Hospitals, Orphanages and Charitable Aid
Hospital and institutional records and histories can contain background information about life in an area at a particular period of history, as well as details of particular staff, residents and patients. The resources may not list details about specific people, but can be of use to fill in the background of your ancestors' lives.
On this page
Hospital records
Published histories of local hospitals
For histories of local hospitals held at Christchurch City Libraries, you can check our catalogue under the following subject headings:
Annual reports of the Inspector-General of hospitals are published in the Appendices to the journals of the House of Representatives , H-34, 1883; H-7A, 1884; H-18, 1885; H-9, 1886; H-19, 1887; H-7, 1891; H-3, 1892; H-23, 1893; H-22, 1895-1910; H-31, 1911-. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the annual reports include a separate report on each hospital. Patient numbers are often recorded but there is no information on individual patients. There is, however, often mention of individual staff, especially senior staff.
North Canterbury Hospital Board records
Archives New Zealand, Christchurch holds the records of the Canterbury Health Board, the North Canterbury Health Board, and the Canterbury Area Health Board. These records include:
- Christchurch Hospital admission and discharge registers, 1863-1890. These have been indexed and a database of patients' names is available.
- Christchurch Hospital mortuary records for the period 1918-1945
- Ashburton records, including patient registers for Ashburton Public and County hospitals and minute books for the board and its committees, 1881-1989
- Turangi (Old Men’s Home), Ashburton, which dates back to the 1870s
- Princess Margaret, 1959-1994
- Burwood Hospital, 1903-1978
- Queen Mary, Hanmer Springs
- Westland, 1884-1976
- Jubilee Memorial Home/Hospital, 1921-1987
- Sanatorium/Coronation Hospital, 1903-1971
Private hospitals
Strathmore on Ferry Road
Christchurch City Libraries holds photographs of the hospital and an article about it appears in The Press , 29 October 1895, p 3 which you can access on microfilm from the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre.
Lewisham Hospital was established by the sisters of the Little Company of Mary in 1914. It later became the Calvary Hospital and then the Mary Potter Hospital. For information on the history of the hospital, see:
- A. Trotter, Mary Potter’s Little Company of Mary: the New Zealand experience, 1914-2002, chapters 2, 4, 7 & 14.
- K. Casey, “Dedicated to care”, The Press , 6 November 2004, p. D4
Private maternity hospitals see below
Maternity hospitals
Female Refuge/Essex Maternity Hospital
The Refuge provided maternity services for "fallen" women, although usually only for a woman’s first illegitimate child; 'recidivists' were not assisted. The library holds this photograph of Strickland, the original house on the site which became the laundry for Essex Hospital.
For published accounts of the work of the Refuge, see:
- Norris, W.R. The North Canterbury Hospital Board: fragments of history
- Cullen, M. 'Female refuge has long history', The Press , 4 July 1981
- Tennant, M. “Ladies' Committee of the Canterbury Female Refuge, 1876-1911”, Women together , pp. 122-124.
- Archives New Zealand, Christchurch holds material for the period, 1876-1968, 1977-78. Information from some early registers has been indexed on computer and names can be searched for.
St Helen’s Hospital / Christchurch Women’s Hospital
- Annual reports on St. Helens hospitals appear in the Appendices to the journals of the House of Representatives , H-22, 1907-1910; H-31, from 1911
- Christchurch City Libraries hold photographs of St. Helen’s Hospital and its staff
- A history of Christchurch Women’s Hospital is available
- Archives New Zealand, Christchurch holds records for St Helen’s / Christchurch Women’s Hospital, 1907-1983
Other maternity hospitals
- Archives New Zealand has records for the Amuri Maternity Hospital, 1922-1960; Kaiapoi Hospital, 1939-1969; Lyttelton Hospital, 1963-1967; and Cheviot Hospital, 1927-1974.
- Christchurch City Libraries holds a photograph of the Lyttelton Maternity Hospital , which was opened in 1931.
- Salvation Army’s Grace Maternity Home was formerly the Gainsborough Hotel. The building stood on the north side of Bealey Avenue two or three houses west of Packe Street. It was big, square, old-fashioned, lacking in balconies and built right up to the footpath. The Salvation Army archives in Wellington have a photograph of 'the Grace' but no files about it.
Private maternity hospitals
Until the 1920s, most women had their babies either at home or in small, unlicensed 1-2 bed maternity homes, run by local maternity nurses or midwives. Over the next decade, childbirth in New Zealand was medicalised and by 1935, 78% of babies were born in large maternity hospitals with doctors in attendance. For discussion of this change, see
- Mein Smith, P. Maternity in dispute: New Zealand, 1920-1939
- Bryder, L. “Doris Gordon”, Dictionary of New Zealand biography
- Sargison, P. “Meddlesome midwifery” in Notable women in New Zealand health
Maternity hospitals with more than 2 beds had to be licensed from 1903. These hospitals were inspected by the Inspector-General of Hospitals whose reports were published in the Appendices to the journals of the House of Representatives (H-31, 1905; H-22, 1907-1910; H-31, 1913 onwards). Reports on individual homes are not included; only an overall summary is given but these sometimes mention individual maternity homes and their proprietors. More detailed reports can be perused at Archives New Zealand, Wellington.
Christchurch private hospitals, private maternity homes and convalescent homes, 1850-1950: index of names
A useful list of hospitals and private maternity homes.
Many unlicensed maternity homes were run by women in their own homes so cannot be located in Wise’s directories unless the name of the maternity nurse is known. Until the 1920s at least, many of these "nurses" were not registered so they cannot be traced in the lists of registered nurses and midwives published in the New Zealand gazette until 1933. The New Zealand gazette is also available online in our libraries and can be browsed from 1841 onwards.
There is an article about Te Kohanga Maternity Hospital, 25 Fendalton Road in The Press, 20 June 1940, p 3
Psychiatric hospitals
- Generally, hospital records can be accessed if they are more than one hundred years old. Archives New Zealand staff will give advice about access to records which are less than one hundred years old.
- Annual reports on psychiatric hospitals were published in the Appendices to the journals of the House of Representatives , H-7 each year. A list of attendants employed was published in 1903, H-7B.
- Brookes, B. and Thomson, J (eds), Unfortunate folk: essays on mental health treatment, 1863-1992 includes essays on a range of issues about the history of mental health, especially in Otago. Among the subjects discussed are the Dunedin Lunatic Asylum, Seacliff, Cherry Farm, Ashburn Hall, the Otekaike Special School and criminal lunacy.
Sunnyside Hospital
- Seager, M., Edward William Seager, pioneer of mental health is a history of the first years of Sunnyside and its first superintendent.
- Archives New Zealand holds registers of admission, death registers, casebooks from 1854-1956.
- Records which relate to the establishment and administration of Sunnyside in the 1860s and 1870s are in the Canterbury Provincial Government archives at Archives New Zealand, Christchurch.
Seaview Hospital, Hokitika
- Archives New Zealand, Christchurch , hold records of Seaview Psychiatric Hospital, Hokitika and the Hokitika Lunatic Asylum. There are registers of admissions, deaths and casebooks from 1866-1969.
Medical staff
See Doctors and Nurses from the Employment page.
Orphanages
Church orphanages
- St Saviour’s Home was an Anglican home in Stapletons Road, Shirley, now the site of the Churchill Complex. The home catered for girls of all ages, and for boys aged between 2 and 5. Boys under 2 were catered for at the Babies' Home, Sumner. After 5, they went to the Timaru Boys' Home. For further information, see the Sun , 12 November 1927. The Anglican Diocese of Christchurch holds records of children at all three institutions. Access to the material is restricted and its release is in conjunction with the Director of Anglican Care.
- Nazareth House, Brougham Street, was a Catholic institution for girls. Boys were catered for at St. Joseph’s at Middleton, Riccarton.
- There were three Presbyterian homes, one for girls in Rhodes Street, and two in Blighs Road, one for boys, the other for young men.
- The Methodists had a boys' and girls' home in Harewood Road. Information on the home appears in W. A. Chambers, Our yesteryears, 1840-1950. The library also holds photographs of the home.
Local body orphanages
- The Canterbury Orphanage at Lyttelton was established by the Canterbury Provincial Council in 1869. The library holds a photograph of this institution (right). It was burnt down in 1904; see The Press , 26 March 1904, p. 8.
- The North Canterbury Hospital Board’s boys' and girls' non-denominational home at Waltham replaced the Canterbury Orphanage in 1905. It was established in what had been a private home. Christchurch City Libraries has a photograph of this institution. A report of a commission of enquiry into the home appears in the Appendices to the journals of the House of Representatives , H-22A, 1906.
- The Cholmondeley Memorial Home at Governors Bay was founded in the 1920s. For photographs of this home, check the library’s catalogue under the subject heading, Cholmondeley Children’s Home - Photographs. It replaced the New Brighton Convalescent Cottage which had been established in 1900. It was for convalescent children and the offspring of convalescent mothers.
- The Girls' Receiving Home, managed by the Education Department, was established in 1918 in the Strathmore Hospital building in Ferry Road. A number of the girls appear in Christchurch City Libraries' church register transcripts. The Home ceased operating about 1980 and was demolished in the late 1990s. Records, including details of children sent there, are in the Education Department records at Archives New Zealand, Wellington.
Charitable aid
Some published sources
- Tennant, M., Paupers & providers: charitable aid in New Zealand , examines neglected or 'gutter' children, 'beggars of the female sex', and others who were sick, poor, unemployed, frail and elderly in colonial, early 20th century and pre-Welfare State New Zealand. The book also deals with the assistance given by local and central government, and how the needy were viewed. Some individual institutions and cases are mentioned.
- Chapman, R. 'Charitable aid in Canterbury, 1853-76', The New Zealand genealogist , May/June 2001, describes the charitable aid policies of the Canterbury Provincial Council.
- Reports of the Inspector-General on charitable institutions, including orphanages, appear in the Appendices to the journals of the House of Representatives , H-22, 1900-1910; H-31, from 1911.
Archival sources
- The 1876 Christchurch City Council records, held by Archives New Zealand, Christchurch , have comprehensive lists of charitable cases covering people living in Christchurch, Avon, Heathcote, Spreydon and Riccarton.
- North Canterbury Hospital Board records at Archives New Zealand include Charitable Aid Board minute books for Christchurch and Ashburton.
