My mother was Minnie Taylor of 27 Gloucester Road, Farnworth Widnes. On the 20th of January 1936 Minnie Taylor received a certificate from Lancashire County Council which states that she had successfully completed three years of training at Whiston Public Assistance Infirmary, recognised Training School for Nurses, which she completed on the 31st of October 1935.
She became a State Registered Nurse in November 1935, at the age of 25.
SRN Certificate issued by
the General Nursing Council of England and Wales
Inscription on reverse:
M.Taylor
SRN
8048
22-11-35
A year later she started working at Whiston Infirmary, Prescot.
Inscription on reverse:
M.Taylor
Oct 1936
Whiston Infirmary, Prescot
The original hospital buildings from 1843 housed the Poor Law Institution - the Prescot Union Workhouse and Infirmary. Whiston Hospital is still the major hospital in the area.
The Village of Whiston
Whiston is part of the Parish of Prescot, which also included Farnworth. Early references show the township as Quitstan (1245); Wystan, Quystan (1278); Whystan, Whytstan, Whyghstan (1292); Quistan (1346); eventually reaching its present spelling of Whiston around 1355.
Whiston is located 9 miles east of Liverpool, 1 1/2 miles west from Rainhill and about 3 miles north-west of Farnworth Village.
The township of Whiston is historically linked with coal mining, the first reference to which appeared in 1521. Many shafts were sunk around the area including those at Carr Colliery of 1760's; Whiston Colliery of 1802; Halsnead Colliery of 1802 and the most familiar pit within the area Cronton Colliery, which was begun in 1913. The collieries made use of branch railway lines and canals constructed for transporting coal to a widening market.
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Minnie Bridesmaid
Photo courtesy Doreen Pleming
Minnie Taylor also found time to appear as a bridesmaid at the wedding of John Jones and Margaret Millie Stacey on the 27th of August 1931.
Minnie seated on left.
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Minnie marries
Minnie married Harold Gandy in 1936. They lived in Derby Road, Farnworth and son Eric was born in December 1945.
The group photograph above sees Mum in uniform together with the other staff at Rainhill War Hospital in 1940, where she was seconded from Whiston Infírmary. She worked there tending to wounded soldiers and POW's until after 1945, probably for a few years but no later than 1950. I was born at Whiston Hospital in 1945 and then was taken care of at the hospital day nursery. According to Mum I cried so much that they put me in the linen cupboard!.
The following story describes how one nurse looked at the the situation at the War Hospital:
"Nicky Rutter, my mother, was a paedriatic nurse in Manchester at the outbreak of war. Even hospitals were evacuated from the large cities at this time, and she and her colleagues were evacuated to Rainhill. There was a large amount of resentment among her colleagues as they were sent from a purpose-built new building to a converted former workhouse. But, after a long fight to get rid of the cockroaches the girls settled down to the new routine and even began to enjoy it. Alas, the new hospital was perhaps even more vulnerable to bombing in Rainhill than it would have been in Manchester and many night were spent down in the shelters.
The first rush came when the ward was given over to the men evacuated from Dunkirk, and later there were German prisoners of war to cope with."
Source; 'NcRttr, WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar'
Hospital Staff
Minnie Taylor second from left
Nurses and patients/soldiers
Minnie Taylor far right
More soldiers and nurses
Minnie Taylor seated right
Rainhill Hospital
Rainhill War Hospital was housed temporarily in Rainhill Hospital.
The building which became Rainhill Hospital was originally built as an orphanage for children of seafarers lost at sea. It was built in 1887 by contributions from the British Empire´s greatest shipping lines of the time, including the White Star Line.
Several thousand children went through the orphanage, primarily trained for maritime employment. They came as a result of the two Boer Wars and the First World War.
During the Second World War the children were evacuated and the building became a Military Hospital caring for and operating on troops.
The children returned to the building after the War but as maritime safety improved the orphanage was too large and in 1954 Liverpool Hospital service took over the building and ran it as a general hospital with an accident and emergency unit. The hospital also developed its own psychiatric department and received an influx of patients with severe mental problems. It became Rainhill Lunatic Asylum, described as the largest Mental Hospital in Europe with almost two thousand patients. It was closed in 1992.
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Minnie Village Nurse
Mum's dream after the war ended was to be a disgtrict nurse in Farnworth and surrounding area, with her own little. This sadly was not to be. Ihave not yet found any details of her employment after the war.
She did not abandon nursing all together, looking after her mother Annie Abbott who lived nearby. In particular she helped people in the village unofficially, for example sitting at night with the terminally ill.
