Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Clapham Maternity Hospital was founded in 1889 by Dr Annie McCall and Miss Marion Ritchie. It was the first maternity hospital where women were treated only by female doctors, and where midwives, maternity nurses and female medical students were trained entirely by women. Poor married women were admitted to the hospital, as were unmarried women expecting their first child. A district midwifery service was also provided to deliver women in their own homes. In 1935 the name of the hospital was changed to the Annie McCall Maternity Hospital.
The hospital was situated initially at 41 and 43 Jeffreys Road, Clapham. Later 39 Jeffreys Road was purchased to enable the hospital to expand. By 1939 it had 50 beds for in-patients. In 1935 the name of the hospital was changed to the Annie McCall Maternity Hospital.
The hospital was severely damaged by bombing in 1940, which necessitated the complete evacuation of the patients and the closing down of the hospital. By 1948 three beds had been opened in a house connected to the hospital. The antenatal clinic and some district midwifery services were resumed. The hospital was rebuilt within its old walls and by 1954 had 36 beds in use. In 1948 the Annie McCall Maternity Hospital was transferred to the National Health Service and became part of the Lambeth Group of Hospitals of the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. In 1964 most of the hospitals in the Lambeth Group, including the Annie McCall Maternity Hospital, became part of the newly formed South West London Group. The hospital closed in 1970.