Simpson Memorial Maternity Hospital
The Edinburgh Royal Maternity and Simpson Memorial Hospital was the first building in the city to be planned as a maternity hospital, and was officially opened in 1879. Its services have now been incorporated into the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, as the biggest maternity unit in Scotland.
The institution has been known by several names: Edinburgh Lying-In Hospital (1793 - 1842); Edinburgh Royal Maternity Hospital (1846 - 1879); Edinburgh Royal Maternity and Simpson Memorial Hospital (1879 - 1939).
Midwifery in Edinburgh, as a part of the medical curriculum, began in 1756 with Thomas Young, Professor of Midwifery. Early provisions for midwifery consisted of four maternity beds at Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary in 1756. Young's predecessor, Dr. Alexander Hamilton, was responsible for establishing the independent Edinburgh General Lying-in Hospital in either 1791 or 1793, which afforded students the opportunity for practical experience.
In 1879, using funds collected to commemorate Sir James Young Simpson's contribution to obstetrics, a purpose-built maternity hospital was opened in Edinburgh, to provide a facility where the poor could access medical supervision for childbirth.
The Married Women's Pavilion was opened in 1895 by Lady Candida Louise Hay, 10th Marchioness of Tweeddale. It was located in the west wing of the original plans by architects MacGibbon and Ross but had to be postponed in 1879 due to insufficient funds.
By 1910, the capacity of the facility was under strain, and following the First World War, the Edinburgh Royal Maternity Hospital and was expanded into several flats in nearby Lauriston Park and Graham Street to cope with increased demand.
Britain's first ante-natal clinic began at this site in 1915, to be followed, in 1926 by a post-natal clinic when the facility amalgamated with the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
The Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion opened in 1939, at which time it was directly managed by the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, within a grouping of hospitals that would become the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh National Health Service Trust in 1994. The initial provisions of the hospital consisted of: two lying–in wards, a labour ward, a dispensary, kitchens and administrative quarters, as well as quarters for the matron, two house surgeons and seven or eight nurses. Later the hospital was incorporated into the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and is now located at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in Little France on the southern outskirts of the city.
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