It appears that the old St. Stephens Hospital, Chelsea (Demolished in 1989) was bombed during WW2 can anybody advise if it was 1940? I have details of a civil nurse who died in 1940, in Chelsea Hospital, and wonder if she was a casualty of that bombing? Grateful for any assistance Tony
Hello Tony, I am also looking for a nurse who was killed in a bombing raid in 1940 at St Stephens, her name was Doreen Margaret Jones. Very long shot but not your nurse is she?!!! Cheers.
Hello telfer I do have seven nurses recorded from that incident - 16th October 1940 - Doreen Jones being one of them, the only information that I have is CWGC Certificate stating her parents were living at Bargoed, Glamorgan so she may well be buried in that area but nothing definite. Tony
Hullo Tony, During the past 5 years or so I have been trying to locate a nurse by the name of Doreen(surname unknown) she was a cousin to the husband of a cousin of mine and I am helping him with research on his family, all Stafford people. He was shown a photo of Doreen in her nurses uniform many years ago but never thought to ask his aunt what Doreens surname was! This Doreen died aged 19 and the year would have been approx 1940, I have tried to link her to the Stafford families with no luck. I found Doreen Jones on CWGC ,just a coincidence? I have a photo of the Stafford Doreen and I had hoped that there would have been a photo somewhere of Doreen Jones, I phoned the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital which is now on the site of the old St Stephens, they dont have records going back to 1940 and the National Archives in London dont seem to have much on nurses? If I could find a photo of Doreen Jones I could compare the two and the mystery may be solved. If you have more detail on the nurses killed at St Stephens please let me know. Cheers. Telfer.
I may be able to offer some assistance. I was the deputy administrator of St Stephen's Hospital in the late 1970s. At that time I produced an exhibition and my boss produced a book to mark the 1878-1978 centenary of the workhouse infirmary. I don't have a copy of the book but I distinctly remember a newspaper photo in it plus an account of the bombing. I don't remember the date of the bombing. The book was "The hospital in little Chelsea. An historical background and account to mark the centenary of St Stephen's Hospital 1877-1978." by Howgrave-Graham, C. M ; Martin, L. J .St Stephen's Hospital. It had a limited publication run. You might find copies with the Kings Fund. Or they might photocopy the relevant pages for you. They appear to have lending library of sorts: The King's Fund Library Catalog › Results of Search for 'su:history' Or the London Society Library Books :: The London Society Last stop is the archivists themselves at the Chelsea and Westminster. They might have a copy. Hospital history and archives — Chelsea and Westminster Hospital The archivist at the C and W Hosp email appears to be: archivist@chelwest.nhs.uk Best wishes Phillip Simons
Hi Tony,do you have a list of casualties killed in the bombing at st Stephens hospital on 16th October 1940,my research shows my grandfather died in this hospital on that date,his name was William metcalfe Any help from yourself or anyone else regarding this would be very much appreciated Thanks liam
Hi Liam, I'm sad to say that Tony passed away back in March 2017. Hopefully, someone else on the forum might be able to point you in the right direction.
As some will notice it is the 80th anniversary of this bombing today,my grandfather had an accident whilst working on the batter sea power station,it says on his death certificate that he died from this accident,however,the fact that he died on this date in this hospital makes me doubt this,any help is
Any large hospital is likely to have deaths on any day so it's possible that his death had nothing to do with the bombing and occurred before it happened ie earlier in the day.
The CWGC records of civilian deaths in the 1939-1945 war do not reference a William Metcalfe as dying on 16 October 1940.From this I would presume that your grandfather died as a result of an industrial accident at Battersea Power Station on 16 October 1940.The information on your grandfather's DC should be taken as valid since it would be the result of a hospital medical practitioner's responsibility to record the cause of death on the patient's D.C. A link here records the deaths on 16 October 1940 of civilians from the result of enemy action or other recognised civilian war deaths as recorded by the CWGC. (I hope this link works, if not. search on the CWGC website war dead records.) Search Results | CWGC
