Frank James Hospital in East Cowes – which sadly fell to rack and ruin at the turn of the century – served the communities of the twin towns at the mouth of the River Medina for over a century.
The hospital had very strange beginnings. It was founded in memory of the wealthy explorer and yachtsmen Frank Linsly James, who was gored to death by an enraged elephant on his 39th birthday – 21st April 1890.
Modern day readers are unlikely to sympathise with Frank James as he was a big game hunter, who died while participating in an elephant hunt in Gabon, West Africa. He is said to have shot twice at a bull elephant, which turned and charged with its herd, goring James in the chest. He subsequently died from his wounds.
Frank James was a very wealthy man, who left £100,000 in his will (£16.5million in today’s values). He had been a a keen yachtsman. For this reason, his brothers – Arthur and William – set up the Frank James Memorial Home for Retired Seamen in his memory in 1893. The guilded weather vane which sits atop the hospital is a representation of his yacht, the Lancashire Witch.
The brothers had originally intended that the hospital be built in Cowes but found it cheaper to purchase land in East Cowes.
In 1899, there was a need to provide a convalescent home for soldiers wounded in the Boer War. The residents of the Home for Retired Seamen were provided with pensions and accommodation elsewhere, and the home repurposed.
After the war, the youngest daughter of the late Queen Victoria, Princess Beatrice – Governor of the Isle of Wight – suggested the building would be of value as a local hospital. Frank James’ brothers agreed to endow the hospital for a period of 2 years, making an allowance of £300 a year for it.
Frank James Hospital was opened by Princess Beatrice on 25th June 1903. The brothers subsequently endowed it with £10,000 (over 1million in today’s values). After having been funded by the James brothers, the hospital was then supported by the local population, particularly the shipbuilding company of J S White and its employees – the National Health Service was not in existence at that time.
An example of the help the community provided was the Brooklyn Charity Cup – competed for by local football teams – in aid of Frank James Hospital between 1903 and 1924/25, which was won by Cowes on the most occasions. The trophy then vanished for many years before it was rediscovered in a local church and the competition revived in 1986, only to be mothballed again in 1992.
The Frank James Hospital expanded and improved over the course of the 20th century, with J S White funding the installation of X-ray apparatus and a small 4-bed children’s ward in 1909. An operating theatre was provided in 1909.
With the advent of the National Health Service in 1948, the hospital ceased being dependent on the generosity of the local community and further improvements were made. A gynaecological ward opened in 1972, a psychotherapy unit in 1972 and the hospital was refurbished in 1977 and again in 1991. In April 1992, Frank James reopened as a community hospital after a £200,000 facelift.
Then – on 30th July 2002 – Frank James Hospital was closed and its remaining patients transferred to St Mary’s. It was regarded as too small and old-fashioned. It was said that the type of building needed for patient care was different to that of the 19th century when it had been built.
In 2003, the building was sold to the highest bidder. The King George V Memorial Wing – built in 1938 – was demolished and plans made for the refurbishment of the remainder of the building to 11 apartments. However, the proposed property development did not proceed as intended, and the hospital remained derelict for over a decade.
In 2012, an action group ‘Friends of Frank James’ was formed with the intention of saving the hospital building for future generations, with the support of Alan Titchmarsh and then MP Andrew Turner. The group obtained the keys to the building and refused to hand them over to the owners without assurances of the work beginning soon.
The keys were returned to the owners in 2017 and work on the building began. Despite the redevelopment stalling in 2020, the former Frank James Hospital is now apartments.
What are the memories of East Cowes residents of their former hospital? Most regret its closure…
One local resident stated:
“This would make a great cancer hospital. We need somewhere like this so people can be treated in a more relaxed environment plus not having to send patients to the mainland for treatment when they are feeling poorly.”
Another added:
“Such a terrific little hospital. I had my appendix out there on my 16th birthday and exactly one year later, my tonsils. Such a shame it’s no longer a hospital. A real loss to the Island’s medical services.”
A former nurse commented:
“This was a lovely hospital to work in and if the powers that be in those days had realised what an asset they had, we’d be using it now as overflow, post op. ward.”
Do you have memories of being treated at Frank James? Would you like to see it and other local hospitals return? Let us know in the comments…
A great story, such a shame that such a great person
done such a great deed and then it was left to fall
into the current state it is in.
So disrespect, should never have been allowed to
get in such a sad state.
All the money Governments and their Councils waste
yet they couldn’t invest money into this once great
hospital, so sad.
The late great Frank James must be turning in his
grave.
Yes, but did the elephant die?
They say that elephant’s never forget what goes around comes around if only we were as wise