Ryde Architecture

SHERWOOD NURSING INSTITUTE & CONVALESCENT HOME
Upton Road, Ryde, IW.

Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Wheatley, of The Bays, Upton Road, acquired the property nearby, and on New Year’s Day January 1902, it was opened as a nursing institute.

It was intended as a residential home for medical, surgical and convalescent cases.  Six of such cases could be taken in there and accommodated irrespective of the nurses, of whom there was a large staff under the care of a sister.  They were fully trained hospital nurses and would go to any case anywhere if an application was forwarded.  A number of leading London medical men welcomed the establishment of such an institution in a healthy place like the Island, and it was thought probable that the institute would soon be filled.

Mr. Wheatley had taken control of the whole thing, and had started it as a memorial of his little child, whose death a few years previous was one of the great sorrows of his life.

The building was furnished and fitted in the most sanitary and modern style.  The drains had been thoroughly overhauled by Messrs. Newman and Cocks, and severely tested.  The chapel at the end had been fitted up as an operating room, and there was a lift leading into it from the upper rooms, down which a patient could be most conveniently lowered.  The rooms, though they had oil cloth instead of carpet, and no unnecessary curtains, blinds or hangings, were nevertheless tastefully furnished, especially the best room, which was white, and called after the little girl whose sad loss had led to Mr Wheatley’s effort.

The local press regularly carried an advertisement for the home, which stated that it was a well-appointed invalid home, and it was always mentioned how wonderful the drains were.  Chronic, Medical, Surgical, Maternity, and Nervous Cases were received from £3. 3s. per week.  The house had the convenience of a telephone, which was number 24 Ryde.

The Fees (left) were as at 24 May 1902.  Nurses could be supplied at any time during the day or night, on application to the Lady Superintendent.  The advertisements were much smaller by 1905, but still a regular feature in the press.

Unfortunately, in March 1903, just a year after the home was opened, Mr Charles Henry Wheatley died at his home “The Bays,” aged 44.  More about Mr Wheatley here.

In the 1910 Kelly’s Directory, Mrs Wheatley was listed as the Superintendent of the Sherwood Nursing Home.

Source: IW Observer & RSHG Archive
Image: Postcard Roy Brinton Collection
Article: Ann Barrett