Leeds nostalgia: Cache of 4,050 images includes Leeds hospitals before the birth of the NHS

The fascinating collection, is made of black and white images dating from 1938 to 1943, including many from Leeds.

The caption on the back of the first image (top), dated, March 3, 1941, reads: “St. James’ Hospital, Leeds. Picture shows the first-class sterilising equipment in the new operating theatre block.”

An underground operating theatre and casualty station were opened at St James’ Hospital in September 1940. The improvements were part of an improvement scheme which had cost over £100,000 and had taken three years to complete.

The second image shows student nurses in a bed-making class, at the Nurses’ Training School at St James’ Hospital, Beckett Street, Leeds and was taken on March 6, 1941.

The caption on the reverse of reads: “Training nurses at Leeds. Picture shows nurses at a bed-making class in the miniature ward attached to the school.”

A nurses’ training school – along with a mortuary, improved antenatal department, laboratories, operating theatre, and staff accommodation was established at St James’ Hospital following appropriation of the poor law institution by the city in 1934. The extensions and improvements were completed in 1940.

Duncan Wilson, Historic England’s chief executive, said: “The archive is full of countless gems but the Topical Press Agency images are particularly striking... They have the potential to expand our knowledge of wartime medical practice and revolutionary treatments and help us delve deeper into the history of healthcare.”

View the archive at historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/new/topical-press-agency-medical-collection