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The
Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital has a long history of service to the local community and to
Buckinghamshire. It was originally opened as the Buckinghamshire Infirmary in 1862 and
more recently until 1991 it was Aylesbury district's maternity hospital. In 1994 after
being empty for several years the building was purchased by the Mid Bucks Medical Centre
Group and after extensive refurbishment it is now the home of the International Spinal
Injuries & Rehabilitation Centre and the Marguerite Centre.
The present building was formally opened in June 1862. Its design was heavily influenced
by Florence Nightingale. In fact it was the first civilian hospital to be built
incorporating her designs. She designed the wide staircases, the ward heating and
ventilation system and even the size and position of the wards.
It is believed that King Edward VII, whist still Prince of Wales, broke his leg during a
visit to Aylesbury and was treated at the hospital. In recognition he granted the title
"Royal" to the hospital.
The purpose of this page is to record some of the information gleaned so far about the
Royal Bucks Hospital. If anyone has any information that may be added, we would be very
interested to hear from them.
From 'A History of Aylesbury' by Robert Gibbs
The Buckinghamshire Infirmary
"The first movement for the establishment of an Infirmary emanated from the Newport
Pagnell district. This was in the year 1827. The distance of Newport from the centre of
the country was an objection to the erection of a General Infirmary in that district, and
the subject passed into obeyance ; but it was not altogether overlooked. Efforts in the
meantime were made to obtain a list of subscribers, which for a while lengthened but
slowly. Exiting but troublous times followed ; there was a general election in 1830,
consequent upon the death of George IV. In the same year there was an alarming discontent
amongst the agricultural labourers, with riots, machine breaking, and incendiary fires. In
the next year another general election took place; still progress in the establishment of
an Infirmary had been steadily made. At a meeting called for furthering the project it was
announced that £5,176 capital had been raised for purchase for building purposes, and an
annual subscription of £255 was also promised. Subsequently, Dr. Lee of Hartwell, added a
present of £500 to the capital fund. Subscribers increased ; the Rev. John Dell, of
Walton , the Duke of Buckingham, Lord Carrington, Lord Chesterfield, Lord
Grenville, Sir
H. Verney, Bart., and others had already given a heartily adherence to the movement. In
January, 1832, Dr.Lee was in treaty for purchase of an eligible property, situated at the
junction of the Buckingham and Bicester Roads, at Aylesbury, and known as
“Dawney’s Nursery.” This site was eventually secured, upon which occasion
Dr. Lee made a second donation of £500, expressly to aid in the completion of the
purchase.
There was already standing on the spot a neat substantial villa ; to this building two
wings were added, and the internal arrangements were altered and adapted to the purposes
for which the building was being intended ; for the time being this was all that was
requisite.
On the 7th August, 1833, a meeting of the governors was held, when Messrs. Robert and
James Henry Ceely and Messrs.Young and Haywood offered their gratuities services as
visiting surgeons. Dr. Lee was at this meeting elected the first president, and the
principal wards were named the “Lee” ward and the “Verney” ward; Mr
Rickford was also appointed treasurer, so that the establishment was now in working order.
Concerts, balls, and sermons were brought into requisition to aid the funds; all were
highly successful, and the proceeds greatly increased the funds. A bazaar in aid realised
nearly £1,000 profit.
At the second annual meeting Dr. Lee was re-elected president, and in the following year
he was succeeded by Sir Harry Verney, Bart., as the second president. Sir Harry had shared
energetically in the work of establishing the Infirmary, in conjunction with Dr. Lee and
others. In 1838 the financial state of the Institution was not satisfactory, but remained
only temporarily so. At the general annual meeting, in August of that year, it was
resolved to make great effort to improve the funds, and a ball, concert and bazaar were
again resorted to, and were held under the patronage of the governors; these were
spiritedly supported by the public, and the result was a profit of £1,142 to the funds.
In October, 1841, a meeting of the subscribers was held for the purpose of considering the
appointment of a chaplain, a strong feeling was evinced against the proposition, and it
was thought best to defer it. Two months later the subject was re-opened, with the
proposition to devote a sum of money, subscribed by the Radcliffe Trustees to the general
fund, to form a chaplaincy fund. On this occasion a vote was taken; the majority was
against the proposition, and a voluntary Chaplaincy fund was resolved on by those who had
pressed the question.
There could not be a greater proof of the usefulness of this institution or of the
benefits it had conferred on the poorer classes than the fact that the building was found
to be too small for its requirements. Not being originally built for the purposes of an
Infirmary there were defects in the construction of it which could not well be remedied.
After several meetings had been held, and the whole subject thoroughly considered, the
Committee came to the conclusion to rebuild entirely. Arrangements for the temporary
removal of the patients and the continuance of the affairs of the Infirmary having been
made, the place was vacated, the materials sold by auction, and the erection of a new
building commenced forthwith.
On the 30th of April 1861, the foundation stone of the new Infirmary was laid by Lady
Verney and in June 1862, it was formally opened. The building, which is of the order
technically known as Roman Doric, consists of a central portion and two wings- the centre
comprising four stories, and the wings two. On the ground floor, after passing through the
hall, the visitor finds the matron’s sitting-room on his right hand and the
house-surgeon’s on the left; the corresponding bedrooms being placed opposite, in the
rear of the building. In the west wing are the matron’s and other storerooms,
porter’s room, pupil’s room, board room and chapel, and secretary’s office.
In the east wing, the physician’s room, surgeon’s consulting room and
patient’s waiting room, with dispensary, laboratory etc. The basement story, which
occupies only the central portion of the building, comprises the kitchen, scullery,
larder, beer-cellar, coal-cellar, etc. Ascending the easy and well-lighted staircase, we
reach the principal floor, containing the patients’ wards. These are spacious rooms,
81 feet by 25, and 16 feet high, the female ward being named after the venerable Dr. Lee,
and the male ward after the late Lady Verney. Each ward contains 22 beds. The ventilation
is secured partly by the windows, which range along both sides of the wards, but more
especially by a shaft which admits the external air through brass gratings in the floor,
the exit of heated air being provided for by a simple escape placed over each window.
Cheerful, open fire-grates are placed in each ward. The floors are of oak, the walls of
polished cement, and special care has been taken to use no material which in course of
time would absorb the noxious exhalations of the sick room. On this floor are placed two
“bye wards” for special cases which it may be necessary to isolate; the
sculleries, nurses’ rooms, &c. On the second floor (which, like the basement,
occupies the centre only of the building) is situated the operating room to which the
patients are conveyed by a “lift”, and which is thus entirely out of sight and
hearing of the patients in the wards. Here also are the servants’ bedrooms and other
offices. Lifts are fitted in the centre of the building, one for the conveyance of food
from the kitchen, the other for raising coals, &c. to the upper portion of the
building. The ground belonging to the Institution, including that occupied by the building
itself, is about two acres, and is enclosed by a boundary wall. The total sum expended
amounted to £11,179. To meet this expenditure, the committee received subscriptions to
the general fund, amounting to £6,705 3s 11d., and special subscriptions of £16.12s. The
amount raised by the sale of the old building and trees was £549. 9s; the total profit of
the bazaar, £1,736 13s 7d. The money withdrawn from the capital of the Institution for
building purposes amounted to £2,055 1s.
The latest addition to the establishment I is the Sanatorium, for the use of the
convalescent patients; it is built at the rear of the Infirmary. This originated with the
late Rev. C. Erle, who bequeathed £300 for its erection. It has recently been enlarged
and greatly improved; it is very neatly furnished, supplied with books and periodicals,
and is a very agreeable retreat to those patients whose recovery is advanced sufficiently
to enable them to visit it, and it is a valuable feature in the institution. It is through
the exertions and liberal subscription of Mr. Cazenove, the Lilies, that the late
improvements to the Sanatorium has been completed. The architect both of the Infirmary and
the Sanatorium was Mr D. Brandon, of Berkeley Square, London.
With the Infirmary must ever be associated the name of John Lee, Esq., LL.D., of Hartwell,
who was so instrumental in its original formation and a munificent donor to its treasury.
Dr. Lee was born in 1783, and was the eldest son of John Fiott, Esq., of London, who
married Harriet, daughter of William Lee, Esq., of Totteridge, Herts; he took the name of
Lee by Royal mandate, in 1815. The family of the Lees have owned the Hartwell estate since
the junction of the houses of Hampden and Lee, A.D. 1570, and the Hampden family trace
back their possession to the year 1268. The Rev. Sir George Lee, the sixth baronet, dying
unmarried in 1827, bequeathed the mansion and estates to Dr. Lee, who was the
representative of both branches of the family, and was seized of the estates of Hartwell;
Totteridge, in Herts; and Colworth, in Bedfordshire. He was entered at St. John’s
College, Cambridge, of which he became a Fellow. He was fifth wrangler in 1808. As a
travelling bachelor of the University he visited Egypt, Arabia, and Asia Minor. It was at
this time that he formed that taste for the collection of antiquities to which the
collections at Hartwell bore testimony. A year of two before his death he was made a
Q.C.
by Lord Chancellor Westbury, an honour which, it is said, afforded him great satisfaction;
he was a fellow of the Royal Society, and also a Fellow, and for two years the President,
of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was a member of the Geological, the Geographical,
the British Meteorological, the British Archaeological, the Syro-Eqyptian, the Asiatic,
the Chronological, the Numismatic, and other learned Societies. Of Dr. Lee’s
benevolence as a landlord and a master it is unnecessary to speak. He married, in 1833,
Miss Cecilia Rutter, and in 1855 Miss Louisa C. Heath, step-daughter of Mr Robert
Wilkinson, of Totteridge Park, Herts. He died in 1866, and was succeeded in the estates by
his nephew, Mr. E. Dyke Lee.
Another worthy patron of the Infirmary was the Rev. Christopher Erle, M.A.,
F.G.S., J.P.,
&c., the rector of Hardwick, who died in 1870, at the age of 83 years. The rev.
gentleman was the elder brother of the Right Hon. Sir William Erle, late Lord Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas, and, like him, was educated at New College, Oxford. He was
inducted into the living Hardwick, which falls, in succession, to the senior bachelor of
the College, in the year 1834. Mr Erle was one of the most liberal supporters of the
Infirmary, his contributions to which were far greater in proportion than those of many of
much larger means. His last public act was one which showed his great love for the
Institution- his kind donation of three hundred guineas for the erection of the Sanatorium
before-mentioned:
A third name closely connected with the general management of the Bucks Infirmary must not
be passed over-that of the late Mr. Robert Ceely, of Aylesbury. No one connected with this
district had formed wider associations, associations which included all classes, nor could
anyone be more generally beloved. His manner was so genial, kind and affectionate that a
friendship, having been once formed with him, was assiduously cultivated. Mr. Ceely’s
choice of the profession was made early in life. His first practice of it was intended for
the service of the East India Company, but this was overruled by medical advice, and his
career opened in March 1821, at Aylesbury. The commencement of his practice was in
conjunction with Mr Henry Hickman, jun., a representative of a very ancient and highly
respected Aylesbury family. Mr. Hickman died soon after Mr. Ceely joined him. Mr.
Ceely’s heart and soul were in his profession. He gave attention to the subject of
vaccination, in which he felt great interest. He became a champion of cleanliness, and
sanitary matters under his interference and recommendations improved. Those who are old
enough will not fail to recollect the invaluable services rendered by him when Aylesbury
was afflicted with a severe visitation of that dire disease, cholera, in 1832. In 1840 he
published, in the Transactions of the Provincial, Medical, and Surgical Associations,
“Observations on the Variolae Vaccine as they occasionally appear in the Vale of
Aylesbury, with an account of some recent experiments on vaccination”. This
publication having met with much approval and encouragement, in 1842 he published further
observations on the same subject. In his profession he was no respector of persons; the
occupier of the lowliest cottage or the most miserable hut received from him the same
degree of care and attention as the resident in the most stately mansion. Mr
Ceely, in
conjunction with his brother, Mr. J.H. Ceely, gave his gratuitous services to the Bucks
Infirmary from the date of it original foundation; he regularly kept his appointments
there, his name as receiving medical surgeon appearing up to the time of his death. He
held the appointment of surgeon to Her Majesty’s prison; he was medical officer to
the Aylesbury Union and the Aylesbury Board of Health; he was a Fellow of the Royal
College of Surgeons, and Licentiate of the College of Apothecaries; and was also a member
of several medical and other scientific societies. Mr. Ceely’s death took place in
1880; he had been ill from the effects of a severe cold but little more than a week. The
subscribers and friends of the Bucks Infirmary presented him with his portrait. It is a
three-quarter length, and was executed by Mr. Storey. It hangs in the board room of the
Institution, in which are also placed the portraits of Sir Harry Verney, Dr. Lee, and
other distinguished benefactors to the hospital.
Notice only has been taken of those patrons of the Infirmary who have passed from us, but
in a history of the establishment which may be handed down to future generations it would
be exceedingly ungenerous not to record with his compeers the name of Sir Harry
Verney,
Bart. Sir Harry was one of the earliest promoters of the Institution, and a liberal donor
to the first fund; he followed Dr. Lee as president, and for more than half a century has
been untiring in his efforts to maintain the efficiency of the establishment, devoting
much labour to both its general and detailed management."
 
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