Hospital picture tiles

Ding Dong Bell, Wellington Hospital

Hand-painted picture tiles were used to decorate hospitals and other healthcare institutions from the 1870s until the 1920s–30s when hospital designs and building materials changed. Many children's wards were decorated with panels of tiles of nursery rhymes and fairy tales which provided entertainment for sick children. A range of other subjects were depicted on tiles. Preservation of tiles as hospital buildings were renovated or demolished proved difficult and many picture tiles have been lost. Some hospitals in England and New Zealand have been able to preserve their tiles.

History

Tile making became a major industry in the United Kingdom in the Victorian period.[1] As infection control in hospitals began to be understood the use of tiles in hospital increased as their glazed surfaces could be easily cleaned.[1] One of the earliest known examples of hospital tiles was at the Stamford and Rutland Hospital's fever wards which opened in 1879.[2] Other early examples of tiling were at Ballymona Hospital, Isle of Man (c. 1878-80), Shrewsbury ENT Hospital (1881), Derbyshire Children’s Hospital (1883), Charing Cross Hospital (1890s), Paddington Green Children’s Hospital (1895), Birmingham General Infirmary (1897) and the Bedford Infirmary (1898).[2]

By end of the 19th century tile pictures of nursery rhymes, animals and fairy tales became popular in children's wards as a way of amusing and distracting sick children.[1][2]

There was a range of other subjects depicted on tiles. At Stamford and Rutland Hospital the tiles, executed by artist Alan Slater and manufactured by Minton Hollins, depicted men and women in agricultural activities such as harvesting, scything, apple picking and ploughing as well as skating in winter and a ploughman with horses.[3][4] Blue and white Delft tiles and heraldic panels of tiles decorated the walls and winter garden at Talygarn, a Welsh rehabilitation centre for injured miners.[5] The entrance to the Penkelly Residential Home in Hereford was decorated by tiles showing the four seasons.[6] At the Cardiff Royal Infirmary tiles depicted Welsh history and the coronation of King George V.[7] Art nouveau tiles of birds, flowers, trees and women made by Doulton decorated the proscenium arch of the recreation hall of St Nicholas Hospital in Gosforth.[8] Domestic and agricultural scenes were depicted in the Charing Cross Hospital tiles (later moved to the hospital in Fulham Palace Rd).[9] Wall tiles by Medmenham Pottery Co. were installed in the Hospital for Women in Soho Square[10] while tiled flooring was used at Coleshill Hospital[11] and the Radcliffe Infirmary.[12] Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were the subjects of tiles installed in the Princess Elizabeth Children's Ward at the King Edward Hospital in Ealing in 1935.[13][14]

During the 20th century hospital design changed and older hospitals were renovated or demolished. Electric lighting replaced large pavilion windows and hand painted tiles were replaced by easily cleaned surfaces such as linoleum, vinyl, Formica, cheaper plain ceramic tiles and glossy wall panels.[15] Hand-painted tiles were generally out of fashion by the 1940s.[16]

Manufacture and installation

Tiles were manufactured using the underglaze technique: making the tile, followed by hand painting, glazing and firing.[1] Most individual tiles measured 6 by 6 inches (15 cm × 15 cm) and were used to make up panels of pictures ranging in size from 6 by 12 inches (15 cm × 30 cm) to 10 by 8 feet (300 cm × 240 cm) panels.[1] Panels were commonly placed between the large pavilion windows in the hospital wards.[17][18] Occasionally tiles decorated complete walls.[1] The tiles were permanently fixed to the walls which presented problems later for their removal and preservation.[19]

Some tiles are signed by the artists or manufacturer.[1] Tile makers were Burmantofts, Leeds; Brown Westhead & Moore, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent; Carter & Co., Poole; Copeland & Sons, Stoke-on-Trent; Corn Bros., Tunstall; Craven Dunnill & Co., Jackfield, Shropshire; De Morgan, London and Merton; Doulton, Lambeth; Godwin, Hereford; Maw & Co., Broseley and Jackfield; Minton and Minton Hollins, Stoke-on-Trent; W.B. Simpson and Sons, London; The Medmenham Pottery Co., Marlow Common; Thynne, Hereford[1]

Preservation of tiles

Little Jack Horner, Havant Hospital

At the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle 56 nursery rhyme and fairy tale tiles, designed by artists William Rowe, J.H. McLennan and made by Doulton, were installed in the children's ward of the Royal Victoria Infirmary in 1906.[20] They were painted over in the 1950s but later uncovered. In 1993 when the children's ward was to be moved and turned into a geriatric ward the cost of moving them to the new children's ward was £240,000.[21]

Eight framed tile pictures were erected in the children’s ward of the Buchanan Hospital in St Leonard's on Sea (Hastings) in 1908 and later moved to the outpatients’ department. They were painted by Margaret Thompson of Doultons.[22] A tiled picture of the Virgin and Child was in the hospital chapel. [22] Six of the tiles were stolen from the outpatient department in 1995.[23] Some remaining tiles were later installed in the early 2000s in the Conquest Hospital which replaced the Buchanan.[24]

Tiles in the Bedford Hospital's children's ward, designed and painted by Philip H. Newman, date from 1898.[25] They were threatened with being covered up in 1997.[26] In 2019 a proposal by the hospital to move the tiles to a museum because of concerns about hygiene was rejected by the Bedford Council.[27][28] The twenty tiles remain on display in the hospital.[29]

At the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading the almost six foot high tiles were threatened with removal in 1996. The tiles, designed by Alfred Drury, were installed in 1912 in the King Edward VII children's ward.[30][31]

In 1985 Hartlepool nursery rhyme tiles, painted by Edward W. Ball of Maw & Co. and dating from 1926, were removed from the children's ward at St Hilda's Hospital, Hartlepool after it closed and moved by specialists to the Hartlepool General Hospital.[32][33][34]

Tiles depicting nursery rhymes, fairy tales and animals and birds dating from 1929 to 1935 were installed in the Alderman Thomas Parkinson Children’s Ward in the Princess Mary Wing of the Preston Infirmary.[35] When the infirmary closed in 1989 the nursery rhyme tiles were saved.[36]

Dick Whittington, St Thomas' Hospital

The two children's wards, named Lilian and Seymour, in St Thomas' Hospital in London opened in 1901 and 1903 and were decorated with fairy tale and nursery rhyme tiles.[37][38] The 25 Lilian tiles panels, measuring approximately 5 by 2 feet (152 cm × 61 cm), were designed by William Rowe.[39] The Seymour tiles were designed by William Rowe and Margaret Thomson and all were manufactured by Doultons.[38] They were met with approval from the Queen who on visiting the hospital in 1914 declared them to be "a splendid idea"[40] and a visiting American nurse who also praised them for providing pleasure for sick children.[41] Seymour Ward was demolished and the tiles resited in the new hospital; likewise Lilian Ward closed in the 1970s and a Doulton Tile Fund and the hospital trustees bore the cost of restoring and framing the tiles for display in the new hospital.[38]

Two hospitals in New Zealand have preserved their tiles. In Invercargill £220 was raised by a group of children called the Little Southlanders[42][43] for 38 tiles of nursery rhymes and Aesop's fables which were installed in the children's ward in Southland Hospital in 1937.[44][45][42] The tiles were designed and manufactured by H. & G. Thynne of Hereford, England.[46] In 2006 the first set of preserved tiles were reinstated in a hospital corridor and further sets in 2008.[45]

In Wellington the King Edward VII Hospital for children opened in 1912. [47] The hospital was decorated with 18 Doulton nursery rhyme tile murals which cost £817 at the time ($NZ150,000 in 2020).[47][48] In 1988 a new children's ward opened and the old hospital was demolished.[49] Although the tiles were destined for destruction with the building the decision was made to save them which presented considerable technical challenges as the tiles were cemented strongly to the unstable brick walls and columns.[48] The bricks around each panel of tiles had to be cut from the walls and then a thin layer of structural concrete was applied to the bricks to hold the bricks and panels in place.[48] Doulton were consulted on the removal and contributed towards the cost.[50] Although some panels did not survive the remaining ones were reinstated in the corridor between the Regional Hospital Buildings and Clinical Services Block.[50]

Selected locations of tiles

The following locations of hospital tiles were listed by Groome in his 1987 book[51] unless otherwise indicated.

British Isles

New Zealand

India

  • Ealing Hospital
    Ealing Hospital
  • Middlesex Hospital
    Middlesex Hospital
  • Wellington Hospital
    Wellington Hospital
  • Wellington Hospital
    Wellington Hospital
  • Tile from a London Hospital
    Tile from a London Hospital
  • Conquest Hospital
    Conquest Hospital
  • Conquest Hospital
    Conquest Hospital
  • Charing Cross Hospital
    Charing Cross Hospital
  • Havant Hospital
    Havant Hospital

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Greene 1987, p. xiii.
  2. ^ a b c Morrison 2015, p. 25.
  3. ^ Greene 1987, p. 55-56.
  4. ^ Morrison 2015, p. 20-25.
  5. ^ Greene 1987, p. 70-71.
  6. ^ Greene 1987, p. 17.
  7. ^ Greene 1987, p. 65-66.
  8. ^ Greene 1987, p. 50.
  9. ^ Greene 1987, p. 22.
  10. ^ Greene 1987, p. 45.
  11. ^ Greene 1987, p. 4.
  12. ^ Greene 1987, p. 51.
  13. ^ Greene 1987, p. 25-26.
  14. ^ "Carters Tiles". The Virtual Museum of Poole Pottery. Retrieved 2026-02-13.
  15. ^ Barclay 2015, p. 123-124.
  16. ^ Barclay 2015, p. 125.
  17. ^ Barclay 2015, p. 120.
  18. ^ "Children in the children's ward of Wellington Hospital". natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2026-02-13.
  19. ^ Barclay 2015, p. 123.
  20. ^ Greene 1987, p. 46-49.
  21. ^ Haran, Sean (17 August 1993). "Writing on the wall for tiles". Newcastle Journal. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  22. ^ a b Greene 1987, p. 14-15.
  23. ^ "90-year-old nursery rhyme tiles snatched". Hastings and St Leonards Observer. 13 October 1995. p. 9 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  24. ^ "Tiles safe at the Conquest". Hastings and St Leonards Observer. 3 September 2004. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  25. ^ Greene 1987, p. 2-3.
  26. ^ "No rhyme or reason". Bedfordshire Times and Independent. 16 October 1997. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  27. ^ "Bedford Hospital nursery rhyme tiles proposal is 'cultural vandalism'". BBC. 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2026-02-13.
  28. ^ "Bedford Hospital nursery rhyme tiles removal rejected". BBC. 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2026-02-13.
  29. ^ Roffe, Erica (2020-09-15). "Historic 'Victoria Ward tiles' information board unveiled at Bedford Hospital". Bedford Independent. Retrieved 2026-02-13.
  30. ^ "Lamenting a blight on the tiles". Reading Evening Post. 28 August 1996. p. 9 – via British Newspaper Article.
  31. ^ Greene 1987, p. 54.
  32. ^ "Nursery rhyme tiles saved from hospital". Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail. 24 April 1985. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  33. ^ "Brewery given children's ward plaque". Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail. 3 August 1993. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  34. ^ Greene 1987, p. 13-14.
  35. ^ Greene 1987, p. 53.
  36. ^ "Council fears for future of historic hospital". Wigan Evening Post. 14 August 1989. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  37. ^ "St Thomas's Hospital". South London Press. 8 June 1901. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  38. ^ a b c Greene 1987, p. 40-42.
  39. ^ Greene 1987, p. 42-43.
  40. ^ "Nursery rhyme tiles". London Daily Chronicle. 4 March 1914. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  41. ^ Powell, Florence M. (April 1905). "Children's Wards in St. Thomas's Hospital, London" (PDF). The American Journal of Nursing. 5 (7): 433–434 – via JSTOR.
  42. ^ a b Greene 1987, p. 76-77.
  43. ^ "Bright bazaar". Southland Times. 29 August 1936. p. 8. Retrieved 13 February 2026.
  44. ^ "Nursery rhymes in the children's ward". Southland Times. 19 March 1937. p. 11. Retrieved 13 February 2026.
  45. ^ a b "Restored nursery rhyme tiles reappear at Southland Hospital". Southland Times. 26 January 2008. pp. A7 – via Press Reader.
  46. ^ "The nursery rhyme tiles". Southland Times. 19 March 1937. p. 10. Retrieved 13 February 2026.
  47. ^ a b "Wellington Children's Hospital". Te Ara. 2018. Retrieved 2026-02-13.
  48. ^ a b c "Saving the Royal Doulton Tiles – WMHS". Wellington Medical Historical Society. Retrieved 2026-02-13.
  49. ^ "Longer term planning. Inside the Childrens' [sic] Hospital". ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2026-02-13.
  50. ^ a b "Royal Doulton Tiles – WMHS". Wellington Medical Historical Society. Retrieved 2026-02-13.
  51. ^ Greene 1987, p. v-vii.
  52. ^ Bennett, F.O. (1962). Hospital on the Avon : The History of the Christchurch Hospital, 1862-1962. Christchurch [N.Z.]: North Canterbury Hospital Board. p. 136. OCLC 8166170.
  53. ^ "Christchurch Hospital Notes". Kai Tiaki: the journal of the nurses of New Zealand. IV (3): 135. 1 July 1911.
  54. ^ "Mrs J.M. Forrester's generosity". Otago Daily Times. 19 May 1937. p. 12 – via Papers Past.

Bibliography

Further reading


English pottery

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