The Acland Hospital (also previously known as the Acland Nursing Home, Acland Home and the Sarah Acland Home for Nurses) was a private
nursing home
A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to i ...
and
hospital in central
North Oxford
North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the College.
Overview
The le ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, located in a prominent position at the southern end of the
Banbury Road
Banbury Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England, running from St Giles' at the south end, north towards Banbury through the leafy suburb of North Oxford and Summertown, with its local shopping centre. Parallel and to the west is the ...
. It was founded in memory of
Sarah Acland
Sarah, Lady Acland ( Cotton; 21 July 1815 – 25 October 1878) was the wife of Sir Henry Acland, Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford. She was a socialite and philanthropist. After her death, the Sarah Acland Home was esta ...
, the wife of Sir
Henry Acland
Sir Henry Wentworth Dyke Acland, 1st Baronet, (23 August 181516 October 1900) was an English physician and educator.
Life
Henry Acland was born in Killerton, Exeter, the fourth son of Sir Thomas Acland and Lydia Elizabeth Hoare, and educate ...
,
Regius Professor of Medicine at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
. Following redevelopment it now serves as graduate accommodation for
Keble College
Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...
.
Foundation and history
1878–1903
The Sarah Acland Home for Nurses was founded in memory of
Sarah Acland
Sarah, Lady Acland ( Cotton; 21 July 1815 – 25 October 1878) was the wife of Sir Henry Acland, Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford. She was a socialite and philanthropist. After her death, the Sarah Acland Home was esta ...
(wife of the
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
academic and physician Sir
Henry Acland
Sir Henry Wentworth Dyke Acland, 1st Baronet, (23 August 181516 October 1900) was an English physician and educator.
Life
Henry Acland was born in Killerton, Exeter, the fourth son of Sir Thomas Acland and Lydia Elizabeth Hoare, and educate ...
) who died on 25 October 1878, as the Sarah Acland Home for Nurses.
After Sarah Acland's death her friends decided that an institution for nurses would be an appropriate way to memorialize her, and they solicited donations and collected
GBP
Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...
4,000 from members of the community.
Work began quickly and a district nurse associated with the new institution was out working in the field a few weeks after the project began.
In 1879 a meeting was held announcing the "Sarah Acland Institution for Nurses", which was initially situated at 37
Wellington Square, Oxford and was supervised by Mrs Rutherford Smith.
The new buildings for the Sarah Acland Home were opened on 12 May 1879 by then-
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
and later
King of the United Kingdom,
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...
.
In her 1893
autobiography ''Recollections of Life and Work'', Louisa Twining noted that the facility provided "a most urgent need in the city". The 1984 book ''The History of the University of Oxford'' lists the official foundation of the Acland Nursing Home as 1882, and describes it as a "leading institution" of Oxford, which had close ties to Oxford University. A new wing of the hospital was opened in October 1906 which contained
operating rooms and sterilization equipment, and the
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
sent a congratulatory letter to the Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, Dr. Osler.
Sir Henry Acland retired from his
Regius Professorship
A Regius Professor
is a university professor who has, or originally had, royal patronage or appointment. They are a unique feature of academia in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The first Regius Professorship was in the field of medicine, and ...
at Oxford in 1894, and he apportioned a large percentage of a GPB3,000 testimonial to the Home for Nurses for expansion.
In 1895 the hospital functioned as "an institution that provides district nurses and medical appliances for the poor, and maintains private nurses and a medical and surgical home to which patients unable to afford the ordinary fees are admitted on a reduced scale of charge." Writing in ''Sir Henry Wentworth Acland, Bart., K.C.B., F.R.S., Regius Professor of Medicine in the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
: A Memoir'' which was published after Sir Henry Acland's death, co-author James Beresford Atlay commented that Acland would have been pleased with the way the institution had flourished from 1879 to 1903: "Dr. Acland … had had daily evidence of the misery suffered by the rich and poor alike in the absence of trained nursing. The memorial to his wife could have assumed no form more acceptable to him."
Atlay wrote in the 1903 work: "The 'Sarah Acland Home' is now one of the most flourishing and valued institutions in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. So great is its usefulness, so indispensable do its nurses seem, that one marvels how the town or the University had existed without it."
1903–2004
The Egyptologist
Nora Griffith
Nora Griffith (7 December 1870 – 21 October 1937) was a Scottish Egyptologist, archaeologist, illustrator and conservator. On the death of her husband, the eminent Egyptologist Francis Llewellyn Griffith, she founded and endowed the Griffi ...
died here of
peritonitis
Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and cover of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One part o ...
after an
appendectomy in 1937.
[Obituary for Nora Macdonald Griffith - ''The Journal for Egyptian Archaeology'', Volume XXIII - The Egypt Exploration Society (1937)]
/ref> Writer Mary Renault
Eileen Mary Challans (4 September 1905 – 13 December 1983), known by her pen name Mary Renault ("She always pronounced it 'Ren-olt', though almost everyone would come to speak of her as if she were a French car." ), was an English writer best ...
worked at the hospital in 1943. Poet John Betjeman had a cyst removed at the Acland in August 1945.[Peterson, William S., ]
John Betjeman: A Bibliography
', Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2006. . Page 394. Author C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...
entered the Acland on 15 July 1963 and suffered a heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
there; J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
visited him there when he was convalescing.
According to ''The Victoria History of Oxford'', the Acland Nursing Home was the "only hospital in Oxford which did not join the National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
in 1948". The Acland Home was renamed as the Acland Hospital in 1964.
In a 2003 review of Oxford hospitals in ''The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'', the reviewer commented: "The hospital misses out narrowly on more of our quality awards for its diagnostic services and physiotherapy." In 2004, ''The Sunday Times'' reported that the Acland Hospital had 36 beds, and consultants in 44 specialities. In 2004 the Banbury Road site was sold to Keble College
Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...
, who used the former hospital as graduate accommodation before demolishing it in 2016 (other than the Jackson building) to develop their H B Allen Centre
The H B Allen Centre is the graduate centre of Keble College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England.
Background
The H B Allen Centre is named for Heather Barbara "Mickie" Allen, founder of the H B Allen Charitab ...
on the site as a new graduate campus. The hospital moved to Headington
Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston to the north-west, Cowley to the south, and Barton and Risinghurst to the east. Th ...
on a site adjoining the John Radcliffe Hospital
The John Radcliffe Hospital (informally known as the JR) is a large tertiary teaching hospital in Oxford, England. It forms part of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is named after John Radcliffe, an 18th-century physic ...
, a suburb in east Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, when it was renamed The Manor Hospital. The Manor Hospital site was formerly the grounds of the Oxford United Football Club (OUFC). The Manor Hospital has 71 rooms, an intensive care unit
220px, Intensive care unit
An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensi ...
with seven beds, six operating theatres, and CT and MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves ...
scanners.
Sale and re-development
In December 2004, Keble College purchased the Acland Hospital from the Nuffield Hospital Trust for £10.75 million. As part of its 150th Anniversary campaign, Keble built a new graduate complex, the H B Allen Centre
The H B Allen Centre is the graduate centre of Keble College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England.
Background
The H B Allen Centre is named for Heather Barbara "Mickie" Allen, founder of the H B Allen Charitab ...
on the site, which opened in 2019. Part of the old hospital, now called Sarah Acland House, is a Grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
, and a challenge in construction was preserving this structure.
Architecture
The Acland Home originally occupied houses in Wellington Square. In 1895 Northgate House, the former home of Henry Octavius Coxe
Henry Octavius Coxe (20 September 1811 in Bucklebury, Berkshire, England – 8 July 1881 in Oxford) was an English librarian and scholar.
The eighth son of Rev. Richard Coxe and Susan Smith, he was educated at Westminster School and Worcester ...
(1811–1881), librarian of the Bodleian
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...
, was leased from Lincoln College for 99 years. A new wing for paying patients was added 1895–96, designed by a leading architect of the time, Sir Thomas Graham Jackson
Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, 1st Baronet (21 December 1835 – 7 November 1924) was one of the most distinguished British architects of his generation. He is best remembered for his work at Oxford, including the Oxford Military College at Cowl ...
in conjunction with Douglas Strutt Galton (1822–1899), a great authority on government hospitals and cousin of Sir Francis Galton
Sir Francis Galton, FRS FRAI (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911), was an English Victorian era polymath: a statistician, sociologist, psychologist, anthropologist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, prot ...
(1822–1911). When it opened it was said to be the first Nursing Home or 'Home Hospital' for paying patients to be built especially for the purpose, all the earlier nursing homes being merely adapted houses. The second extension by Robert Langton Cole was built between 1905 and 1906, and opened on 13 October 1906, the bulk of the funds having been raised by Sarah Angelina Acland. In his 1899 work ''The Cathedral Church of Oxford'', Percy Dearmer
Percival Dearmer (1867–1936) was an English priest and liturgist best known as the author of ''The Parson's Handbook'', a liturgical manual for Anglican clergy, and as editor of ''The English Hymnal''. A lifelong socialist, he was an early ad ...
described the building as a "medallion in statuary marble, set in giallo antico". In 1937, a neo-Georgian frontage was added by R. Fielding Dodd.
To the south is another building by Jackson, originally the location of the Oxford High School for Girls
Oxford High School is an Independent school (UK), independent day school for girls in Oxford, England. It was founded by the Girls' Day School Trust in 1875, making it the city's oldest girls' school.
History
Oxford High School was opened on ...
and later an annexe of the Oxford University Department of Metallurgy (now the Department of Materials). These are two of the few buildings in North Oxford designed by Jackson. His other notable buildings in Oxford include Hertford College
Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colle ...
(including the Bridge of Sighs
The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: ''Ponte dei Sospiri'', vec, Ponte de i Sospiri) is a bridge in Venice, Italy. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone, has windows with stone bars, passes over the Rio di Palazzo, and connects the New Priso ...
) amongst other college buildings.
References
{{Authority control
Hospitals in Oxford
Defunct hospitals in England
Nursing homes in the United Kingdom
Keble College, Oxford
Buildings and structures completed in 1896
Hospitals established in 1878
1878 establishments in England
Hospitals disestablished in 2004
2004 disestablishments in England