The Rise and Work of the Cornelia Hospital
The Rise and Work of the Cornelia Hospital is the title of an illustrated book apparently published in 1918, but which seems to be completely lost and unknown.
The book was published in March 1918 and must be the first written history of Poole’s hospital, then known as the Cornelia Hospital, named after its founder Lady Cornelia Wimborne. And yet the only evidence for its existence is in newspaper articles from the time. It isn’t held in the stock of Poole Museum History Centre, Dorset Archives, local public libraries, national collections at the British Library and Wellcome Library, or listed in the joint catalogue of academic libraries in the UK (JISC).
Is it anywhere?
Or is there a chance a member of a Poole family has a copy, whether on proud display or perhaps hidden away in the attic?
What little is known
In 1918 the Cornelia Hospital was not only the town’s acute hospital, but also an admitting hospital for wounded soldiers returning from the battlefields of the First World War. The hospital then had only a short history. It had been founded in 1889 in West Street, moving to Market Street in 1890. In 1907 it moved to its present location in Longfleet Road, but with only 17 beds. Until the advent of the war it had been a tiny hospital, but its designation as a Red Cross hospital in 1914, receiving wounded from the war, was a big step in its development. By 1918 there were 140 beds, the vast majority in the military wards, and that year, Cornelia Hospital received 700 patients a year – a huge increase on the pre-war levels.
The hospital committee had plans to develop further in order to better meet the needs of a town the size of Poole. As a voluntary hospital, fundraising was the only way to pay for the necessary building extensions – no central NHS to fund services at that time.
As a part of this fundraising, an event was held at the Amity Hall on 23rd March 1918 attended by the great and good of the town, including the hospital’s founder and benefactor Lady Cornelia Wimborne. This event featured entertainment in the form of a concert and a film.
There was also a slideshow, entitled The Rise and Work of the Cornelia Hospital. It was presented by Morton Pask, using slides by local photographer William Warn, with text written by Herbert Kendall, the Hospital Secretary. This was the main element of the evening, describing the background to the short history of the hospital and how it needed to develop to meet the health needs of Poole.
All that is known comes from the newspaper reports of the event:
From the Bournemouth Guardian is a description of the occasion: the occasion was made all the more memorable by the story being told of the rise and work of the hospital…. The beginnings of the hospital and the munificence of Lord and Lady Wimborne were threads woven into the pattern of large-hearted generosity, and there came later details of the removal from the old Elizabethan building in Market Street, to the new site in Longfleet Road. ¹
The Poole Herald reported in more detail, and mentions the book : An interesting and instructive lecture on The rise and work of the Cornelia Hospital by Mr Morton Pask, illustrated with many beautiful slides from photos taken by Mr Warn… funds were added to by the sale of the splendid and beautifully illustrated book, bearing the title of Mr Pask’s lecture, edited by Mr Pask and illustrated by Mr Warn and sold by nurses from the Cornelia Hospital and the Forest Holme Annexe who were present in numbers and added a splash of colour to the scene. ²
And that is all we know!
No account of the history of the hospital mentions the book at all.
Do any copies of the book still exist?
Any help in tracing the book would be gratefully received. Comment to this blog or contact the staff of the History Centre at Poole Museum.
¹ Bournemouth Guardian 1918 23 March p 8
² Poole Herald 1918 23 March p 3
Poole's Health Record 