Newsham Park Hospital

Newsham Park Hospital
Newsham Park Hospital
Location within Merseyside
General information
Location	Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
Coordinates	53°25′16″N 2°56′05″W / 53.421061°N 2.934755°W / 53.421061; -2.934755
Completed	1874
Client	Liverpool Seamen's Orphan Institution
Design and construction
Architect	Alfred Waterhouse

Newsham Park Hospital is a grade II listed building in Liverpool, Merseyside, England (grid reference SJ379920). It now lies derelict but was previously a hospital prior to which it was the Liverpool Seamen's Orphan Institution.

Before 1869, there was no institution in Liverpool for the support and education of the orphans of British seamen. The first move to establish such an institution was made by a group of leading Liverpool ship-owners in 1868.

The sponsors of the project comprised a group of ship-owners and merchants who for some time had been concerned how best to help the widows and families of deceased Merseyside men including those lost at sea. Members of the public were invited to attend a meeting at the Mercantile Marine Service Association Rooms on 16 December 1868, at which the resolution to found such an establishment was proposed by Ralph Brocklebank and Bryce Allan, both leading ship-owners and philanthropists. James Beazley, another leading ship-owner, was invited to be chairman of the committee to establish an orphanage.

One of the ship-owner sponsors wrote on 17 December 1868 to nine of his colleagues offering to donate £500 to start a building fund if they would donate the same amount. There was an immediate response to this letter, and further donations were received following a more widespread public appeal. In 1869. Account was opened in Heywoods Bank, Brunswick Street.Within a few months there was enough money for the General Committee to look round for a temporary home.

On 9 August 1869, the Liverpool Seamen's Orphan Institution opened in temporary rented accommodation in Duke Street, and by the end of that year there were 46 boys and 14 girls in residence.

On 7 April 1870, Liverpool Town Council gave 7000 square yards (0.6 hectares) of land on the north-east side of Newsham Park to construct a Seaman's Orphan Institution. On 11 September 1871, the foundation stone of new building was laid by Mr. Ralph Brocklebank, first President. The foundation stone of the chapel was laid on 1 August 1873 and the Liverpool Mercury carried the following report on 2 August entitled "Liverpool Seamen's Orphanage Institution: Laying the Foundation Stone of the Chapel."