LIVERPOOL'S FIRST INFIRMARY

'The idea to provide an infirmary in Liverpool started in 1744. One of the largest donations was said to have come from James Bromfield, a local surgeon, who contributed £32. 6s 0d He was the Infirmary’s first Senior Surgeon. In 1745 a long-term lease was obtained from the Town Council of a plot of land at the top of Shaw’s Brow - now William Brown Street and the site now occupied by St George's Hall.

Building was stopped in November 1745 when workmen were required to join the army because the Jacobite uprising.

The Liverpool Infirmary was opened by the Earl of Derby on 25 March 1749.
It was a three-storey building and had a frontage covering just over four acres.

Its total cost, including building and furnishings was £2,618 3s 6d (the cost of building would have been about £266,000 in today's prices). 1771 saw a new wing on the west side added to the building.

Advances in the treatment of Mental Health patients led to the formation of a committee to look at the opening of an asylum in Liverpool. The building was completed in 1792 at a cost of £2800 (£196,500 at today's values) and patients were admitted in the September of that year.

When it closed in 1830 total admissions had reached 2596. There was, however, no specialist care and patients were seen by medical staff from the Infirmary. The Keeper of the asylum looked after the general running and was assisted by a Matron.

Insufficient funds meant it was not possible to build a new asylum at the time when the Infirmary moved to its new accommodation. As a result it remained open at the Shaw’s Brow site for a further six years.

In April 1752 a two-storey Seaman’s Hospital was erected. These acted as both a hospital and alms houses for seamen.

The ‘Sixpenny Hospital’, remained independent of the Infirmary.

The Liverpool Infirmary relied for its survival on annual subscriptions, hospital collection contributions, legacies and investments.

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The responsibility for running Liverpool Infirmary was under the control of two committees. The General Board which had fifteen members met four times a year and had the power to make and change rules and to elect the physicians and surgeons. The Weekly Board looked after the day-to-day running of the Infirmary. It was responsible for admitting patients and for arranging for House Visitors to see patients in their own homes.

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Other duties included approving orders, paying accounts and generally ensuring the decisions of the General Board were carried out.

The Hospital relied upon three surgeons, James Bromfield (Senior Surgeon 1749-1763), Thomas Antrobus and William Pickering. There were also three physicians, Walter Green, John Kennion and Thomas Robinson. 

Despite increasing patient numbers and the addition in 1771 of the west wing, this number never changed throughout the history of the Infirmary.

The Hospital had its own Apothecary. This was a live-in position. His duties included giving out medicines, keeping in-patient and out-patient records, making daily visits to each in-patient, looking after the drugs and equipment and meeting the surgeons and physicians when they visited. The first man to hold the post of House 

Apothecary on an honorary basis (1749-1751) was Richard Gerrard. Subsequent Resident Apothecaries were paid for their services. From time to time Visiting Apothecaries were appointed on an honorary basis.

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In 1851 the title 'Royal' was conferred on the infirmary and it became the Royal Liverpool Infirmary.