Alice Memorial Hospital 1987.png

Fri, 01/14/2022 - 00:58

Alice Memorial Hospital 1938. As readers suggested, the year posted on the Nestersole hospital web site is wrong. Looking more carefully at the characters on its wall and above the entrance, they suggest the photo was taken in 1987. See comments.

Date picture taken
1987
Author(s)

Comments

Isn't that high rise in the background Bonham Court ? If so, I very much doubt this is a picture from 1938.

I'm fairly certain that 20+ storey residential high rises were not a thing in Hong Kong in 1938 and I would be very surprised if they appeared any earlier than the 1960s.

Bonham Court was built in 1990, so the photograph must be within the past 30 years or so.

the website simtang links to specifically says the picture was taken in 1938. It's just very poor research on their behalf. The obvious anachronisms in the background should have been a red flag to anyone.

There are the chinese characters on the wall "Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital" which is the new name of the hospital after merging 3 different hospitals together in 1954. The board above the main entrance says 100th anniversary which means 1987. 1887 is the year the hospital touted as the founding of the hospital when the Alice memorial hospital was built.

The photograph shows the East Wing which was opened by H.E. Sir David Trench on the 11th December 1967. The whole cost was donated by the Royal HK Jockey Club.

Source: The book 'A Hospital for Hong Kong' by Dr E.H. Paterson. Published to commemorate the centenary of the founding in 1887 of the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital. The book is bilingual and The Helena May have a copy.

According to a news report, the hospital built a new east wing in 1967. The Alice memorial hospital in 1921 moved next to Nethersol hospital on the east side of it. It is possible it was rebuilt in 1967 into the building shown in the above picture.

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1967-12-12 new east wing nethersol.png
1967-12-12 new east wing nethersol.png, by simtang

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As Simtang mentions, the 1967 East Wing was built next to the Nethersole Hospital, 2nd generation. It can be just seen in the photograph on the West (right hand) side. According to 'A Hospital for Hong Kong', see 'East Wing' message above, the Nethersole Hosptal, 2nd generation was opened on the 7th January 1938 by Governor Sir Geoffrey Northcote. This is probably the source of the date error on the website.

Ian