.
Drawings were prepared by the Hon architect to the hospital, Lewis Angell and Passmore Edwards laid the memorial stone in April 1894 and returned, in September 1895, to open the completed wing.
The new wing provided two wards each of 12 beds and Passmore Edwards also furnished and equipped one of the wards, which was named the “Eleanor Edwards Ward”, after his wife. The other ward was equipped by Mr J R Roberts, who had also gifted £1000 towards the hospital fund. The teachers, friendly societies and masonic lodges, all of which had representatives at the opening ceremony, had contributed towards supporting the maintenance and operation of the extended hospital.
In 1888 the Duke of Cambridge laid the foundation stone to the West Ham Hospital, for accident and casualty cases only and in 1890 the hospial was opened by the Duke of Westminster.The total cost was £7000.
Even with the additional wing funded by Passmore Edwards in 1984 with only 60 beds to serve a population of over 300,000 inhabitants, the hospital struggled to accept the number of cases brought to it and with additional fund raising and a site for a further extensionwas purchased. Although the foundation stone was laid in 1907 it was not until January 1911 when the new wards came into use. In the last year before the new extension opened over 30000 patients attended the out-patient department. Through the generosity of the Duchess of malborough this was completely renovated, along with the operating theatre. Two new wards, the Consuelo Malborough Ward, furnished by the Duchess, and the Anne Zunz Ward, furnished by the Zunz Trust. The number of beds had risen to 110.
The endowment of the Hospital raised only about £400 pa and it was a constant task to raise the annual expenditure of £10,000 for running and maintenance costs through committees and societies, workplace collections, and the usual carnivals, flower shows, whist drives and concerts familiar with all that help run voluntary aided organisations today.The King Edward’s Hospital Fund provided regular subscriptions and grants for new buildings as did the Hospital Sunday and Saturday Funds.

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