Brentwood, Swimming Pool c1955

Auntie DID have TB

I have recently been doing some research into our family history. I was always told by my mother that her elder sister, Bessie Dubora, died from complications following a tonsilectomy but, having now obtained a copy of the Death Certificate, I have discovered that she died at High Wood Hospital in 1925 from TB at the age of 12 years.

My family originally came from the East End of London, so I was at a lost to understand why the Death Certificate originated in Billericay. Having studied some of the entries on this site, I can now see that High Wood must have been what used to be known as a "sanitorium" for children with TB.

Obviously I never got to meet my aunt Bessie but, if there is anyone out there who survived this terrible disease and remembers her, I would be delighted to hear from them.

I didn't have TB!

Just before Christmas in 1953 I was admitted to St Giles' Hospital in Camberwell, south London. It was thought that I had TB. I was allowed home for Christmas, although confined to bed.
After Christmas I was taken by ambulance to Highwood Hospital in Brentwood, which my parents told me was a 'convalescent home'. One of the boys on my Ward quickly disillusioned me, as of course all of the patients had varying degrees of TB.
During the first week of my stay, still confined to bed, I underwent a number of chest X-rays and tests. On the second Monday the Ward Sister came to my bedside and told me that I did not in fact have TB and that I could go home.   Yippee! Unfortunately, patients could apparently only be discharged on Sundays, which was also visiting day. Given that TB is contagious, I guess that I was lucky not to become infected.
While relieved to be leaving, I well recall the sad and perhaps envious faces of the boys who had to remain in the hospital, as I said goodbye to everyone.
Ken Cook

Grandmother's childhood home

Probably more years than just 1910. My Grandmother Rose Smith (nee Holloway) grew up here. She was one of 10 children to John and Alice Holloway. She met my Grandfather, Sidney Fraser Smith, who was a Sergeant Instructor in Small Arms at the Barracks nearby. When she lived here the Holloway family had a pet black sheep, a monkey, ducks and chickens, with many fruit trees in the orchard, which is sadly now a car park! John would send Rose down to the Thatchers Arms with a jug to bring back some of the opposition's beer for him to try out. I have a framed picture of the Headley with the Holloway pony and trap outside which I bought from the Landlord of the Thatchers in Aug 2008. The family lived here until John Holloway lost his licence because he let people in after hours. They then moved to Camberwell. My grandfather, the Smith family, had 3 generations in the Army here at the barracks, Sidney Arthur was his father, and his was William Smith, who was a Chelsea out-pensioner and has a grave in a small cemetry in Brentwood somewhere.
I would love to hear from anyone else who has memories, or relatives who see this.
Best wishes.

Highwood Hospital. Ingrave Rd. Brentwood. Essex.

I was in a hospital called Highwood Hospital, in Ingrave Road. It was for children who had TB. I remember lots of friends there, the girls were separated from the boys. We had open air wards where we slept, unless it was very cold. Most of us were in our early teens. I was on a ward called Firs 5, I found out years later that it was the only hospital of this type in the country, as the chidren had adult type TB. I was there for about a year, and was completely cured. We did live quite near in a village called Hutton, we lived on a estate which was newly built, and we had moved from London to there, so we were not far from the hospital. The name of our little row of houses was called Claughton Way.  I would love to hear from anyone who may have been there from about 1951 to 1953. My surname then would have been Fisher.