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“THE BURSLEM HAYWOOD & TUNSTALL WAR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL”
THE “HAYWOOD STORY”
Howard Haywood was born around 1791. He had a brother, Richard Howard Haywood and their parents were Daniel and Sarah Haywood. The brothers had a brick and tile manufactory at Brownhills, between Tunstall and Burslem, and were successful businessmen. Richard Haywood was also partner to Samuel Marsh in a pottery at Brownhills around 1818.
The brothers built an elegant home on Brownhills Road at the junction with Canal Lane which they named Brownhills Villa. In its day it had extensive views across the valley towards Bradwell Woods and Harecastle.
Howard Haywood was also a landowner in the Parish of Norton, where his name was carved on a granary built in 1838 at Bank End Farm, Brown Edge. He also erected an “Ambulance House” in 1871 at the rear of the old Police Station in Wesley Street.
Their doctor was Dr. John Alcock who lived near to them in Brownhills. When they expressed their wish to leave a legacy it is stated that Dr. Alcock persuaded them to found a “Cottage Hospital” for the inhabitants of Burslem and its neighbourhood.
Howard Haywood appears to have survived his brother until his death around 1874. When his will was proved in 1875 a sum of £30,000 had been bequeathed, but it would be 1881 before payment was obtained.
A board of governors had been formed in anticipation of the work ahead and they first met on 21st February 1881 in the Town Hall, Burslem where they appointed the Mayor of Burslem, James Maddock, as chairman. In September of that year the governors duly received the legacy in the sum of £27,221 4s 2d (after tax).
No time was lost in looking for a property and later that month a house was rented in Waterloo Road to provide facilities for Nursing Staff.
These premises were only ever thought of as temporary and reports show that other, larger, properties were looked at over the years but no move took place.
In 1882 it was decided to hold a competition for the designing of a purpose-built hospital. Various locations were looked at for the building of the new premises but to no avail.
By the end of 1883 the reports show that the Nurses had treated 16 in-patients and 316 out-patients. They had made 8,923 visits to sick people and referred 17 patients to the N. S. Infirmary or Convalescent Homes.
The need for a move was proving crucial.
By 1885 the plans were available and the winning architect was Mr. G. B. Ford of Ford and Slater, Architects, in Burslem.
In January 1886, a piece of land was obtained in Moorland Road adjoining the manufactory of Thos. Arrowsmith & Sons Ltd.
The successful tender for the building work was submitted by Mr. William Cooke in February 1886 and the Charity Commissioners gave permission to commence in May.
On 27 July 1886 the Foundation Stone was laid by Mr. W. S. Shoobridge who gave an appropriate address. This event had been attended by the governors and the Town Council and was preceded by a marched procession from the Town Hall.
Documents were deposited in the cavity of the stone. They consisted of copies of that day’s Staffs. Sentinel; Staffordshire Knot; Staffs. Advertiser; a list of governors; a list of the Town Council.
In 1887 the final cost of the building (including fixtures and furniture, and the laying out of the grounds) was £3,220.16.4. £2,500 worth of Stock was sold to meet the cost. The land had cost £425.6.10.
The new hospital was officially opened on 20th June 1887 by Alderman Lawton, Mayor of Burslem, after a procession of governors, various dignitaries, burgesses and other inhabitants of Burslem, headed by a brass band, had made their way from the Town Hall in brilliant sunshine.
This postcard was sent to America in 1903. The view is believed to be slightly earlier and gives a clear view of the Hospital from Burslem Park.
In July, Miss Eliza Moore was appointed Matron-Nurse at a salary of £35 pa and Miss Emma Instow was elected District Nurse at £25 pa.
The new hospital provided 14 beds to replace the 2 at Waterloo Road.
In 1889 a gift of £1,000 was received from Matthew and Col. W. W. Dobson for the erection of “two wards (facing Moorland Road) to benefit the sick poor of the Town”.
The “Dobson Wards” were duly constructed and opened in February 1891 by Mr. Matthew Dobson, providing 12 additional beds.. This led to the Chairman, James Maddock promising a gift of £500 for two further wards to be used in the treatment of burns.
In November 1892 the Burns Wards opened with each accommodating two beds and a cot.
In 1900, one of the Honorary Medical Staff was Dr. S. King Alcock, who was the son of Dr. John Alcock who is reputed to have recommended the foundation of the hospital to the original benefactors.
Between 1906 and 1908 the number of beds increased from 31 to 35.
In 1915, 16 beds were made available for the use of wounded soldiers and Entertainment Concerts were laid on to aid their recovery.
Hospital and this caused the two towns to think again. A scene in one of the small wards of the original Haywood Hospital circa 1920.
By November 1923 the Tunstall War Memorial Hospital Committee had sold Greengates and were prepared, at that stage, to enter into formal discussions about a joint venture. The matter was sealed when, in October 1924 William Tellwright, on behalf of the Directors of the Tellwright Trust announced the offer “to give as much land, situate in High Lane, as would be required for the erection of the hospital”.
In 1925 Haywood Hospital offered their buildings to the Corporation for £5,000.
The transfer of the High Lane site into the hands of the Official Trustees took place in 1926.
The successful tender was awarded to Adams Ltd of Liverpool for £27,972 – provided that they employed 90% local labour. Bew’s of Burslem were awarded the contract for electrical installation at a cost of £655.
The Burslem ‘Haywood and Tunstall War Memorial Hospital was formally opened by Lord and Lady Harrowby on 21st October 1930 and so the seed sown by a doctor in the minds of two of his patients had come to full maturity.
Alderman and Mrs. George H. Barber are shown here attending a bazaar for the Haywood and Tunstall War Memorial Hospital held at the Town Hall in Tunstall during his year of office.
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This postcard shows the VIPs of the Burslem Haywood & Tunstall War Memorial Hospital attending the ceremony for the opening of the new tennis courts on 16 April 1935.
Fund raising was an essential way of life for the hospital and the proceeds from the sale of this card showing Crazy Day in the Potteries were to “be donated to the effort in aid of the Burslem Haywood & Tunstall War Memorial Hospital”. Apart from the obvious bottle ovens, the sketch contains other local references. One figure holds aloft a beer barrel bearing the name “Parker’s”. Parker’s Celebrated Ale was a well-known drink brewed in Burslem. On the fuel tank of the motorbike is the word “Michelin”. The Michelin Tyre Co. Ltd. opened their first British plant in Stoke-on-Trent, in 1927.
The Moorland Road site was duly obtained by the city and after suitable conversion opened its doors to an intake of pupils in its new guise as a boys-only Junior Technical School in September 1932.
The school remained an all-boys Technical/Grammar school until approximately 1970 after which time it became a Comprehensive Secondary School and was eventually renamed as Haywood High School. In recent years it has returned to its engineering roots and is now a Specialist College under the name of Haywood Engineering College.
The old Honours Board still has pride of place in the main entrance concourse above the Hall doors.
© Don Henshall 2008
The above history has been compiled from a number of sources, chiefly “The Haywood Story” by C. E. Lowndes March 1979.
The pictures are © and are taken from “Tunstall” & “Tunstall Revisited” by Don Henshall, published by Tempus Publications. |
In the records for February 1907 there is mention of an extension to
the hospital which was to provide a lift; kitchens; bedrooms; bathrooms;
re-modelling of the Operating Theatre; a Dispensary and Out-Patient Department,
and the removal of laundry and mortuary to the rear of the Hospital. A tender
of £2,495 was accepted from Messrs. J. H. Broadhurst and Sons, but the lift had
to be left out.
In September 1919 it was decided to contact the town of Tunstall who,
it had been heard, were thinking of building their own hospital. If this was
the case it made sense to consider an amalgamation. Tunstall had wanted to
commemorate those who fell in the Great War by building a permanent memorial in
the form of a new hospital. Progress had already been made by acquiring
Greengates House in Furlong Road (the previous home of the potter William
Adams, and plans were drawn up for its conversion into a hospital. At this time
Tunstall heard of Burslem’s need to further extend the Haywood 
The school continued at Moorland Road until 1960 when it transferred
to a new purpose-built site on High Lane close to the Haywood Hospital. Along
the way the school had experienced some names changes - firstly Stanfield
County Technical School and then Stanfield Technical High School. 