Publications
A Cottage Hospital Grows Up - The story of the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, by E. J. Dennison, published 1963 (London: Anthony Blond) accessible at: & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Review by M. J. Leppard in Sussex Notes and Queries, November 1963:This is the story, written by a member of its General Practitioner staff, of the hundred years' existence of the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead. The hospital has three main claims to fame: it was the fifth cottage hospital to be founded in the country; its Working Men's Hospital Fund, founded in 1903, may possibly be the oldest of its kind in the country; and from its selection at the outbreak of war to be a plastic surgery centre under the late Sir Archibald McIndoe it has grown to be a leading centre for plastic surgery, jaw injuries, dental and ophthalmic surgery, and research.
The author has based his narrative on all surviving records, including the case-book for the first forty cases treated, and newspaper reports, and so has produced a full account, judiciously and readably written, of a not very widely known aspect of county history. Inevitably more modern times are treated more fully and here the rather annalistic account of events and people may be of little interest to people outside the hospital's immediate area; but the details of the taking over by the National Health Service and of what is involved in running a large modern hospital should have a compensating general interest.
Physically the book is very well produced. The only noticeable misprint is on page 22 where "Mr. P. J. P. - the Postmaster" should be Mr. T. J. P.-, i.e. Thomas Jackson Palmer.
It is worth pointing out that East Grinstead has another connection with pioneering work in treating the sick: the foundation in 1854 by the Rev. J. M. Neale of the nursing sisterhood of St. Margaret, the first such order founded in the Church of England. The interesting thing here is that the founder of the Hospital, Dr. J. H. Rogers, was Neale's assistant Warden at Sackville College and also one of his bitterest enemies. One cannot help wondering whether perhaps one of his motives in founding a hospital for the poor was to rival the successful work of Neale's sisterhood. Neither Neale's nor Rogers' surviving papers appear to throw any light on the relation between the two undertakings.
The author has based his narrative on all surviving records, including the case-book for the first forty cases treated, and newspaper reports, and so has produced a full account, judiciously and readably written, of a not very widely known aspect of county history. Inevitably more modern times are treated more fully and here the rather annalistic account of events and people may be of little interest to people outside the hospital's immediate area; but the details of the taking over by the National Health Service and of what is involved in running a large modern hospital should have a compensating general interest.
Physically the book is very well produced. The only noticeable misprint is on page 22 where "Mr. P. J. P. - the Postmaster" should be Mr. T. J. P.-, i.e. Thomas Jackson Palmer.
It is worth pointing out that East Grinstead has another connection with pioneering work in treating the sick: the foundation in 1854 by the Rev. J. M. Neale of the nursing sisterhood of St. Margaret, the first such order founded in the Church of England. The interesting thing here is that the founder of the Hospital, Dr. J. H. Rogers, was Neale's assistant Warden at Sackville College and also one of his bitterest enemies. One cannot help wondering whether perhaps one of his motives in founding a hospital for the poor was to rival the successful work of Neale's sisterhood. Neither Neale's nor Rogers' surviving papers appear to throw any light on the relation between the two undertakings.
A Cottage Hospital Grows Up - The story of the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, by E. J. Dennison, published 30 June 1996 (2nd revised edition, 304 pp., Baxendale Press, ISBN-10: 0952093391 & ISBN-13: 9780952093398) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries