Sheffield Children’s Hospital opened for the first time on Brook Hill, not far from where the Western Bank site now sits, on November 15 1876.
With a rent of £63 a year, it was founded by architect Mr J.D. Webster, doctor Mr William J. Cleaver and solicitor Mr Henry Vickers who formed a committee and decided it would be “expedient to fund an institution for the relief of poor sick children.”
In its first year, the Hospital saw 29 inpatient admissions – some way short of the 24,577 inpatients seen at the Trust in 2019/20.
The hospital’s first X-Ray machine was installed in 1907, while electric radiators replaced open fires and the operating theatre opened its doors during the 1920s.
Today, Sheffield Children’s is one of only three dedicated children’s hospital trusts in the UK with hundreds of thousands of young people using its services.
1. The hospital, pictured in 1880
The Children’s Hospital Charity was formed 100 years after the hospital in 1976. Money raised through donations funds four key areas; medical equipment, research, new facilities and improvements to the environment. Photo: Sheffield Children's
2. The hospital in 1903
The hospital pictured four years before its first X-Ray machine was installed, in 1907. Photo: Sheffield Children's
3. The Cleaver Ward
In the 1970s, the hospital extended what became the Emergency Department. Photo: Sheffield Children's
