Shardeloes BabiesAt the outbreak of war in 1939 Shardeloes, the family home of the Tyrwhitt-Drakes, was requisitioned as a maternity hospital to provide mothers, mainly from the south and east of London, a safe place to deliver their babies away from the danger of bombing raids. Within 24 hours, the drawing room was converted into a ward and the library to a medical store and office. 55 beds were provided with a staff of about 20. Mr. Scantling, the butler became hospital porter.

Were you are Shardeloes Baby?
If so, why not be part of our story by adding your birth details to this website, Please click on this link

 

 

 

 

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Dr Beatrice Turner

Dr Beatrice Turner, a London Consultant Obstetrician, was in overall charge. Several midwives were billeted with local residents in Old Amersham at a cost of 10s a week. They were advised to ‘bring a bike with suitable lights’ as the hospital was 1 ½ miles away.

Both the then Queen Elizabeth and the Princess Royal visited the hospital to celebrate landmark births; the Queen on 26th June 1943 for the 2,000th  baby and the Princess on 9th September 1944 for the 3000th. Shardeloes had the lowest mortality rate in the country, 1.676 per 1,000. Every mother in labour had a general anaesthetic which was not common practice elsewhere.

In 1945, Mrs. Tyrwhitt-Drake was presented with a Wendy House as a token of gratitude from the 3,900 babies who had already been born in her home. The family never moved back there and the hospital continued to support the local community, eventually closing in 1948 raising the number of births to over 5,000, the most famous being Sir Tim Rice.

 

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The grand setting for a maternity ward

 

Dinner at Shardeloes

In November 2015 Edward Copisarow, who lives at Shardeloes, very kindly opened his part of the house for an Amersham Society fund-raising event for the Amersham Museum expansion project.  A magnificent dinner for over 70 guests was arranged in The Hall, after a reception in The Drawing Room and The Library.  

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The “Shardeloes Babies” at the dinner. From left to right: Margaret Swindon, Dick Page, Maureen Carter, Hilary Povey, Maureen Bristow, Barbara Grundy, Carol Rhodes, Maureen Bailey, Gwen Woodstock, Sandra Milton, Tony Baker, Janice Plant. (Margaret Jenkins had to leave before the photo was taken).

 

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The “Shardeloes Babies” tea party at the Museum 20th August 2015

Between the courses, four of the “babies” read extracts from some of the stories on this page and Dr Marjory Foyle, who was a trainee doctor at Shardeloes in about 1944, talked about her life in India and Nepal and the memories of Shardeloes which she kept in her mind when homesick.  See a gallery of photos taken during the evening..

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Shardeloes in 2015 – photos taken by John Hankins
Marjory Foyle looking at old photos in The Library
Marjory Foyle looking at old photos from an album belonging to a nurse at the Maternity Hospital

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Be part of the story

Amersham Museum started a project in 2015 to create a list of as many as possible of the thousands of babies born at Shardeloes when it was a maternity hospital in World War II and for some years after that. We had contact information for about 70 of those babies, many more have since been added.

Follow these links to read the stories of about 200 Shardeloes babies that Amersham Museum has collected. If you were a Shardeloes baby and wish to add your birth details, please click on this link.

(If you are searching for someone, try both married and maiden names)

A to C

D to F

G to H

I to M

N to Q

R to T

U to Z

 

Plan Your Visit

Opening hours:

Wednesday to Sunday, and Bank Holiday Mondays, 12noon to 4:30pm

49 High Street
Old Amersham
Buckinghamshire
HP7 0DP

01494 723700
[email protected]

 

“Enjoyed our visit to this wonderful interactive museum where you are positively encouraged to touch things!”

“Visited Amersham museum yesterday – lovely place, provides many details on the history of the place. Plenty of cute cafes, pubs and shops around also… not difficult to find free parking nearby. ”

“A well-run, informative and interesting small museum on the main street. It’s mostly volunteer-run and they do a great job in keeping it and making you feel welcome…Check out the herb garden too.”

“Enjoyable film and television location guided walk around Amersham hosted by Amersham Museum – here are the Sun Houses on Highover Park and further up the hill is High & Over.”

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