Hospital Saturday.—The fact of the contributions on Hospital Sundays coming almost solely from the middle and more wealthy classes, led to the suggestion that if the workers of the town could be organised they would not be found wanting any more than their "betters." The idea was quickly taken up, committees formed, and cheered by the munificent offer of £500 from Mr. P.H. Muntz towards the expenses, the first collection was made on March 15th 1873, the result being a gross receipt of £4,705 11s. 3d. Of this amount £490 8s. 10d. was collected from their customers by the licensed victuallers and beerhouse keepers; the gross totals of each year to the present time being—

1873 £4,705 11 3
1874 4,123 15 2
1875 3,803 11 8
1876 3,664 13 8
1877 3,200 17 0
1878 3,134 5 0
1879 3,421 10 2
1880 3,760 9 0
1881 3,968 18 7
1882 4,888 18 9
1883 5,489 9 0
1884 6,062 16 6

After deducting for expenses, the yearly amounts are divided, pro rata, according to their expenditures among the several hospitals and similar charities, the proportions in 1883 being:—General Hospital. £1,843 4s. 1d.; Queen's Hospital, £931 8s. 3d.; General Dispensary, £561 1s. 7d.; Children's Hospital, £498 0s. 4d.; Eye Hospital, £345 0s. 4d.; Birmingham and Midland Counties' Sanatorium, £211 0s. 4d., Women's Hospital, £193 1s. 9d.; Homoepathic Hospital, £195 5s. 3d.; Orthopædic Hospital, £138 13s. 6d.; Lying-in Charity, £67 6s. 5d.; Skin and Lock Hospital, £44 14s. 8d.; Ear and Throat Infirmary, £26 12s. 8d.; Dental Hospital, £9 5s. 3d.; and Birmingham Nursing District Society, £34 17s. 7d. The total sum thus distributed in the twelve years is £48,574 18s. 9d.

Hospital Sunday.—There is nothing new under the sun! Birmingham has the honour of being credited as the birth-place of "Hospital Sundays," but old newspapers tell us that as far back as 1751, when Bath was in its pride and glory, one Sunday in each year was set aside in that city for the collection, at every place of worship, of funds for Bath Hospital; and a correspondent writing to Aris's Gazette recommended the adoption of a similar plan in this town. The first suggestion for the present local yearly Sunday collection for the hospitals appeared in an article, written by Mr. Thos. Barber Wright, in the Midland Counties Herald in October, 1859. A collection of this kind took place on Sunday, the 27th, of that month, and the first public meeting, when arrangements were made for its annual continuance, was held in the Town Hall, December 14th same year, under the presidency of Dr. Miller, who, therefrom, has been generally accredited with being the originator of the plan. The proceeds of the first year's collection were given to the General Hospital, the second year to the Queen's, and the third year divided among the other charitable institutions in the town of a like character, and this order of rotation has been adhered to since.

The following is a list of the gross amounts collected since the establishment of the movement:—

1859 General Hospital £5,200 8 10
1860 Queen's Hospital 3,433 6 1
1861 Amalgamated Charities 2,953 14 0
1862 General Hospital 8,340 4 7
1863 Queen's Hospital 3,293 5 0
1864 Amalgamated Charities 3,178 5 0
1865 General Hospital 4,256 11 11
1866 Queen's Hospital 4,133 2 10
1867 Amalgamated Charities 3,654 9 7
1868 General Hospital 4,253 9 11
1869 Queen's Hospital 4,469 1 8
1870 Amalgamated Charities 4,111 6 7
1871 General Hospital 4,886 9 2
1872 Queen's Hospital 5,192 2 3
1873 Amalgamated Charities 5,370 8 3
1874 General Hospital 5,474 17 11
1875 Queen's Hospital 5,800 8 8
1876 Amalgamated Charities 5,265 10 10
1877 General Hospital 5,280 15 3
1878 Queen's Hospital 6,482 12 10
1879 Amalgamated Charities 5,182 3 10
1880 General Hospital 4,886 1 8
1881 Queen's Hospital 4,585 1 3
1882 Amalgamated Charities 4,800 12 6
1883 General Hospital 5,145 0 5
1884 Queen's Hospital

[Transcriber's note: the 1884 figures are missing in the original.]

Hospitals.—The General Hospital may he said to have been commenced in the year 1766, when the first steps were taken towards the erection of such an institution, but it was not formally opened for the reception of patients until 1779. The original outlay on the building was £7,140, but it has received many additions since then, having been enlarged in 1792, 1830, 1842, 1857 (in which year a new wing was erected, nominally out of the proceeds of a fête at Aston, which brought in £2,527 6s. 2d.), 1865, and during the last few years especially. The last additions to the edifice consist of a separate "home" for the staff of nurses, utilising their former rooms for the admittance of more patients; also two large wards, for cases of personal injury from fire, as well as a mortuary, with dissecting and jury rooms, &c., the total cost of these improvements being nearly £20,000. For a long period, this institution has ranked as one of the first and noblest charities in the provinces, its doors being opened for the reception of cases from all parts of the surrounding counties, as well as our own more immediate district. The long list of names of surgeons and physicians, who have bestowed the benefits of their learning and skill upon the unfortunate sufferers, brought within its walls, includes many of the highest eminence in the profession, locally and otherwise, foremost among whom must be placed that of Dr. Ash, the first physician to the institution, and to whom much of the honour of its establishment belongs. The connection of the General Hospital with the Triennial Musical Festivals, which, for a hundred years, have been held for its benefit, has, doubtless, gone far towards the support of the Charity, very nearly £112,000 having been received from that source altogether, and the periodical collections on Hospital Sundays and Saturdays, have still further aided thereto, but it is to the contributions of the public at large that the governors of the institution are principally indebted for their ways and means. For the first twenty-five years, the number of in-patients were largely in excess of the out-door patients, there being, during that period, 16,588 of the former under treatment, to 13,009 of the latter. Down to 1861, rather more than half-a-million cases of accident, illness, &c., had been attended to, and to show the yearly increasing demand made upon the funds of the Hospital, it is only necessary to give a few later dates. In 1860 the in-patients numbered 2,850, the out-patients 20,584, and the expenditure was £4,191. In 1876, the total number of patients were 24,082, and the expenditure £12,207. The next three years showed an average of 28,007 patients, and a yearly expenditure of £13,900. During the last four years, the benefits of the Charity have been bestowed upon an even more rapidly-increasing scale, the number of cases in 1880 having been 30,785, in 1881 36,803, in 1882 44,623, and in 1883 41,551, the annual outlay now required being considerably over £20,000 per year. When the centenary of the Hospital was celebrated in 1879, a suggestion was made that an event so interesting in the history of the charity would be most fittingly commemorated by the establishment or a Suburban Hospital, where patients whose diseases are of a chronic character could be treated with advantage to themselves, and with relief to the parent institution, which is always so pressed for room that many patients have to be sent out earlier than the medical officers like. The proposal was warmly taken up, but no feasible way of carrying it out occurred until October, 1883, when the committee of the Hospital had the pleasure of receiving a letter (dated Sept. 20), from Mr. John Jaffray, in which he stated that, having long felt the importance of having a Suburban Hospital, and with a desire to do some amount of good for the community in which, for many years, he had received so much kindness, and to which, in great measure, he owed his prosperity, he had secured a freehold site on which he proposed to erect a building, capable of accommodating fifty male and female patients, with the requisite offices for the attendants and servants, and offered the same as a free gift to the Governors, in trust for the public. This most welcome and munificent offer, it need hardly be said, was gratefully accepted, and a general appeal was made for funds to properly endow the "Jaffray Suburban Hospital," so that its maintenance and administration shall not detract from the extending usefulness of the parent institution. The site chosen by Mr. Jaffray is at Gravelly Hill, and it is estimated the new branch hospital, of which the first stone was laid June 4, 1884, will cost at least £15,000 in erection. Towards the endowment fund there have been nine or ten donations of £1,000 each promised, and it is hoped a fully sufficient amount will be raised before the building is completed, for, in the words of Mr. Jaffray, we "have great faith in the liberality of the public towards an institution—the oldest and noblest and ablest of our medical charities—which for more than a century has done so much for the relief of human suffering: and cannot help believing that there are in Birmingham many persons who, having benefited by the prosperity of the town, feel that they owe a duty to the community, and will gladly embrace this opportunity of discharging at least some part of their obligation." Patients are said to be admitted to the General Hospital by tickets from subscribers; but, in addition to accidents and cases of sudden illness, to which the doors are open at all hours, a large number of patients are admitted free on the recommendation of the medical officers, the proportion of the cases thus admitted being as six to ten with subscribers' tickets.

It is estimated that a capital sum of at least £60,000 will be required to produce a sufficiently large income to maintain the Jaffray Suburban Hospital, and donations have been, and are solicited for the raising of that sum. Up to the time of going to press with the "Dictionary," there has been contributed nearly £24,000 of the amount, of which the largest donations are:—

G.F. Muntz, Esq £2,000 0 0
The Right Hon. Lord Calthorpe 1,000 0 0
Trustees of Dudley Trust 1,000 0 0
W.B. Cregoe Colmore, Esq 1,000 0 0
Ralph Heaton, Esq 1,000 0 0
James Hinks, Esq 1,000 0 0
Lloyds' Old Bank 1,000 0 0
W. Middlemore, Esq 1,000 0 0
Mrs. Elizabeth Phipson 1,000 0 0
Miss Ryland 1,000 0 0
Mrs. Simcox 1,000 0 0
Messrs. Tangyes (Limited) 1,000 0 0
Henry Wiggin, Esq., M.P 1,000 0 0
Mr. John Wilkes 1,000 0 0