Our Lead Nurse, Sam Wong has been at Seashell for nearly 3 years, but has been working as a nurse for 21 years. Her experience includes epilepsy, forensic nursing, but predominantly supporting people with Learning Disabilities who have Mental Health difficulties.
Sam has a keen interest in history. In this blog, she delves into Seashell’s past, particularly in relation to her field of expertise – nursing.
Being a Salford lass (Mancunian when united are winning) and after reading ‘A Beacon of Hope’ (Ed Baines) I was always intrigued to know the exact location of the first school for the Deaf, where Seashell began. Ed had identified the Lying-in hospital as the location so naturally as a nurse I wanted to know more and how this related to the nursing and midwifery history in Manchester.
Manchester and Salford are well known for their outstanding hospitals and nursing/midwifery schools. The University of Manchester School of Nursing and Midwifery is currently ranked as 7th best school in the world.
Saint Mary’s Hospital was founded in 1790 (the same year New Bailey prison opened) by Dr Charles White in a house in Old Bridge Street, Salford as the “Lying-in Charity”. Five years later in 1795 the charity became the Manchester Lying-in Hospital residing in the Bath Inn, Stanley Street, Salford. This is shown just to the left of New Bailey Prison before its expansion.
The Bath Inn was one of the first in Manchester. It was a four-storey pub overlooking the river with a number of rooms and apartments, as well as stables. The pub was named after an ancient spring which was turned into a cold spa, however James Maguire who had opened the Bath Inn decided the pub suffered from poor location (next to a prison and dirty river), and closed it just a year after it opened, in 1793 .
In the Bath Inn, midwifery training for women was provided and the building was felt to be very suitable. The bar was used as the medication store (apothecary). The hospital had private baths sourced from the spring and public bathers were charged for use and the profits went to the charity. The hospital even performed Caesarean sections. Inpatient accommodation was available for widows, deserted wives, and others whose homes were below standard for a proper birth. In 1800 there were 177 inpatients and 800 home patients for women in early stages of pregnancy or suffering from child-birth related disorders, and for children under the age of two. The charity recruited a list of midwives, who were paid two shillings and sixpence for each delivery. In 1819 it moved to smaller premises at 18 King Street Manchester, but moved back to Stanley Street in 1822.
Dr White gave lectures to the midwives of the charity and to students. The training of midwives was emphasised, and it was one of the first hospitals in England to do this.
Like many charities at this time there were financial difficulties, and the rising costs of treating in-patients, led to attempts to reduce the numbers and in 1813 in-patient use ceased leaving large parts of the building unused. Female midwifery pupils however could now stay with the midwives in the hospital, and accompanied them on rounds in the community. The hospital also was involved in small-pox vaccination and later delivered care to children up to the age of seven. An increase in the numbers of male and female mid-wives was needed and Thomas Radford was appointed as a man-midwife, a term later (1828) replaced with surgeon. The name of the hospital was changed to the Lying-in Hospital and Dispensary for Disease of Women and Children in 1822. The hospital continued with financial difficulties and increasing patient numbers and demands. From 1835, pregnant patients were required to pay, if able, two shillings upon admission.
Hugh Hornsby Birley was Treasurer at the lying-in hospital and already involved in the formation of an Institution for the Education of Deaf and Dumb Children and no doubt highlighted the previous Bath Inn as a potential accommodation for the school. Possibly the available nursing staff within the building was also considered beneficial. It also meant midwifery students would become familiar with deaf students and their unique needs. The following artist’s impression shows the New Bailey Prison on the right, with the Lying-in hospital far left, looking carefully it is also possible to make out the School for Deaf and Dumb right next door. Evidently the picture was created between 1824 and 1837, the time the school existed there.
As we know the school moved from Stanley Street in 1837, away from the prison, river and Salford City. It wasn’t ideal, with no play ground and the propensity for the childhood illnesses of that era.
By 1840, the hospital had also moved on and the site became an iron foundry, seen on the picture below as well as the now extended New Bailey Prison which met Irwell Street (now part of New Quay Street).
In 1854, the hospital was renamed St Mary’s, remaining today as part of the Manchester Foundation Trust, continuing to provide clinical excellence before, during and after birth.
Whilst members of the nursing team were off to sunny locations, I seized the opportunity to visit Stanley Street.
Attempting to recreate the view from J Davies depiction, the location of the Bath Inn is under development behind the black hoarding.
The site of the New Bailey Prison has also been transformed, but keeps the name synonymous with its past.
When I completed my nurse training I chose to branch into learning disability nursing, and have never regretted doing so.
Leading the nursing team at Seashell is demanding but supporting the health needs of our amazing students is possibly the best job in the world. And the nursing link with Seashell’s past continues today. We welcome numerous nursing students from universities across the north west, nurses studying adult, child, mental health and learning disability nursing. Some students are completing joint programs to also become social workers. The experiences of these nursing students at Seashell are often profound. Their learning opportunities at Seashell will influence their future practice. More recently we are seeing trainee nursing associates visit and complete placements and after confirmation of our ideal learning environment have one of our own Nursing Assistants embark on the program in September 2024.
