Falmouth Seamen's Hospital and records

[AlanBoyd]

Here is an OS town plan view from 1880

https://tinyurl.com/4v3sspyj

[jonwicken]

The West Briton & Cornwall Advertiser, September 5th 1851

On the front page there is an item announcing the aim of founding a Sailors Home at Falmouth. It is probably a little too long to post in its entirety. It seems to be the project of a Captain Hall, RN FRS, who apparently has already succeeded with similar establishments elsewhere. This is clearly a new establishment: the aims are set out, there is a list of more than twenty 'presidents' and a committee of 30-40. Donations and subscriptions are solicited.

I'm not sure how this fits with the earlier founding date that you quote, but I did notice that one of your linked items refers to a home for merchant seamen, whereas this is clearly focussed on the Royal Navy, with many of those on the committee being "RN". So perhaps there are two establishments being conflated?

That is very helpful and makes total sense. Thank you.

There must have been one hospital for merchant seamen and another for naval sailors.

So the merchant seaman one (which interests me) was open from 1750 to at least 1814.

The naval sailor one opened in 1852.

Think that cracks the confusion there and evidently indeed a conflation.

Thank you!

[jonwicken]

Hi I have had the following incredibly helpful reply from Kresen Kernow and while it helps understand more, the answers I am looking for are yet to be be fully found. I will keep this forum updated.



I have searched both catalogues for a collection relating to any seamen’s hospitals in Falmouth, but without success. I can certainly see the difficulties faced in determining the construction of any sites. I undertook searching on the British Newspaper Archive (BNA), as I cannot find any index reference for the 1750 date in Susan Gay’s ‘Old Falmouth’ (1903). If using the BNA results, it appears there are two separate hospitals.

The Royal Cornwall Sailor’s Home & Hospital which was built at Bank Place in 1852 (Whetter, J., The History of Falmouth, pg.77), and this does appear on Ordnance Survey mapping from the 1st ed. (c1880s) onwards – it also ties in with the expansion of the Seamen’s Hospital Society to open branches at ports, rather than operating hospital ships before the Seamen’s Hospital Bill in the 1860s closing the founding Dreadnought ship.

We do also know that the Seamen’s Bethel and Institute appears to have been built around this timeframe (which would have likely served patients within the hospital), newspapers dating it’s construction in 1849 in Quay Street, and can still be seen today.

In regard to an earlier hospital, there are BNA mentions of the potential building of a Merchant Seamen’s Hospital, of which the ‘…purchase of materials of the temporary barracks at Pendennis Garrison’ (West Briton, 24 Apr 1818), however, this is predated by an article from, which mentions ‘…a hospital is about to be erected for the Garrison at Falmouth’ (Royal Cornwall Gazette, 8 Dec 1804) – both articles attached.

The Falmouth Dispensary and Humane Society appears to open around this time too, in 1807, so it is hard to determine whether these two latter hospitals would have had designations / provisions for mariners needing treatment / seeking health rehabilitation. We hold a collection for the dispensary, and you would be very welcome to view any items from this, should you wish to view it for your research – archive ref. HC16.

I certainly don’t think this comprehensively answers your question and the lack of referencing for Susan Gay’s 1750 date makes this somewhat trickier. Therefore, I would recommend contacting the NMMC in Falmouth (Bartlett Library) to see if they can further signpost you to local records (i.e., harbour masters log books that note seamen needing treatment upon arrival) or organisations that might have undertaken similar research projects over the years, such as the Falmouth Local History Group at the Poly.

As the Seamen’s Hospital at Bank Place would have been most likely part of the Seamen’s Hospital Society, it might be worth contacting the Seafarer’s Hospital Society to determine where wider historic collections are held - https://seahospital.org.uk/.

I hope this helps a bit and best of luck with your research (I will continue to search for a reference for Susan Gay’s 1750 date and if anything surfaces, I’ll get back in contact).

[AlanBoyd]

Here is a strange reference to ‘the former Sailor’s Home’ in the 1871 census. Is this just a relocation of the Royal Cornwall Sailor’s Home? Probably, but I’m adding this here for information.

DEATHS
...
At Bank House, Falmouth, on the 24th of August, the infant daughter of John E. Downing Esq.

In the 1871 census
"Part of the Parish of Falmouth lying south and south west of the Town of Falmouth commencing with the house formerly occupied as the Sailors Home and comprising Grove Place, Sailors Home, Arwenack and Bar, the Docks..."

The entries are:
1 Bank, unoccupied
2 Bank, William H Toms and family
3 Bank, Sailors Home, John Littlejohn head, his family, (10 boarders, all seamen)
4 Bank John E Downing [Bank House]
then
5 Groves Place
then 4,3 2,1 Groves Place
then Arwenack House, Manor House, Bar, Bar Terrace,

The establishment at 3 Bank is the Royal Cornwall Sailors Home opened in the 1850s.

13 November 1858: Lake's Falmouth Packet and Cornwall Advertiser

Royal Cornwall Sailors' Home – Mr Littlejohns of Plymouth, has been elected as the successor of Mr Pearson, to be provider of the Royal Cornwall Sailors' Home.

On the modern map Arwenack Street runs NW-SE along the waterfront. The section to the south east of the junction with Hulls Lane is Bank Place which then becomes Grove Place. Here is a street view of the buildings in question:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/4yxuMmzrGHWrD1GP9?g_st=ic

Bank House is the large house at the SE end of Bank Place. There is a single building running from Hulls Lane to Bank House, with three main doors. The middle door has  a fanlight with the name Admiralty House. Here is a view looking at the entire block: Bank House is the pale-painted house at the end, the rest is presumably numbers 1-3 Bank Place in the 1871 census, with the central, Admiralty House, entrance being the Sailors Home and the nearer door, number 1, being the unoccupied former Sailors Home.

[jonwicken]

Here is a strange reference to ‘the former Sailor’s Home’ in the 1871 census. Is this just a relocation of the Royal Cornwall Sailor’s Home? Probably, but I’m adding this here for information.

Thanks Alan. Let's see if the answers can be found to all this and the establishment dates and various locations and closure dates.

[AlanBoyd]

If this did come to fruition it would be in time to explain the mentions of such a hospital in the 1827 accounts listed in your original post. Note that there is no mention made of replacing an existing establishment.

24 April 1818: West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser

We are informed that the Merchant Seamen's Committee at Falmouth have it in contemplation to purchase a part of the materials of the temporary barracks at Pendennis Garrison for the purpose of erecting a Merchant Seamens' Hospital at that port. The spot, however, on which we understand it is intended to be erected, is not perhaps the most unobjectionable.

[jonwicken]

If this did come to fruition it would be in time to explain the mentions of such a hospital in the 1827 accounts listed in your original post. Note that there is no mention made of replacing an existing establishment.

24 April 1818: West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser

We are informed that the Merchant Seamen's Committee at Falmouth have it in contemplation to purchase a part of the materials of the temporary barracks at Pendennis Garrison for the purpose of erecting a Merchant Seamens' Hospital at that port. The spot, however, on which we understand it is intended to be erected, is not perhaps the most unobjectionable.

Thanks Alan.

Think I need to make a timeline.

[jonwicken]

Hello all, I have had the below reply from
Falmouth History Archive @ The Poly


Many thanks for your email to the Falmouth History Archive regarding the records for the Falmouth Sailor's Home and Hospital.

I regret that the Archive does not hold any original documents relating to these organisations.

However, we do have a couple of photographs of the Home/Hospital in Bank Place, attached, that may be of interest.

The photo from Brian Osborne's collection is dated c. 1900, and we can date the one showing the passengers from the wrecked SS Paris which went ashore at Lowland Point, Coverack on 21 May 1899 (another Osborne photo - their studios were in Arwenack Street, just up the road to the right) - everyone was rescued safely!

I am fairly sure that the Archive has some references to the Sailor's Home on Bar Road (Armyn House) and will try to look these out when next in the Archive on Tuesday morning. I'll report back.

I'm sorry that we cannot help with the records but hope this is of some help.

[jonwicken]

Hello all, I have had another reply from
Falmouth History Archive @ The Poly:

I've managed to do a little more research into the Royal Cornwall Sailors' Home and Hospital but there is some confusion that I have not yet sorted out.

The first reference we have is c. 1750: "Merchants' Hospital established under Act of Parliament (George II, 20th) for relief of maimed or disabled seamen (& widows of such as are drowned or killed in the Merchant's Service): to support it, every seaman belonging to a Packet or Merchant Vessel, registered in Falmouth, paid 6d per month."

The Royal Cornwall Sailors' Home was established at 3 Bank Place on 17 May 1852. We have a number of interesting snippets from the local newspapers that record the number and nationality of its inmates, and references to various committee officers. Lake's directory of 1882 gives it the title 'Royal Cornwall Sailors' Home and Infirmary for Seamen of All Nations'.

The British (& Foreign) Sailors' Society, the 'Bethel' (with a sailors' rest on the Quay) was established in Quay Hill in 1848. In 1936, this was in 'Armyn House' on The Bar.

The confusion comes when checking the local directories. Both Kelly's 1873 and the PO Directory 1873 record the Royal Cornwall Sailors' Home being on The Bar. Kelly's 1889 records the RCSH being on the Quay. Kelly's of 1893 goes one step further and records 'Royal Cornwall Sailors' Home, Seamen's Bethel' on the Quay.