General Chat

Hi everyone, i bought my grandmothers death certificate, she died in 1944 of a cerebral haemmorhage. The place of death is down as 418 Westgate Road Newcastle. My grandmother lived nearly 100 miles away in Scarborough. I always knew she died in Newcastle but assumed it was the hospital. I have been told that this address used to be the workhouse, and that the address number was put on B/D certificate to save embarrassment/stigma ( as it was the workhouse before) But as she died in 1944 i thought the workhouses were abolished in 1930.I am curious as to why hse was in Newcastle. I have ruled out she was there for the war working as she had 3 children ( my mum at the time was 17 and had just married my father 6 month before) Her other children were 20 13 and 9.
I was told by a family member that my grand dad went to Newcastle on a horse and cart! to bring her home. So obviously they did not have much money.
So has anyone any idea as to why she would have been there and not in the local Scarborough hospital.? Does anyone have any idea if/how i can find out or get any further information. Has anyone on here come across this while researching their families?
Many thanks in advance for any help/info

It could have been the workhouse infirmary

If you couldn't afford private medicine then folks would go into the infirmary for illness operations childbirth etc
Folks objected to the ref to workhouse on any certs as it implied they were in the workhouse when they were just receiving medical treatment. it was decided some years prior to her death to give the postal address on certs
I have a cert from 1933 were the postal address is given

This was pre the N.HS and many of those Hospitals became the local general hospital when the NHS was set up

As to why Newcastle. who knows. Perhaps she was visiting and became ill and was taken to hospital
Maybe the cause of death gives a clue . Looks like she had a stroke

It's also possible that she was transferred to Newcastle for specialist treatment that the local hospital couldn't provide

My paternal step grandfather lived in south east London but died in 1941 in a Middlesex hospital where he had been transferred because of heart problems

Workhouses were often used as hospitals too Linda. Our local one was converted to a Maternity unit.
My Grandma died from the flu pandemic in the Workhouse infirmary in Bradford in the early 1900's

I found this:
"The workhouse system was abolished in the UK by the same Act on 1 April 1930, but many workhouses, renamed Public Assistance Institutions, continued under the control of local county councils"

My g grandmother gave birth to all her children (born between 1901 and 1925) in the hospital attached to the Workhouse - it was the only way you could get free medical treatment! :-D

On Westgate Road Newcastle is the General Hospital.

Decades ago the wards on the south side of the hospital adjoining the road

was a work house.

***On 4 July, 1941 the Lord Mayor of Hull visited Scarborough and attended a gathering
of evacuees – 400 in all including boys from Trinity House – at the Olympia. Each
child was given a present of 6d (approx 2p)
Schools had to work alternately, one week mornings and afternoons the following
week to fit in with the Scarborough children. The Central School took in evacuees
from Middlesborough and Hull. On 6 July, 1943 80 Brighton children arrived in
Scarborough as Brighton was considered a front line town. By July, 1944 only 242
evacuees remained in the town but, later in the month 1.250 arrived. They had been
evacuated from the areas that were suffering from the flying bombs and rockets. They
arrived from Kings Cross and were accommodated for the night as follows – mothers
and children at the Boys High School, Westwood, girls at the Girls High School,
Stepney Road, boys at Northstead School and more mothers and children at All Saints
Schoolroom on Falsgrave. The aged went to the Rest Centre ( War Refugees Hostel)
at 84 Filey Road.
On 21 August, 1944 a further 676 arrived from London. Scalby took in 155 of them
and Scarborough took the rest. Empty properties were taken over to house them by
compulsory.***


perhaps this may have been one reason.? or possible overspill from other hospitals or such within a certain area.?

The workhouse in Walsall became part of the Manor Hospital and became the part specialising in geriatrics.

I think many workhouse infirmaries would become cottage hospitals. This would be prior to NHS being formed.

Others have queried the address of 418 Westgate Road, Newcastle on the following link:

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=675450.0

Duplicated thread - there are more replies on this board than the one below
https://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/genealogy_chat/thread/1368707

On the other thread, you'd speculated that the haemorrhage was during or post an operation. If that were the case, it would have been mentioned as contributing to the death.

The DC for an Aunt gives the cause as Basal pneumonia, Operative Haemorrhage, Ruptured tubal gestation i.e. the haemorrhage occurred during the operation.

Mum had always said that it was a botched abortion. From the sounds of it, they were trying to terminate an ectopic pregnancy but made a fatal surgical error. The DC was issued by the Coroner.

In a similar vein, my great grandmother died in Storthes Hall Hospital Nr Huddersfield in 1919, aged 71.

Now, Storthes Hall was a well known Mental Asylum, which operated between 1904 and 1991and my Mum said her family never quite understood why her grandma was ever sent there given that she never had any mental health issues and was in full possession of her faculties until she died.

When I sent for the DC, the cause of death was Chronic Nephritis, and given the lack of available treatment we can only assume Storthes Hall was the closest to the family where she could see out her last few weeks of life.

Detective,... her cause of death stated
Cerebral Haemorrhage
Cerebral Tumour
So i am assuming she had a brain tumour, was maybe taken to Newcastle for an operation to remove it and then haemorrhaged.

Kay?????
Thank you for that, very interesting read.

Ah right - then the 'centre of excellence' theory is more likely.