Hospitals | Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council

Prior to the 20th century, medical care for the poor was provided by dispensaries and voluntary hospitals funded by charitable donations and public subscriptions. The poor were also treated in workhouses, many of which had no separate infirmary. Conditions did, however, improve considerably by the turn of the century and separate union infirmaries became more common. With the abolition of the Boards of Guardians in 1929 union infirmaries came under the control of the health committees of county and county borough councils. These authorities and the earlier local sanitary authorities had already become involved in the running of isolation hospitals, sanatoriums, etc under the terms of the Public Health Act 1875 and the 1911 National Insurance Act. In 1948 responsibility for all local authority and most voluntary hospitals was vested in the National Health Service.

Links to online catalogues of holdings:

Alston: Ruth Lancaster James Cottage Hospital, Alston

Appleby: St Anne's Hospital

Barrow-in Furness: North Lonsdale Hospital

Blencathra Isolation Hospital

Brampton Cottage Hospital

Carlisle City General Hospital

For Carlisle City Maternity Hospital, George Street and Fusehill Street, Carlisle Fever Hospital, please contact Carlisle Archive Centre

Carlisle: Cumberland Infirmary

Carlisle: Garlands Mental Hospital

Carlisle Infectious Diseases Hospital (formerly Carlisle Smallpox Hospital)

Carlisle: Strathclyde House