ROYAL NAVAL HOSPITAL PLYMOUTH

Our gratitude extends to the Archive and the RNH Stonehouse Blog for allowing us to use some of their materials and to all those who have passed through the gates of this historic site.

A SHORT HISTORY OF ROYAL NAVAL HOSPITAL PLYMOUTH

September 15th 1744 - the Navy Board presented a Memorial to His Majesty King George II in Council, proposing the construction of Naval hospitals at Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth.
June 14th 1758 - the Commissioners of the Navy purchased land in the Stonehouse area from the Edgecombe family for £2239 17s 6d. It was on this land that the hospital was built on the block system, the earliest specimen of such a hospital in this country, with a limited number of patients in each block.
1760 - A small part of the hospital opened to sick and wounded seamen.
November 1762 - it fully opened, when the hospital ship CANTERBURY, stationed at Plymouth Dock, was paid off and the patients transferred to the new hospital buildings.
1762 to 1794 - the hospital was poorly managed with the patients poorly cared for by women who had no sort of training at all and were grossly underpaid.
1765 - the terrace was built on the west side of the main square,
1806 - Surgeon Rear Admirals House on the north side of the square and the Surgeons Mess on the south side, followed.
1794 - A Governor, with the rank of Naval Captain was appointed following an official Board of Enquiry, which ensued in response to a visit by Thomas Trotter the Physician of the Fleet to the Plymouth Hospital (along with Haslar) as he had been so incensed by the deficiencies he saw at these hospitals an official The "Governor who with the assistance of a Naval Lieutenant had inspection and superintendence of the whole’.
Captain Richard Creyke RN the first Governor of Plymouth Hospital brought order to the establishment and served as Governor for thirty one years.
1884 - the first trained Nursing Sisters employed by the Navy joined RNH Plymouth. They were Head Sister Miss Story and Sisters Miss Cripps, Miss Jacobs and Miss Barnes.
1900 - Four small buildings which made up the Zymotics Block used for treatment of infectious diseases were built at the north east end of the hospital.
1900-06 - ten three story ward blocks were reconstructed to add emergency stairs and wash room facilities.
1912-13 - Electric lifts were installed within the ward blocks.
1926 - Staff Quarters were built in front of the Church of the Good Shepard.
1941-42 - E block was destroyed and both I and J blocks severely damaged by bombs during the World War II. None of these blocks were re built.
1954-1956 - An Operating Theatre Block was built
1960-83 - Naval Nurse Training began with both SRN and SEN Training, with SRN Training discontinuing in 1977 and SEN Training in 1983.
June 29th 1962 - the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Carrington, unveiled a plaque to commemorate the Hospitals bi-centenary.
Late 1960s - the hospital began taking civilian patients for the NHS as well as naval and military personnel.
1983 - The Church of the Good Shepard was built.
March 31st 1995 - after 233 years in service, RNH PLYMOUTH closed. The Naval Medical and nursing staff amalgamated with the NHS Hospital at Derriford.
The RNH PLYMOUTH, Stonehouse site has since been developed as private living accommodation now known as Millfields

With acknowledgement to the History of The Royal Naval Hospital Plymouth by Surg. Capt. P.D. Gordon Pugh OBE RN.

THOUGHTS FROM THOSE WHO WORKED THERE - TAKEN FROM THE RNH STONEHOUSE BLOG

The Royal Naval Hospital at Stonehouse in Plymouth occupies a unique position in the memories of all who have ever worked or been treated there. Its high grey walls originally designed to keep patients in, now guard against the encroachment of urbanisation. The central buildings of the hospital have changed very little since its completion in 1762, and the grounds have a quiet, almost rural charm that combine to provide it with an air of grace.

Two hundred and thirty five years ago in 1760, the first patients were moved in from the malt houses and warehouses along the shoreline to occupy a hospital whose design was so far advanced as to make it the finest in Europe. Social conditions at the time however, were primitive, and expertise in the fields of medicine, surgery and nursing was in its infancy. It took another century for these disciplines to innovate themselves to begin to achieve the high standards we now take for granted.

The gentlemen surgeons who paraded in high collars down the colonnade, the ladies from every calling who rolled up their sleeves to nurse the dying; and the VAD's and Sick Berth Attendants who took their professionalism all over the world, are the products of the Royal Naval Hospital for the reception of sick and hurt seamen and marines' at Stonehouse in Plymouth, Devon.

Graham Evans

On 31st March 1995, RNH Plymouth ( Stonehouse ) built for the reception of sick and hurt seamen and marines, closed its gates, 235 years after admitting it's first patient.

We lucky few, who served and lived there will remember the old girl with much fondness, the like of which, will never be seen again.

Joe Roulstone