The Jessop Hospital for Women

The former building of The Jessop Hospital for Women can be seen in Sheffield (34 Leavygreave Road).

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"In 1875 Dr Aveling, an Ecclesfield practitioner, moved to Sheffield. Deciding that a seperate hospital for women would be of great benefit to the town he issued a circular asking for funds. However except for a few vague promises he got little response.Six years later Dr Aveling tried again and this time with the cooperation of two other doctors Jackson and keeling, he was able to rent for �60 per year, a large house in Fig Tree Lane. The Sheffield Hospital for Women, as it was called when opened in 1864 was equipped with six beds, which were soon fully used. Ninety nine patients were treated during the first sis months and the number increased each successive year. In 1865 three extra beds were provided, but even with these the small hospital could not cope with the demand. By 1875 the small hospital in Fig Tree Lane had become quite inadequate, so Thomas Jessop, owner of a large Sheffield steelworks bought land at Leavygreave and built the Jessops Hospital for Women. This was opened in 1878, the entire cost of the building, over twenty-six thousand pounds, being borne by Jessop. With this much larger building, accomodation for fiftyseven inpatients could now be provided. Much progress and expansion followed and in 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War, there were beds for 151 patients. Also new extensions were in the process of being built. During the air raids on Sheffield in 1940, the hospital suffered severe damage, but rebuilkding speedily got underway, By 1943 the new extensions were completed and this enabled 217 beds to be in full use. Today (1978) there is provision or 239 beds, the hospital being and approved training school for midwives"1.

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In 2001, the Jessops Hospital for Women on Leavygreave Road was closed and the hospital moved to a newly built maternity hospital at the rear of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital on Treeroot Walk. Its now renamed Jessops Wing (presumably to mean a wing "of the Hallamshire Hospital"). Part of the original hospital was demolished. The remaining building now hosts the Department of Music of the University of Sheffield.

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  • Photos by Adrian Thomas (September 2021)


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