Marguerite Hepton hospital

I am delighted to learn that former patients from the Marguerite Hepton hospital, at Thorpe Arch near Leeds are beginning to investigate their past as sanatorium patients, encouraged by the "Children of Craig-y-nos" project.

Jane from Southampton has launched a blog and it is being co-managed by Jane and Fred, another ex-patient.



This is great. Well done! Keep up the good work.
These extracts are from the
BBCMid Wales" Children of Craig-y-nos" web-site

Jane Freeland, Southampton
I was a spinal TB patient for about 5 years (1943 to 1948), first briefly in Wales (my parents called it Cowbridge - it was near Cardiff), and then in Yorkshire, at the Marguerite Hepton Orthopedic Hospital at Thorp Arch, near Wetherby, Yorkshire, for the rest of the time. Eventually, surgical techniques and the magical streptomycin enabled me to recovery fully. I'm now 67, and like you I feel there's a story to be explored. Like you, too, I've found it almost impossible to find records of people involved. In the case of 'my' Yorkshire hospital even the building has vanished under new bui! lt houses. I was thrilled to hear that people at the Wellcome Trust are interested in your idea for a book, and sorry to read some of the negative reactions to your desire to approach the topic. It seems to me that those of us who survived lived through an important part of medical history - quite an achievement - and can help to highlight forgotten bits of it.

Margaret E Vicars nee Rhodes from Leeds
I was in Marguerite Memorial Hosp. at Thorpe Arch from 1941 to 1944 I am also in touch with a friend who was in at the same time. Matron Downs was a very strict disciplinarian & some of the nurses could be very hard & two of them whose names I can remember were cruel, considering we were helpless children. I have photographs of the hospital & some of the patients. Felicity Lane Fox was the secretary when I was there & I have the letter to my parents telling them to come & take me home in Sept. 1944. I am disappointed to find there is no history of the hospital on the internet that I can find.

Harry Dodgson, Sydney, Australia
I noted the entry by Cynthia Coultas who is writing a book about Thorp Arch Hospital. I was a patient in that Hospital from 1935 until 1943.Together with other ex-patients we are setting up a blog site.
The site is still under construction if Cynthia would like to contact me via this site.


Deborah Oxley, Knaresborough
I have been delving into my family's history and knew nothing of the children with TB in these hospitals until today. My relatives (Lily and Winnie Bendelow) were in the Marguerite Hepton at Thorp Arch. Winnie had her lung removed there, and, like you, feel there should be a record of this time. I wish you well with your book and feel it would be worth extending to include Thorp Arch, especially as there seems to be a link with children being moved from the one hospital to the other. Keep on, Ann.