A Wartime Hospital

I was born at St Mary’s Hospital yet my place of birth is recorded as Macclesfield which was where my parents lived at the time.

A little research on the internet has given me some background to the story. Faced with the possibility of air raids, the St Mary’s Hospital Board chose to close their City Centre maternity wards. Collar House in Prestbury was owned by the Moseley family who were then living in Wales and in 1939 was rented by the hospital as an annexe. This was a large house with extensive grounds. It had its own water and electricity supply as well as a laundry. It was converted to hold 45 beds and had maternity wards and nurseries as well as a theatre, dispensary and accommodation for 30 staff. Nearby Prestbury Hall and Adlington Hall were also to become hospitals. St Mary’s remained at Collar House until 1952 when the maternity wards returned to the City. During those 13 years, more than 14000 children were born at the three Prestbury hospitals. Originally a farm, Collar house dates from before 1780 and has been occupied by a number of different families.

Collar House, much extended is now occupied by Beaumont Nursing Home.

A book by Mary E. Roberts has been published on the history of Collar House and is available from Waterstones.

The pages of the Manchester Guardian add a little more to the history of this wartime annex of St Mary’s Hospital.The Guardian of 9^th December 1939 reported that Collar House had received its first maternity cases that Monday. It was described as a pleasant Cheshire mansion.  The board of St Mary’s had decided to evacuate cases from a “dangerous” to a “safe” location after some deliberation. “Suitable cases” were to be transferred to Prestbury by ambulance leaving more complex cases for treatment at Whitworth Park Hospital.

At the outbreak of war the board appointed Miss D. H. Stuart to Matron-in-Charge. Fifty staff with were initially transferred to Blackpool together with medical equipment. It was soon realised that expectant mothers were unhappy to leave their neighbourhood and the scheme was phased out.

In January 1945, The Guardian reported that the Prestbury Hall Maternity Home had been due to close in a short time. The Manchester Public Health Committee, faced with an acute demand for maternity beds had decided that St Mary’s Hospitals should continue running this home for a short time in conjunction with Collar House.

In March 1946, The Guardian reported that the Public Health Committee had recommended the purchase of Collar House for the sum of £9750. The cost of running the home was £12732 and annual income from patients £4500 leaving a deficit of £8232. The hospital had a capacity for 800 patients a year.

In December 1952 the Ministry of Health had decided to return Collar House to its owner. This would result in a loss of 40 beds. St Mary’s had 82 beds at Whitworth Street and this reduction would threaten its position as a teaching hospital.

In June 1957, a bus crashed in London’s Oxford Street, killing 7 and injuring a further 12. Among the fatalities was Miss Forbes-Graham, matron of Collar House Hospital who was on a week’s leave.  She had worked at St. Mary’s since 1929 and was involved in the evacuatio of children from Manchester in 1939.  She became Sister-in-Charge of Collar House Hospital and continued as Matron when the hospital transferred to the Macclesfield Hospital Group in 1952.

Perhaps that 1946 purchase did not proceed for the 1952 article suggests that it was still being rented, although Collar House remained as a hospital into the 1970’s as part of the Macclesfield Hospital.

I have not seen any reference to any annex of St Mary’s in North Manchester other than the Blackpool episode.  Collar House was used as a convalescent home in the 60’s. I have not as yet found any reference to any other use that Macclesfield Hospital found for the building.

There are several references to Collar House on the internet. One website states categorically that this had been the home of Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists. Not very well researched for the Moseley family of Prestbury did not even spell their name in the same way as Sir Oswald.

In Good Company - Southern Cemetery, Chorlton cum Hardy

Sir Matt Busby and Lawrence Stephen Lowry need no introduction, neither perhaps does Sir John Alcock.  These are among the famous names to be discovered on the graves of Southern Cemetery in Manchester.

In 1872 40 hectares of land were purchased by Manchester Corporation for £38340.  The City Surveyor J. G. Lynde was responsible for designing the layout and manchester architect H. J. Paull designed the chapels and other buildings. Roman Catholics, Nonconformists Jewish and Anglican denominations each had their own chapels and designated burial areas.  In 1926 a further 36 hectares was purchased making this the largest cemetery in Britain and second largest in Europe.

There are now separate areas designated for Muslim burials, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and for the Polish community. The latter includes a large memorial to Katyn massacre in 1940 when 22000 prisoners were executed by the Soviet authorities.

Sir Matt Busby was of course the famous and revered manager of Manchester United who died in 1994. He shares a grave with his wife Jean.  Nearby is his former friend and racecourse owner, Willie Satinoff who died in the Munich air disaster. Billy Meredith had played for both City and United and earned 48 caps for Wales. He died in Manchester in 1958.

L. S. Lowry died in 1976 and shares his parent's grave.  Lowry never married and left his estate to Carol Ann Lowry, a fan who had written to him because she shared his name.

Perhaps only the older generation will remember Wilfred Pickles who was buried in Chorlton in 1978.  Pickles born in 1904 spent his life in show business appearing in films, on T.V. and as a wartime newsreader. The BBC received numerous complaints about his Yorkshire accent but supported him stating that should therebe a German invasion and a take over of Broadcasting House, it would be easy for the voices of most announcers to be mimicked. No German however would be able to imitate Wilfred's voice. Once the threat of invasion receded, he was no longer needed.  He became in 1946, the presenter of the radion programme "Have a Go" together with his wife Mabel.  It was for this show which ran for 21 years that he is best known.

Sir John Alcock, born in Stretford was an R.A.F captain.  He had learned to fly in 1912 and joined the Sunbeam Car Company as a racing pilot. When war broke out, he first enlisted with the Royal Naval Air Service. Whilst stationed in the Greek island of Lemnos, he built his own aircraft the "Alcock Scout" from remnants of several different aircraft. He earned a Distinguished Service Cross in 1917 for attacking three enemy aircraft. When piloting a bomber on a raid to Constantinople, he was forced to ditch in the sea. Unable to attract a British Destroyer he swam ashore and was taken captive by the Turkish forces and not released until the Armistice.  Attracted by a £10000 prize offered by the Daily Mail, he joined Arthur Whitten Brown in an attempt to cross the Atlantic non stop. Taking off from St.John's Newfoundland in  a Vickers Vimy bomber, they struggled against bad weather as well as instrument failure and icing.  16 hours later on 15th June 1919, they landed at Clifden in County Galway, after the first  non stop flight across the Atlantic. A few days later they were received at Windsor Castle and knighted by King George V.  In December 1919, Alcock was piloting a new aircraft to the Paris Air Show when he crashed in fog near Rouen suffering a fractured scull from which he died.

The grave of a survivor of the Charge of the Heavy Brigade is to be found as well as two recipients of the Victoria Cross, Major Henry Kelly (WWI) and Colour Sergeant John Prettyjohns (Crimea).

The firm of McDougall Brothers of Manchester became the first of Britain's large flour companies opearting mills throughout the country. Established in 1864 they had pioneered self raising flour as early as 1869.  A member of the family Sir. R. McDougall is buried at Chorlton. 



The grandest memorial is to John Rylands whose widow Enriqueta's ashes are in the vault below.  Rylands was an industrialist and philanthropist and Manchester's first multi millionaire. His was the largest cotton manufacturing company in Britain. He died in 1888 at his home Longford Hall leaving hius estate of over £2.5 million to his wife. It was she who built the John Rylands Library in his memory.

Jerome Caminada was born in Deansgate in 1844 to an Italian father and Irish mother.  Deansgate at the time was a street of pubs and brothels and a hotbed of crime. Having first worked as an engineer, Jerome joined the police force in 1868. Within four years he had been promoted to sergeant and transferred to the detective department.  He was to become the first C.I.D. superintendent in Manchester.  His methods were unconventional. He often wore disguises, used handwriting recognition and keen observation. He often met with his large network of informers in St Mary's Church.  His life was threatened on a number of occasions and Caminada often carried a pistol which he used several times. His reputation for success became known nationally for he imprisoned over 1200 criminals and closed down 400 illegal drinking houses.

Anthony H. Wilson was buried at Southern Cemetery as recently as 2007.  He is known as a broadcaster, a journalist and imressario.  Wilson founded Factory records and opened the Hacienda nightclub, at the time probably the best known club in the World.  He was a manager of a number of successful bands including Happy Mondays, New Order and Joy Division. He will be remembered as one of Manchester's greatest ambassadors.

There are regular guided tours of Southern Cemetery details of which are on the internet. It would be difficult to explore this vast site alone without missing much of its' fascinating history.