• General information about medical records. 
• Many records are held by the RBA but some are un-catalogued.  For catalogued records, use TNA's Discovery advanced search and include "Berkshire Record Office" in the "Exact word or phrase" field, in addition to your own search term(s).   
• Early Medical Services : Berkshire and South Oxfordshire from 1740, by Railton, Margaret. Polmood Publications, 1994, available from Reading Central Library.   A history of medical treatment for the poor, from the Old Poor Law in 18th C to health care under the New Poor Law from 1834, with the development of hospitals, dispensaries and medical societies on which the NHS was built.
• Hospitals
  • The Index of English and Welsh Lunatic Asylums and Mental Hospitals, based on a comprehensive survey in 1844, and extended to other asylums.  
  • Care and Compassion: Old Prints and Photographs of Hospitals and Nurses in Berkshire and South Oxfordshire 1839-1930. Published by the Heritage Centre.  ISBN 0 9539417 0 1. Available from Berkshire FHS and Reading Central Library.  Covers the following hospitals: Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading; Maidenhead General Hospital; Newbury District Hospital; King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor; Speen Cottage Hospital; Wallingford Cottage Hospital; Royal Victoria Cottage Hospital, South Ascot; Henley War Memorial Hospital; Broadmoor; Berkshire County Mental Hospital; Peppard Sanatorium; Pinewood Sanatorium; Cold Ash Children's Hospital; Heatherwood Hospital; London and Ascot Convalescent Hospital; St Andrew's Convalescent Hospital, Clewer; Wallingford Isolation Hospital; Maidenhead Isolation Hospital; Hungerford Isolation Hospital; Cippenham Isolation Hospital; Park Hospital, Reading; Workhouse Infirmaries: Eton, Windsor, Bradfield, Wallingford, Wokingham, Newbury, Reading, Easthampstead, Maidenhead, Hungerford; various temporary War Hospitals in WW1.
  • Early Medical Services. Berkshire and South Oxfordshire from 1740. Margaret Railton.
  • Leonard and John Joyce: Surgeons of Reading and Newbury. Marshall Barr and Lionel Williams.
  • Abingdon:
    • Marcham Road Hospital, founded in about 1897 as Abingdon Joint Hospital for Infectious Diseases, later known as Abingdon Joint Isolation Hospital.
    • The Warren Cottage Hospital became part of the NHS in 1948, closed in July 1968, reopened in February 1969, closed finally in 1977 and the building sold in 1984.
  • Ascot:
    • Royal Victoria Cottage Hospital, South Ascot opened 1898 to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, later used housing and training nurses, then closed and land sold for housing.
    • Heatherwood Hospital opened 1923 for the benefit of ex-servicemen and dependents, became a general hospital in 1934.
    • London and Ascot Convalescent Hospital (aka Ascot Priory) opened in 1863, after 1947, became a private nursing home.
  • Binfield Park Hospital, Binfield was built in 1775 for the splendidly named Onesiphorus Elliot, became a military hospital in the Second World War and from 1949 to 2000 an NHS hospital.   The building has since been converted into housing.
    • Records are held by the RBA (ref. D/H9).  
    • British Listed Buildings.  
  • Borocourt Hospital was built in 1870s as Wyfold Court, a private house for Edward Herman, converted to a hospital for mental defectives in 1930, closed in 1993.  The Grade II listed building was converted into flats and houses.
  • Broadmoor Hospital, Crowthorne was Britain's first criminal lunatic asylum. The original buildings have been closed and a new hospital of the same name built on 2019 on the same site.
    • Historic archives are held by the RBA, including some inmates' stories (Edward Oxford, Richard Dadd, Christiana Edmunds, William Chester Minor, Henry Dodwell)
    • Broadmoor: A History of Criminal Lunacy and its Problems, Ralph Partridge, 1953, available from Reading Central Library.  
    • Broadmoor Revealed, Mark Stevens (RBA archivist), ISBN: 9781781593202, includes chapters on inmates Edward Oxford, Richard Dadd, William Chester Minor.  Available from Reading Central Library, Berkshire FHS and Amazon.  Listen to a podcast of his talk, 50 mins.  
    • Life in the Victorian Asylum, Mark Stevens (RBA archivist), ISBN 9781781593738, 2014,  describes why county asylums were built, the sort of people they housed and the treatments they received.  See review in Berkshire Family Historian, June 2015, Vol 38, page 30.  
    • Research guide from Berkshire FHS.  
    • Article about inmate Emma Greenwood in Berkshire Family Historian, June 2011, Vol 34, page 27.  
    • Interpreting Mental Health Records article in Berkshire Family Historian, Dec 2006, Vol 30, page 12.    
    • BBC article.  
    • Inside Broadmoor - TV documentary, 2002, 47 mins.  
    • Wikipedia.  
  • Church Hill House Hospital, Bracknell, based in the former Easthampstead Workhouse, records are held by the RBA (ref. D/H8), including the admissions register, 1929-1933.
  • Cippenham Isolation Hospital built in early 1900s, rebuilt over the years, closed early 1950s.
  • St Andrew’s Convalescent Hospital, Clewer, built in the 1866, closed and demolished in 1954, archives are held by the RBA, including photographs of several wards (ref. D/EX2183).
  • Cold Ash Children's Hospital founded in 1886, moved to new building in 1892, closed in 1963 and site sold for development.
  • Fair Mile Hospital, Moulsford - was opened in 1870 for 285 patients as the Moulsford Asylum, Cholsey, later became the Berkshire County Mental Hospital, Fairmile.  Now closed and converted into housing.
    • Records are held by the RBA (ref. D/H10), including burials.  Lost casebooks for 1884-1924 have recently been found (ref. D/EZ181).   See their gallery. 
    • County Asylums website provides details, photos and history.
    • Nursing at the Fairmile Mental Hospital, Cholsey, 1935-1939 by Mary Fairbairn Macintyre, 2013, Berkshire Medical Heritage Centre.  A memoir of a student nurse in the 1930s.  Available from Berkshire FHS.  See review in Berkshire Family Historian, June 2015, Vol 38, page 31.  
    • Berkshire FHS have limited information online
    • Fair Mile Hospital: a Victorian Asylum, Ian Wheeler, the History Press, 2015. A comprehensive history of the facility from 1870 to 2010.  See review in Berkshire Family Historian, Sept. 2015, Vol 39, page 33.  
    • Research guide from Berkshire FHS.  
  • Henley War Memorial Hospital built in 1923 to commemorate the 339 local men who died in WW1, closed 1984 and land sold for redevelopment.
  • Hungerford Isolation Hospital  used in WW1, demolished in 1940s.
  • Littlemore Hospital, Oxfordshire, provided care to Berkshire residents between 1847 and 1870. 
    • Brief history from Oxfordshire Health Archives. 
    • 1841 - 1948 archives are held by the Oxfordshire History Centre.  
  • Maidenhead hospitals: 
    • Maidenhead General Hospital, also known as St Lukes, opened 1879 as a cottage hospital for 8 patients, built and maintained by voluntary donations, closed in 1977, demolished and overbuilt.  Registers of operations, 1966-1970, archives are held by the RBA (ref. D/H 1). 
    • St Mark's Hospital, 1946-1978 (previously Cookham (later Maidenhead) Workhouse), archives are held by theRBA (ref. D/H 3).
    • Maidenhead Isolation Hospital opened 1893, rebuilt over the years, closed 1984 and site sold for development. Records 1940-1978 are held by the RBA (ref. D/H 3).   
  • Moulsford Asylum - see Fair Mile Hospital, above.
  • Newbury District Hospital 
    • Historic archives are held by the RBA (ref. D/H4). 
    • Built in 1884 in Andover Road, Newbury, to meet the medical needs of the people of Newbury and Newbury Rural District following the closure of the Nurses Home and Navvy Hospital in Bartholomew Terrace.  The hospital originally housed 12 patients, but various additions were made from 1894 onwards, with a major building programme in 1936-7.   
  • Peppard Sanatorium opened in 1898 for TB patients, became the Peppard Hospital as the need for TB treatment declined, closed in 1980s and site sold for development.
  • Reading:
    • Battle Hospital (built as Reading Union Workhouse) closed and demolished in 2005.
      • Story of Battle Hospital in the Berkshire Echo Vol 32, 2005 from the RBA.  
      • Battle Workhouse & Hospital 1867 - 2005, Margaret Railton & Marshall Barr, available from Reading Central Library.    
      • Wikipedia.
    • Park Isolation Hospital, Prospect Park.  Built in 1906, closed 1987 and used an NHS offices, now demolished and replaced by Prospect Park Hospital.  1910-1931 records (subject to a hundred years’ closure) are held by the RBA (ref. D/H 11), including diphtheria and scarlet fever case books. 
    • Royal Berkshire Hospital:
      •  Museum and archive contain records of the Royal Berkshire Hospital dating back to its foundation in 1837.
      • Royal Berkshire Hospital 1839 - 1989, Margaret Railton & Marshall Barr, ISBN 0951437305 is available from Reading Central Library.  
      • The Story of the Royal Berkshire Hospital 1837-1937, ed. Ernest W Dormer, 1937, available from Berkshire FHS library.  
      • An autograph album kept by Barbara Arnst, a nurse 1901-1908, including several photographs of the wards, is held by the RBA (D/EX2299).  
      • Wikipedia.  
      • Their most famous patient was perhaps Douglas Bader in 1931.  
  • Sandleford Hospital was built as Newbury Union Workhouse in 1836, closed in 2004 and demolished.  Records are held by the RBA.  
  • Speen Cottage Hospital, opened 1869, by 1912, it became a convalescent home, closed in 1946.
  • Wallingford: 
    • Wallingford Cottage Hospital (aka Morrell Cottage Hospital) opened 1881 on London Road, moved to new building in 1929, became the Wallingford Community Hospital in 1973.
    • St Mary's Hospital was built as Wallingford Workhouse, becoming the Berkshire County Council Institution in 1930. Closed and demolished in 1982.  Records are held by the RBA.  
    • Wallingford Isolation Hospital, built in 1904, was known at various times as Wallingford and Crowmarsh Joint Isolation Hospital, Wallingford and Bullingdon Joint Isolation Hospital, St George's Hospital in 1950. It was sold in 1981 and houses built.
  • Wantage:
    • Wantage Cottage Hospital 1886-1927.   
    • Downs Hospital was built as Wantage Workhouse, now closed and the the site has reverted to agricultural use.  Records are held by the RBA.  
  • Waylands Hospital - was built in 1835 as the Bradfield Workhouse and became Waylands Hospital in the 1900s. In 1990, the hospital (and associated SS Simon and Jude chapel of ease) was demolished except for the front which is incorporated into a new housng development.  Records are held by the RBA.  
  • Windsor:
    • King Edward VII Hospital was opened in 1909 as the successor to the Windsor Dispensary and Infirmary.
    • Old Windsor Unit of the King Edward VII Hospital was built as Windsor Workhouse in 1840, closed in 1991 and converted to housing.  Records are held by the RBA.  
  • Wokingham:
    • Wokingham Hospital was originally built in 1848 as Wokingham Workhouse.  Records are held by the RBA.
    • Pinewood Sanatorium was built by London County Council in 1901 for TB patients from the London area, closed in 1966, site sold and redeveloped.
    • Wokingham Orthopedic Clinic opened in 1920, closed c1974.
    • Henry Lucas Hospital
      • It was founded in 1663, taken over by the Drapers Company shortly after, and finally sold by them in 2001.
      • The Wokingham Society.  
      • British Listed Buildings.  

Monumental Inscriptions (MIs) - see Cemeteries. 

• Public Health and Epidemics, this Research Guide from The National Archives, provides an interesting overview of 19th & 20th century attempts to safeguard the health of our ancestors.
• Vaccination against smallpox was compulsory in England and Wales from 1853 until 1948. A Vaccination Certificate was issued to the parents of each vaccinated child as proof that the vaccination had taken place.

• UK & Ireland - Medical Records - links and information.