The block of small alms-houses at present existing in the Harrow-road, said to have been built in 1714, on a portion of what had been Paddington Green, is the oldest charitable building in Paddington; but the endowment, if there ever was one, has merged into other estates; for no endowment now exists. Sixteen poor old women belonging to the parish, are still supported there out of the poor rates; but the inmates think themselves not so far degraded as they would be, if obliged to become tenants of the great parish poor-house; although in the latter they might have a less confined crib, and perhaps, a more generous diet; but there they would not be free. Now they can ramble about at pleasure; and when at home, for each little room is a home, they can dwell upon the remembrance of those pretty little flower gardens, which formerly existed in front of these almshouses, and which may have attracted them in their younger days, when perhaps, they little thought of becoming the recipients of alms. With the alteration of the Harrow-road, which added “thirty feet in depth” to the church-yard, and I presume the same quantity to that strip of the Green, which was so kindly offered to the parish for four thousand pounds, and a portion of which was purchased for £2,000, these little attractions vanished; and a considerable portion of the “thirteen feet ten inches” of flower garden, which existed on the north side of this charitable institution, now forms a part of the altered road; while on the garden to the south, the vestry-room, the police-station, the infant-school, and other buildings, have been erected.
The great charitable Institution of modern Paddington, is St. Mary’s Hospital, situated in Cambridge-place. “Its establishment was commenced in 1843, and His Royal Highness Prince Albert was pleased to lay the first stone on the twenty-eighth of June, 1845.” Thomas Hopper, Esq. made the design gratuitously; and Mr. Winsland’s tender of £33,787 was accepted for the building; which, when complete, was intended to hold 380 beds.
A portion of this building, “with all the requisite appurtenances, capable of containing 150 beds,” was opened for the reception of fifty patients on the thirteenth of June, 1851; 332 patients were admitted into the wards of the Hospital, during the first six months; the average duration of their stay being twenty two days.
Mr. Winsland’s original tender was for the whole building, included “in five separate divisions;” and a certain portion was to have been completed within a specified period, but the sudden death of the contractor is said to have thrown some obstacles in the way of its progress. There must have been some alteration, too, in the original design, or some sad miscalculation in the contract; for instead of a building capable of containing 380 beds having been erected for £33,787, I find by a “statement and appeal” published by “the Bond of Governors” in 1851, that there had been expended the end of that year £33,806 5s. 3d. “on account site and building,” as it then existed: £1,776 6s. 9d., in addition, had been expended in furnishing; and £1,223 3s. 2d., for the maintenance of the fifty beds for six months. The estimated sum “to maintain the establishment of 150 beds, and to defray the expense of out-patients,” was calculated at £4,400 per annum; £300 additional being required to support the maternity department.
At the present time there are 150 beds for patients, the total number the present building is capable of containing; and attendance on the practice of this Hospital is now recognised by the medical examining boards—the medical staff having been complete from the first opening of the establishment. This staff consists of three Physicians, and three Assistant Physicians; three Surgeons, and three Assistant Surgeons; a Physician-Accoucheur; a Surgeon-Accoucheur; an Ophthalmic-Surgeon; and an Aural-Surgeon; all of whom perform their respective duties gratuitously. There are also two resident medical officers, and a Dispenser. There is a paid Secretary; an Assistant Secretary; a Collector; a Matron; and a Chaplain; and the establishment is managed by a certain number of Governors elected on building, special, house, finance, and medical committees; subject to a code of laws, and, in most instances, to the will of the whole body of Governors.
“Every subscriber of three guineas or upwards annually, is eligible to be elected an annual governor; and every individual, making a donation of thirty guineas or upwards in one sum, is eligible to be elected a life governor.”
“Every governor, in addition to the privilege of recommending in and out-patients as a subscriber, has the right to attend at all, or any weekly, quarterly or special boards, and to speak and vote on all questions, and to vote on all elections which shall come before such board; &c.,” but “no governor is entitled to vote on an election, until he shall have been a governor for a period of three calendar months.”
“Annual subscribers of twenty-five guineas, or donors of 500 guineas in one sum, have an unlimited right of recommending in-patients.
“Annual subscribers of ten guineas, or donors of 100 guineas in one sum, may recommend an unlimited number of in-patients, one in-patient only at a time in the Hospital.
“Annual subscribers of three guineas, or donors of thirty guineas in one sum, may recommend three in-patients annually, and eighteen out-patients.