Staine Hundred
AT THE MARCH MEETING, Hilary Ritchieie, archivist at Addenbrookes Hospital,
gave an interesting talk about its history. Dr John Addenbrooke, born in 1680,
had trained as a doctor in Cambridge and then Paris. In his will dated 1719, he
left money for a "small physical hospital in Cambridge for poor
people".
He died later that year in Buntingford and his wife died six months later, There are few artifacts to tell about his life as he destroyed them, including a painting of himself, before his death. He left the sum of £4500 and was the first Englishman to leave money for the foundation of a hospital. After numerous delays, the hospital opened in 1766, with 20 beds housing 11 patients, 3 surgeons and 3 physicians. The first Matron, Mrs Perry, received £10 per year with a gratuity of £5. She had to oversee all the housekeeping as well as the nursing staff. Nurses, who were untrained, and were paid only £5 per year, often lost their jobs within weeks for misbehaviour. The first nursing training scheme was started in 1880 but probationers had to pay to be trained and mostly came from Scotland and other far away places. It was one of the last hospital to charge nurses for training. Doctors who took their degree at Cambridge University would go on to London Hospitals to complete their training as Addenbrookes did not provide enough scope or variety of illness since it was mainly used by the poor. A wing was added on each side of the original hospital and later the building was largely rebuilt and extended in
1866 and continued to expand with more clinics and services provided until it outgrew its site and moved to the Hills Road site in the early 1950s.
Addenbrookes is fortunate to have the archives on site. All the patient's case notes between 1876 and the end of WWll are stored there but those less than 100 years old are not generally available.
The next meeting will be held in the Youth Centre on April 12th when John Sutton will be talking about "Charles II and Newmarket". One of the Staine Hundred members, Joan Shaw, has recently published a book about Newmarket.
The Summer Outing will be on Tuesday, June 13, leaving Bottisham church at 9.15. There will be a visit to Cressing Barns, spectacular medieval timbered bans, followed by a visit to a Secret Nuclear Bunker dating from 1952. All inclusive price is £28. Ring Peter Arnold 822596 or Stewart Bell 811570 for further details.