Special Hospital Committee

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The Special Hospital Committee was a committee of the Huddersfield County Borough Council formed in May 1889 and tasked with deciding whether to build a new isolation hospital for fever patients at land purchased at Mill Hill, Dalton, or to continue using the repurposed former workhouse hospital at Birkby which had been in use since 1873.

History

The town council had intended to build a new isolation hospital at Benholmley, Almondbury, but repeated attempts since the mid-1870s to acquire the land from Sir John William Ramsden had failed. Eventually the Sanitary Committee instead acquired 12 acres of land at Mill Hill from Henry Frederick Beaumont for a reported £2,000 during the summer of 1888.

However, despite having the land to build upon, the town council remained split between those who felt that Birkby remained the best site and those who wanted a new modern isolation hospital in a more rural location. Keen to move the issue forward, the Mayor (Alderman Joseph Brooke) successfully moved for the formation of the Special Hospital Committee at the May 1889 council meeting:[1]

That the who subject of hospital accommodation for the borough be referred to a committee, with power to call in skilled scientific and professional evidence and that such committee consist of the chairman and vice-chairman of each standing committee of the Council.

The Birkby Hospital site was proving too small to cope with large outbreaks of fever in the borough and had limited room for expansion.

Notes and References

  1. "Huddersfield County Borough Council" in Huddersfield Daily Chronicle (16/May/1889).