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Women's Health The first separate facilities for the treatment of women's health did not arrive until the establishment of the Women's Dispensary in 1886 (later Wolverhampton and District Hospital for Women). The object of the hospital was to treat women "afflicted with diseases peculiar to their sex" and it consisted of in-patient and out-patient departments. The hospital was funded by voluntary donations and was initially in a house in St Mark's Place. In 1904 it moved to new purpose-built accommodation in Park Road West.
Women's Hospital, West Park, Wolverhampton, c.1910 (J3/WOM/E/2)
Extracts from Wolverhampton and District Hospital for Women annual report of 1899. Prior to the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948 hospitals relied heavily on voluntary donations - hence this appeal for more money and the lists of gifts of food, linen and books (NHS-WH/1/2/1) Support was given to women who were unmarried but had children to care for. An example of this is the Mrs Hay Memorial Home at Park Road East, which was apparently started in the late nineteenth century by the wife of a former Chief Constable of Wolverhampton as a shelter for homeless girls where they could learn a trade. It also provided shelter for pregnant single women. In 1925 the Staffordshire Women's Welfare Centre was established giving advice on birth control to women. During the 1930s it was situated at 62 Heath Street, Heath Town. The Centre was affiliated to the National Birth Control Association, thereby linking it with birth control activities throughout the country. In 1933 Mrs Gordon, the Honourable Superintendent of the Welfare Centre, got in touch with Marie Stopes, the famous advocate for family planning, about a possible visit to Wolverhampton to promote birth control. It should be pointed out however that it was the Centre's policy to urge mothers in good health, and who could afford it, not to limit their family to one or two children.
The Staffordshire Women's Welfare Centre annual report for 1936-1937 gives some interesting statistics on the number of pregnancies experienced by the women who visited the centre:
The table shows that a total of 168 women had 609 pregnancies, an average of 3.625 per woman. For much of the 20th century, local authorities provided maternity and child welfare services. Food and milk were made available free or at reduced rates and clinics were established to give health advice. Each local authority had a Maternity and Child Welfare Committee:
Report from the Ministry of Health to Bilston Borough Council in 1933. The Ministry suggested the council take action to encourage more women to attend ante-natal clinics. It also wanted the council to provide facilities for treating minor ailments of pre-school children (CMB-BIL/1/1)
Extract from minutes of the Bilston Borough Council Maternity and Child Welfare Committee meeting of 4th December 1933 showing statistical information on births, deaths, visits to infant welfare clinics, etc. (CMB-BIL/1/1)
Arrangements
made in Wolverhampton for National Baby Week, 1923
A
half-day holiday was given at St Mary's School, It is interesting to note that the Wolverhampton Maternity and Child Welfare Committee annual report for 1930 stated that the infant mortality rate was 54 in 1000 births; a figure considered satisfactory to the committee. Today the infant mortality rate is just one tenth of that: 5.4 per 1000 births. This shows how much health care in general, and for women in particular, has improved in the last seventy years.
© Copyright. Wolverhampton City Council, 2002
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