Alnwick Infirmary
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox hospital
| Name = Alnwick Infirmary
| Org/Group = Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
| Image = Alnwick Infirmary - geograph.org.uk - 2459576.jpg
| Caption = Alnwick Infirmary
| Logo =
| Location = Alnwick
| Region = Northumberland
| State = England
| Country = UK
| HealthCare = NHS
| Type = Community Hospital
| Speciality =
| Emergency = No
| Affiliation=
| Beds =
| Founded = 1815
| Closed =
| Website = {{URL|http://www.northumbria.nhs.uk}}
| Wiki-Links =
| map_type =Northumberland
| map_caption=Shown in Northumberland
| coordinates={{coord|55.4110|N|1.6976|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
|}}
Alnwick Infirmary is a community hospital in Alnwick, Northumberland, England. It is managed by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
History
An infirmary at Alnwick was instigated at a public meeting on 9 June 1815 as the Alnwick Dispensary "to administer advice and medicine to the poor, to promote vaccine inoculation and to afford aid in cases requiring the greater applications of surgery." George Tate credits William Burrell of Broom Park{{efn|William Burrell (1773-1847) was a landowner and in 1811, High Sheriff of Northumberland.{{cite web |title=William Burrell |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG219913 |website=www.britishmuseum.org |publisher=British Museum |access-date=6 October 2023}} Broom Park was a stately home and estate {{convert|4.7|mile}} west of Alnwick - {{coord|55.408827|-1.827563|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline}}}} and John Lambert of Alnwick{{efn|John Lambert was a local solicitor.{{cite web |title=What happened to General Lambert? |url=https://alnwickcivicsociety.org.uk/2020/08/02/what-happened-to-general-lambert/ |website=Alnwick Civic Society |access-date=6 October 2023 |language=en |date=2 August 2020}}}} as principal founders; Lambert acted as secretary and treasurer until his decease in 1849.{{cite book |last1=Tate |first1=George |title=The History of the Borough, Castle, and Barony of Alnwick |volume=II|date=1869 |publisher=H.H. Blair |pages=219–220 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-oYHAAAAQAAJ&dq=alnwick+infirmary&pg=PA219 |language=en}}
The infirmary was funded by a mix of donations and subscriptions; £2081 was received in the first year, much of which was invested in interest-bearing funds. Governors of the infirmary, who subscribed yearly one guinea or donated ten guineas, had the privilege of recommending patients for care. Subscriptions and donations continued to be in excess of the expenditure up to 1839, when £4900 was invested in 3 per cent consols. The institution having then the reputation of being a rich body, donations were seldom made and the subscriptions were lessened, so that debt accumulated and it became necessary to sell stock funds and to seek additional public aid to clear off the incumbrance. The financial position was stabilised by the 1860s when income and expenditure were typically about £420 per annum. William Davison acted as apothecary for the infirmary; a medical school Davison set up in his pharmacy premises was noted throughout the North of England.{{cite book |last1=Hindley |first1=Charles |others=Illustrations include 42 woodcuts by Thomas Bewick |year=1878 |title=The life and times of James Catnach (late of Seven Dials), ballad monger |url=https://archive.org/details/lifetimesofjames00hindrich |location=London, UK |publisher=Reeves and Turner |oclc=7293623 |accessdate=2014-08-02}}
The Dispensary was sited first in a house on Fenkle Street, and moved to a purpose-built building on Dispensary Street in 1819.{{Efn|Alnwick Infirmary 1819 building{{cite web|url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=20.0&lat=55.41423&lon=-1.71057&layers=117746211&b=1&marker=55.414187,-1.710361|title=Ordnance Survey Town Plans of England and Wales, 1840s-1890s - Alnwick, 1:528, Surveyed: 1851 and 1864|website=National Library of Scotland Maps|date=1866}} - {{coord|55.414187|-1.710361|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline}}}} It changed its name to the Alnwick Infirmary in 1849.
New hospital premises were built and opened in 1908 close to the Tenantry Column. Alnwick infirmary joined the National Health Service in 1948.
Other Alnwick hospitals
A hospital formed part of the Alnwick Union Workhouse, built in 1841 on Wagonway road.{{efn|Alnwick Union Workhouse hospital{{cite web|url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=19.0&lat=55.40925&lon=-1.70163&layers=117746211&b=1&marker=55.409077,-1.701606|title=Ordnance Survey Town Plans of England and Wales, 1840s-1890s - Alnwick, 1:528, Surveyed: 1851 and 1864|website=National Library of Scotland Maps|date=1866}} - {{coord|55.409077|-1.701606|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline}}}} A fever hospital was established between 1886 and 1888 on a greenfield site about {{convert|0.5|mile}} south of the workhouse, and was used until 1952.{{efn|Alnwick fever hospital{{cite web|url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=55.40560&lon=-1.70007&layers=168&b=1&marker=55.405317,-1.700313|website=National Library of Scotland Maps|title=Ordnance Survey - Northumberland (Old Series) XXXII.13, Revised: 1897, Published: 1897}} - {{coord|55.405317|-1.700313|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline}}}}{{cite web |title=Alnwick Fever Hospital |url=https://alnwickcivicsociety.org.uk/2020/03/10/alnwick-fever-hospital/ |website=Alnwick Civic Society |access-date=6 October 2023 |language=en |date=10 March 2020}}
Notes
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