Dundee Women's Hospital, officially known as Dundee Women's Hospital and Nursing Home was a

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

for women in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, Scotland. Originally it operated from premises in Seafield Road, it later moved to Elliott Road.

History

The original site selected at 19 Seafield Road had previously been operated by the Misses Niven as a school in the late 19th century. The hospital was opened in May 1897 at premises in 19 Seafield Road and was also known as Dundee Private Hospital for Women. It had grown out of an earlier dispensary for women and children, which had been formed earlier in the decade to offer women treatment by female doctors. The hospital aimed to provide surgical care at a low cost. Its founders included the Dundee social reformer

Mary Lily Walker Mary Lily Walker (5 July 1863 – 1 July 1913) was a Scottish social reformer, who worked to improve conditions for women and children working in industrial Dundee. Early life and university Mary Lily Walker was born at 152 Perth Road, Dundee on ...

and the city's first two female doctors Alice Moorhead (the sister of the artist and

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

Ethel Moorhead Ethel Agnes Mary Moorhead (28 August 18694 March 1955) was a British suffragette and Painting, painter and was the first suffragette in Scotland to be forcibly-fed. She was also a patron of ''This Quarter'', a journal published by Ernest Walsh ...

) and Emily Thomson. In 1900, its management committee of included Miss Walker and Professor

D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson CB FRS FRSE (2 May 1860 – 21 June 1948) was a Scottish biologist, mathematician and classics scholar. He was a pioneer of mathematical and theoretical biology, travelled on expeditions to the Bering Strait ...

, while Drs Moorhead and Thomson were its medical officers. In 1915, due to the financial generosity of the Sharp family of Hill of Tarvit, it moved to premises in Elliot Road designed by James Findlay, initially with fourteen beds. It had been planned to move to the new building in 1914, but just prior to its completion it was damaged by fire. The hospital used temporary accommodation in Windsor Street until the damage to the new building was repaired. It became part of the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

in 1948, despite an attempt to stay private, latterly serving as an annex to

Dundee Royal Infirmary Dundee Royal Infirmary, often shortened to DRI, was a major teaching hospital in Dundee, Scotland. Until the opening of Ninewells Hospital in 1974, Dundee Royal Infirmary was Dundee's main hospital. It was closed in 1998, after 200 years of opera ...

. It closed around 1975.

Legacy

The remaining archives of the hospital are held by Archive Services at the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

. The site in Elliot Road was later converted into apartments.

Footnotes

External links

Unlocking the Medicine Chest Dundee Women's Hospital and Nursing Home
{{authority control Defunct hospitals in Scotland Women's Hospital History of Dundee 1897 establishments in Scotland Women's hospitals History of women in Scotland