Queen Mary’s Hospital Archives
Latest
A History of Queen Mary’s 2021 digital edition
The Friends of Queen Mary’s have funded the digitisation of Brenda Weedon’s definitive 1996 History of Queen Mary’s University Hospital, Roehampton, often referred to as “The Blue Book” at Roehampton.
The full text and images from the book are now available here as part of the archives website and in this 2021 digital edition as a PDF download.
Please note the document covers the period from 1915 – 1996. The Care, Kit & Courage part of the website includes additional, more recent history.
Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton is world famous for its work in amputee rehabilitation. The images and stories you’ll find in our archives give an insight into the work of doctors, therapists, prosthetists and nurses at QMH, and into the rehabilitation journeys of some of our amputee patients.
The stories and collections are part of the work of the Queen Mary’s Hospital Archives and Museum Group, now a special interest group within The Friends of Queen Mary’s who have funded this website.
We aim to continue to document the story of Queen Mary’s, using this website to help it reach audiences around the world. A donation to the Friends, no matter how little will help this archive develop over time.
Please donate here if you can.
Care, Kit & Courage
Care, Kit & Courage is our permanent exhibition, which you can see in person at the lower ground floor reception of the Bader Rehabilitation Unit. Alternatively you can explore and browse the extensive digital content from the exhibition here…
Introduction
At the beginning of the 1900s, amputees were rare. Treatment was improvised with crude peg legs and hooks and ordinary amputees were turned into freakish curiosities.
World War One’s devastating new technologies thundered millions of tonnes of explosives onto soldiers in French and Belgian trenches. 41,000 survivors returned without one or more of their limbs to a woefully unprepared Britain.
Tireless work and determination from a handful of people saw Roehampton House and its wonderful tree-lined lawns turned into Britain’s first specialist hospital designed for the rehabilitation of amputee soldiers.
Since 1915 Roehampton has evolved as a world-leading centre in therapies and technologies to make life better for amputees and people born without limbs, treating each patient holistically throughout their journey – from surgery to nursing, counselling, bespoke limb design and fitting, physiotherapy and occupational therapy designed around the patient.
Peacetime and the developing needs of the National Health Service have seen the hospital embrace many new services and specialisms, delivered by dedicated and talented teams. The hospital will continue to change and new stories will emerge. The Archive Special Interest Group of the Friends will continue to look after those stories for the future.
Meanwhile, we invite you to enjoy this selection of images and film from the archives, presented next to new interviews with patients and staff, and new films looking at the remarkable work of doctors, therapists, nurses and limb makers.
