| Administrative History | Aberdeen Maternity Hospital grew out of Aberdeen General Dispensary, itself an offshoot of the Infirmary. The Dispensary was founded in 1781 and was indedpendent by 1786. By 1800 there were three dispensaries in Aberdeen which combined, in 1823, to form the Aberdeen General Dispensary , Vaccine and Lying-In Institution.
In 1870 the Dispensary bought two houses in the Guestrow - one to serve as a maternity unit, although qualified midwives were not appointed until 1892. The Lying-In Institution moved to Barrett's Close in 1893 and in 1900 the Bank of Scotland offices in Castle Street were bought and converted into the Maternity Hospital.
The hospital grew in importance and finally won its independence in 1912, when it gained its own Board of Directors. In 1919 a pre-natal department was added by the Town Council as part of their Mother and Child Welfare work.
The hospital was a late participant in the Joint Hospitals Scheme - not least because of its lack of funds. However, the Infirmary and the University of Aberdeen who jointly owned most of the Feresterhill site, gifted land to the Maternity Hospital and building started in 1934. The new hospital was opened in 1937 with 32 beds at a cost of £52,000. Eight more beds were added in 1939. In 1941 the ante-natal hospital was added at the expense of the Corporation of Aberdeen and the County Councils of Aberdeen and Kincardine.
In 1948 the Maternity, like the other hospitals on the Foresterhill site, was taken over by the National Health Service. Until 1971 it was administered by the Aberdeen Special Hospitals Board of Management. From 1971 - 1974 it was administered by the Foresterhill and Associated Hospitals Board, and since 1974 it was part of the South District of the Grampian Health Board. |
| Description | Minutes, 1938 - 1948; obstetric registers, 1916-1937; operation registers, 1941-1959; registers of admissions and discharges, Ante-natal Hospital, 1941 - 1948; case notes, Rubislaw Maternity Wing, 1953 - 1957; almoner's records, 1946 - 1959; cash books, salaries books, 1941 - 1949; staff registers - pupil midwives, 1905-1948, 1954-1964, nursing staff, 1910-1973, domestic staff, 1915-1964, and resident medical staff, 1932-1950, 1961-1964 (indexed 1925-1973); annual reports, 1933-1942, and 1945; case notes, 1937-1959; visitors' boook, 1938-1954; photographs, 1940s. |