58 Queen Anne Street
The British College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists was founded in September 1929 by Professor William Blair-Bell and Sir William Fletcher Shaw. For the next 3 years, as Officers and Members of Council were elected, Fellows and Members admitted, Committees met, and reports to the Ministry of Health prepared, all the office work was done from 20 St John St, Manchester, in rooms provided by Fletcher Shaw. Miss Winefride Mallon was appointed Secretary to the College in 1931.
The College always intended to have a permanent London headquarters. The first president, Blair-Bell, said “It has long been felt – indeed, I have referred to the matter at every annual meeting – that until the College is suitably housed in London, those who are not well-wishers may regard us as an itinerant show, rather than a stable institution”, and described the role of this College House as
“a meeting place - a centre - in which we shall all take a pride, and to which we shall all bring offerings, if only a book, a piece of antique furniture, or some other of those things that go to make such a place not only useful but beautiful”
Thanks to an anonymous (at the time) donation of £5,650 by Blair-Bell, and ongoing donations from Lord Riddell, 58 Queen Anne Street was bought in 1932. Blair Bell devoted much time and thought to the furnishing of the Library and Council Chamber, paying several visits to Bath where the seats, tables and so on were made. The house was decorated throughout in green and ecru. On the ground floor was the Council Chamber, with its carved Presidential chair, a room for the President, and the secretarial department. Most of the first floor was occupied by the library with its mahogany bookcases and tables although there was also “suitable accommodation for ladies”. The books for the Library were to arrive gradually, many donated by Fellows and Members while others came from the collections of Professor Roy Dobbin.
The house was at first too large for the needs of the College, so the top two floors were rented out to provide an income.
The building was officially opened by the Duchess of York (later H M the Queen Mother), accompanied by the Duke of York on December 5, 1932. About a month before the opening ceremony, the safety of the Library floor, where the ceremony was to take place was called into question, and extra iron girders were found to be needed. On the day itself, every seat in the Library was occupied, as were reserved seats in the Council Room and the President’s and Secretaries Rooms, where loudspeakers relayed the proceedings. The Minister of Health, the Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons, the Master of the Society of Apothecaries, and Lord Riddell, were among those present.
In 1933 almost all meetings of Council and the Committees were held at Queen Anne Street, and the House was frequently visited by overseas Fellows and Members. A notice of gynaecological operations to be performed in London hospitals was posted daily on the College Notice Board. By 1934, three clerks were employed.
Blair-Bell died in 1936, and under the terms of his will the loan for the purchase of College House was written off. Provision was also made to extend the lease to 999 years, establish a reading room, writing room and Committee room on the second floor, and convert the third floor to a flat to be the residence of a male Librarian and Superintendent. A Fellow, Dr DW Roy, was appointed in 1937, and the President, Sir Ewen McLean, said “We are not entirely satisfied with the title, but that is having further consideration.” After the war it was decided that as an honest attempt had been made to meet the terms of the will and conditions were so altered by the war, that no other resident librarian need be appointed. Part of the flat was then converted for use of the President.
Also in 1937, the development of the Pathological Museum began, to be used principally for examinations, but also as a teaching centre. Many slides and specimens, as well as microscopes were donated, and a sherry party was held in February 1939 to launch the museum to teachers and medical schools. On the outbreak of war microscopes and specimens were removed to the basement for safety, but following frequent requests to use the museum, it was partially re-opened.
Valuable books and other small articles were placed in the vaults of the bank, and oil paintings and prints were removed from the walls and stored in the basement. Later, the most valuable furniture was sent away to Surrey. An air-raid shelter for the 9 people working and resident in the building was made in the corridor in the basement, strengthened by protective sandbags. In 1941, a nearby explosion brought down a ceiling and produced a deep crack along the whole depth of the outer wall. The buildings of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons were more severely damaged by bombing. A proposal for all three Colleges to move to a common site was considered, but ultimately did not progress.
By the early 1950s, the College had outgrown the Queen Anne Street premises. The Library was almost filled to capacity during postgraduate lectures, and lectures by overseas visitors were oversubscribed. More space was also needed to develop the museum, and the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire (now know as BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology) had come into College ownership, needing more office space. The decision was made in 1952 to move to larger premises, and detailed plans for a new building in Regents Park drawn up as a basis for a Building Fund Appeal. The sale particulars for Queen Anne Street, prepared in 1958, describe it as “An attractive period house of large dimensions. There is an electric lift for four persons to the third floor, also full central heating and hot water with coke fired boilers.” The Presidents room, two typists’ offices and a filing office were by now on the third floor, with a caretaker’s flat on the fourth floor. [RCOG Archives: Reference RCOG/G1/2]
Queen Anne Street was sold to the National Marriage Guidance Council in 1960, and the last time it changed hands was in 2002, for £3.2million. A recent photograph shows the building looking pretty much the same as it did in the 1930s. It is now office space for several companies.
Decisions and Fundraising
A charming Georgian house nestled within London’s medical community, Queen Anne Street was so embedded in the hearts of Fellows and Members, that the decision to move, and the quest to find somewhere that would live up to expectation, took over ten years to effect. With the recognition that space for increased staff, for the unique museum, and for the ever popular lectures was essential, the Council did not hesitate to enter into talks discussing a joint college site with the Royal College of Surgeons and Royal College of Physicians. This culminated in an offer to the College from the RCS in November 1946 to share their accommodation in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. [Finance and Executive Committee papers, Archive Reference; RCOG/G1/7]. Council turned this down, determined that all three medical colleges should unite or otherwise stay independent. A later decision by the RCP not to move from their site in Pall Mall, prompted Council to decide by 1952 to seek out a new home of their own.
But where to look? A memorandum by the College Honorary Secretary, HGE Arthure, in March 1952 stated that the search should not be restricted to the Harley Street area. Indeed, costs could be reduced if a site were found in 'the immediate surroundings of Regent's Park'. [Memorandum to the Finance and Executive Committee, Archive Reference: RCOG/G1/7/1]. Sites were considered at 76/78 Portland Place, 21 Devonshire Place, and 37/38 Wimpole Street. In December 1953, Council visited the site occupied by Sussex Lodge at 27 Sussex Place. The visit to this triangular piece of land set among trees facing the lake in the Outer Circle of Regent's Park provoked mixed reactions among Council members, and a flurry of excitement and outrage among Fellows and Members. A letter from the Harley Street obstetrician, Alistair Gunn, written to the President on 3 December 1954, proclaimed that 'I know I share with many members of the College the conviction that the Council is making a serious mistake in proceeding with the plan to build the new College buildings in Upper Baker Street' [Archive Reference: RCOG/G1/7/1].
Council were not swayed: a decision was made in March 1953 to purchase a site for the new College, the construction of which was priced at £100,000. The site at 76/78 Portland Place proved too difficult to adapt; Sussex Place offered a good alternative, and negotiations for the lease began in Spring 1953.
Sussex Lodge
Sussex Lodge was built by William Smith on a design by the celebrated John Nash, and it had been in the hands of the family of Francis Grant, President of the Royal Academy, since he purchased it from the Earl of Bective in 1840. Ownership passed to Lord Wavertree, horse breeder and owner of Derby winner 'Minory', in the 1880s. Subsequently it was a hospital for wounded officers during the First World War, and the scene of charity professional tennis matches, with the likes of the celebrated French tennis player and first female tennis celebrity, Miss Suzanne Lenglen, in attendance. Abandoned in 1933, bombed during the Second World War and then home to the bombed-out Zoology Department of Bedford College between 1944 and 1952, the Lodge was transferred into the hands of the College at a quarter rent of £100, which included the services of a resident caretaker, Mr George Tollman [Archive Reference: RCOG/G1/7/2].
College Appeals for Funds
The decision was made, the site found and Council had even found the architect and the plans to suit the College's requirements (more on this below); now to find the money. Council had already considered appealing for funds in October 1944 [Archive Reference: RCOG/F8/2], and by 24 November 1945 a draft of an appeal for funds was decided upon: 'The President said that he felt there were benefactors who would be willing to give very generous support to the College, but that it was difficult to know how to find them and capture their interest' [Council Minutes, Archive Reference: RCOG/A2/M/4]. At the same time, Malcolm Donaldson, Fellow and Chairman of the Examination Committee and Hospital Recognition Committee, wrote to the President, Sir Eardley Holland, that 'Personally, I think we are fully justified in begging. This would make our problem much simpler'. [Archive Reference: RCOG/F8/2]
On 14 May 1947 an appeal was officially launched to the Council Club, headed by Lieutenant General Sir Ronald Weeks (Chairman of engineering company, Vickers, and an important member of the Imperial General Staff in Germany at the end of the Second World War). Made public in November 1949, the appeal aimed to raise £400,000 for a new home for the College, with a brochure focussing on the nation's belief in the sanctity of home and the mother and highlighting the College's history and its important role in reducing maternal mortality [Archive Reference: RCOG/F36/1]. A further appeal was made in 1954 to coincide with the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the College; by this time negotiations were already under way for the Sussex Place site and initial drawings and plans had been drawn up. A Building Fund appeal was made soon after construction on the Sussex Place building had begun in 1957, suggesting that specific donations be made for 'non-essential' items such as panelling for the Nuffield Hall and Council Chambers, and museum and laboratory equipment. The ladies were quick to lend their assistance - headed by the formidable trio of Hilda Lloyd, Louise McIlroy and Louisa Martindale, a Ladies' Sub-committee was formed in December 1949. The highlight of their efforts came with a luncheon held at Queen Anne Street on 17 May 1950 attended by important benefactors, such as the wife of the Prime Minister, Violet Attlee. [Finance and Executive Committee Records of Appeals, Archive Reference: RCOG/F8/6].
Details of the success of the appeals can be found in the large financial ledgers held in the College Archive. By 1960, the Appeal Fund had drawn in £60,000; the Silver Jubilee Fund amounted to £280,000, and significant donations had been made by the Wellcome Trust and by Lord Nuffield - but therein lies another story….
Lords, Plans, Architects and Builders
From the outset, the project to develop a new headquarters for the College was restricted by financial considerations: rumours that the architect Frank Lloyd Wright was too expensive for the College may be true or false, but proceedings with the chosen architect, Louis de Soissons and partners seemed always to have an emphasis on costs and prices. Louis de Soissons was selected by Council on the recommendation of the eminent architect, Sir Lancelot Keay, who in a letter of 4 March 1953 stated that his work was ‘excellent and his detail most refined’ [Archive Reference: RCOG/G1/7/1, Papers of the College Secretary: building maintenance]. De Soissons presented Council with a fine list of completed commissions, which included the new Foreign Office in Carlton House Terrace; the town centre at Welwyn Garden City; Cheltenham College; a memorial dining hall at Magdalene College, Cambridge; and the architectural and garden layout of 46 cemeteries in Italy and Greece for the Imperial War Graves Commission, including the Memorial to the Missing at Cassino.
Charles Read, later to be President of the College, was appointed as liaison officer between the College and the architect in August 1953, and in a letter to Sir Arthur Gemmell, President, he described de Soissons as ‘keen as mustard on the project’ and reassured him that he had ‘stressed the fact that we have to get good value for money and that initially we cannot indulge in super panelling finishes to the public rooms’ [Archive Reference: RCOG/G1/5, Papers of the College Secretary: building maintenance].
But if de Soissons had to pay constant reference to the College’s budget, he also had to work to a very definite ‘wish-list’ of requirements for the new building, which had been drawn up by Fellows, Members, staff, and overseas Members. This list, submitted to the Finance and Executive Committee in March 1952, advocated a large hall, museum and library facilities, and included such comments as ‘a hall of noble proportions, worthy of housing the portraits of presidents’ and ‘facilities for advanced special lectures’, with overseas members asking for accommodation when visiting London.
And if that wasn’t enough, he also had to contend with Viscount Nuffield! The College needed funds, and although negotiations with the Wellcome Trust eventually resulted in a £30,000 grant for a research museum, a slump in the City meant that the 1947 Appeal was slow in bringing in the necessary funds needed to construct the new building. Sir John Stallworthy, Fellow of the College, was asked by the President, Sir William Gilliatt, to approach Lord Nuffield for financial backing, which he did despite personal reservations at such a move. Sir John later described the negotiations with Nuffield between January and September 1955, which were successful in obtaining a very generous personal donation of £75,000, to be added to a further £50,000 given by the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals’ Trust [Archive Reference: RCOG/A8/4/5, letter of Sir John Stallworthy to the College Secretary, August 1989]. The donation came with a caveat: the original plans drawn up by de Soissons were subject to alterations ‘suggested’ by his Lordship, with emphasis on a new wing of the building to include an assembly hall, research section, museum and library. The assembly hall was to be known as Nuffield Assembly Hall, with the whole building to be known as the Nuffield College, although the Royal Charter made it essential that the name of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists was to be first in the formal address. This prompted a string of letters expressing the outrage of Fellows and Members, with James Riddell stating ‘Better to be poor than to sell ourselves and spoil the Royal style and title of the College’ [letter to the President, 20 October 1955, Archive Reference: RCOG/G1/7/2] and Dr Douglas Miller putting forward the view that it was extremely improper for a donation to be accepted which ‘committed the College to the indignity of having been bought in this way’ [letter to the President, 21 October 1955, Archive Reference: RCOG/G1/7/2]. Sir Arthur Gemmell must have felt some misapprehension at receiving a letter from Sir William Fletcher Shaw, former President and joint-founder of the College, on 4 October 1955 in which he stated that he did ‘not rejoice at Lord Nuffield’s gift’ and saw it as the gift of one ‘who refused to help us in our early days [and] now comes forward when the college is an established institution and buys a perpetual memorial for half its cost…It will be a disaster if the Officers and Council of the future are driven to think chiefly of finance’ [Archive Reference: RCOG/S34/74/3, Papers of Sir William Fletcher Shaw]. In fact, the matter was not formally discussed again until the building was near completion. In the minutes of a meeting of the Building Committee held in September 1959 it is recorded that there was discussion of how Nuffield’s name was to be attached to the new building, and a decision was made that the name ‘Nuffield College’ should appear on a small plaque on the College gate. Despite objections from Sir Arthur Gemmell and Professor Chassar Moir in early 1960, the decision was implemented, and the plaque is still there today.
1955 was not a good time to start building – de Soissons told the President in September 1955 that ‘Prices generally…are much harder due to the fact that there is a great deal of building work going on with the result that building tenders are not nearly so keen as they might be’. The quantity surveyor estimated that the building could be erected for £227,000, with an additional £30,000 if the whole building were to be faced in Portland Stone [Archive Reference: RCOG/G1/12]. A contractor was chosen by tender in September 1957 – J Gerrard & Sons Ltd, who submitted the lowest tender at £337,000 to be completed over 104 weeks, and they began work in November 1957 (despite the fact that the College was still haggling over the procedures to be followed and trying to get an assurance from the architects that the tender cost would not be exceeded) [Archive Reference: RCOG/G1/13].
Final plans showed that the building would be ‘of load bearing construction, that is brick walls with concrete floors and piers. The exterior brickwork will be of fine hand made sand faced Silver Grey bricks, with Portland Stone base and cornices and dressings. The roofs will be of copper…The main entrance doors will be of hardwood in bronze frames. Windows generally will be double hung sashes painted white. Window balconies and railings will be in wrought iron’ [note of de Soissons, January 1957, Archive Reference: RCOG/G1/8, papers of the College Secretary: building maintenance]. The Foundation Laying Ceremony took place on 6 November 1957, attended by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and included the placing of a casket beneath the foundation stone, containing copies of the College’s 1929 Articles of Association, the College’s Royal Charter, and the first College seal, and an annual report for the College for 1956. By September 1958 the ground floor of the administrative block had been constructed ‘and it was possible to see the shape of the finished building’ and by March 1959 it was reported to the Building Committee that the roofing and staircases were nearly complete, and window frames were being fixed in place, as were preliminary fittings for gas, telephones and the lifts. Walnut panelling had been agreed for the Assembly Hall, and Dame Hilda Lloyd’s suggestion of a stained glass window in the Council Chamber has been accepted [Archive Reference: RCOG/T3, Building Committee Minutes, meeting number BG12]. Further discussion about chairs (donated by Fellows and Members and bearing inscriptions), portraits (Lord Nuffield’s and the painting commissioned by the celebrated artist Terence Cuneo), carpets, terrazzo flooring, the transformer house, fire regulations, and trees occupied the months leading to the summer of 1960. The National Marriage Guidance Council were applying pressure to gain possession of the lease of 58 Queen Anne Street, and Miss Mallon declared that the Sussex Place site should be free of workmen before the move took place; Council fretted about the final cost of the build, and de Soisson struggled to achieve his visions for ‘a worthy building for your College’ – would all be ready for the planned royal opening ceremony in July 1960?
The opening ceremony
In July 1960, after many years of intensive fundraising, planning and construction, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists celebrated the opening of its new building. Such was the sense of passion and importance to the College that no less than three days of festivities were planned, commencing with the formal opening ceremony by Her Majesty on 13th July, followed by a two day scientific conference to be garnished with a reception for Fellows, Members, Officers from other Royal Colleges and friends of the College on the 14th and a banquet for the evening of the 15th. All of this was to be complemented (as was the tradition of the time) by a concurrent program of social activities ‘for the ladies’. The program must have been full indeed for those who were both a Fellow and a lady!
The opening of new premises provided an opportunity for proud reflection on how far obstetrics and gynaecology had come under the tutelage of the College. In a historical note written for inclusion in the souvenir programme the President, Andrew Claye, noted that previously the specialty had been ‘the Cinderella of the three sister subjects of the final qualifying examination, like Cinderella the most neglected, but as you know, the most attractive one’. [Archive Reference: G1/18, Invitations and Programmes Relating to the Opening Ceremony – Programme for the opening of the new building by Her Majesty the Queen]
Excitement from across the Commonwealth was such that demand for tickets for the opening ceremony vastly outstripped supply, requiring an overflow area to be set up in the museum area (now the reception hall) from where those unable to fit into the Nuffield Hall could watch proceedings via colour close circuit television.
If all this seems very modern, the event itself tended strongly toward the old world high ceremony, with Fellows and Members clad exclusively in gowns. With a weather eye for the expected media coverage, it had always been Council’s strong view that this was the desirable method of showing the College in its pomp. In March 1960, when it became apparent that demand from the membership for tickets was stronger than anticipated, Council took the precaution of instructing those unable to obtain a College gown to attire themselves in University robes. [Archives Reference: A2M/8 – Minutes of the Council, 26th March 1960]
Of the spectacle on the day itself, it was recorded in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire that ‘by 2pm the forecourt of the new college was a scene of bustling activity...the varying hues of the ladies’ dresses gave colour to the scene, and on this occasion the male half of the assembly vied with them’. [Archives Reference: G1/17: Correspondence and Papers Concerning the Opening Ceremony] Reflecting a very conscious international focus, guests from across the Commonwealth were seated prominently throughout the hall and represented in the formal processions of dignitaries preceding the Queen’s arrival.
Upon arrival in the Nuffield Hall, Her Majesty was welcomed by the President Andrew Claye who expressed the wish that the new College building ‘be the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual urge that will continue to generate advances in Obstetrics and Gynaecology throughout the British Commonwealth’. [Archives Reference: G1/18: Invitations and Programmes Related to the Opening Ceremony – Text of President’s Speech]
In praising the advances in Obstetrics occasioned by the foundation of the College, Her Majesty drew on the recent birth of Prince Andrew in borrowing from Wordsworth the notion that ‘our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting’.[Archives Reference: G1/17a, Correspondence concerning the opening of the new building by the Queen, reprint of speech] We can only assume that by this she meant the young Prince’s experience of it, rather than her own!
The speeches concluded with the Honorary Treasurer, Sir John Peel presenting a gift to Her Majesty of two editions of the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. One was exquisitely bound and embossed with the College crest ‘for Sunday use’, the other ‘to gratify those destructive instincts inherent, I suspect, even in small princes’. [Archives Reference: G1/18: – ‘Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists: Opening of the New Building’: Reprinted from the Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology of the British Empire – Vol LXVII No 5 October 1960].
The ceremonial formalities concluded, Her Majesty was paraded through the museum area downstairs to provide a proper glimpse to those relegated to following the ceremony on TV, before taking tea with the Officers and their wives. Immediately prior to her departure she unveiled the memorial stone noting the event, to the right of the main entrance.
On the two days following the opening, celebrations continued with a scientific meeting including an evening reception for Members, Fellows, friends and donors on the evening of the 14th at Senate House, University of London. No anecdotal records exist for the evening, however, the menu and programme for the evening indicate a positively alarming number of toasts, so perhaps it is best to infer that no doubt a fine evening was had by all and a number of suitably bleary eyes may have been in evidence at the scientific meeting the next day.
The festivities concluded with a banquet of traditional fare on the evening of the 15th at the Guildhall. More than 600 Fellows, Members and friends were to attend.
In preparing for the banquet it was noted in a memorandum issued to those tasked with preparations that ventilation at the Guildhall was ‘not good’. This matter was of sufficient concern that it was recorded under a distinct heading in bold lettering. However, such trifling matters were not to be permitted to interfere with having a good time and post dinner cigars were to be served regardless. [Archives Reference: G1/17, Correspondence and Papers concerning the opening ceremony: Memorandum on Banquet at Guildhall].
Ambiance was to be further enhanced by a selection of light classics and contemporary musical theatre numbers as provided by the band of the Royal Army Medical Corps. [Archives Reference: G1/18: Invitations and programmes relating to the opening ceremony: Programme for banquet at Guildhall, Friday 15th July 1960].
Health and safety was not completely neglected however. Should the smoke, music or general joie de vie prove too much, the London Branch of the Red Cross would be on hand. It is not recorded whether, in the event, their services were required....
By
Elaine Garrett, Reader Services Librarian
Penny Bonning, Assistant Archivist & Records Manager
Peter Bode, Records Manager & Archivist
Information Services Department
