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Jan 28, 1540
Regius Professor of Physic. University of Cambridge
Founded by Henry VIII in 1540. The first Regius Professor of Physic was John Blyth. -
John Addenbrooke - Founder of Addenbrooke’s Hospital
John Addenbrooke was born in 1680 the only child of a Vicar of West Bromwich. On 13 December 1697 he entered Catharine Hall (later to become St Catharine’s College) as a pensioner, he graduated with a BA in 1701 and was awarded MD in 1710. In about 1718 he moved to Buntingford were he died on 7 June 1719. There is no known portrait of Addenbrooke’s, but in a letter written by his servant Mary Collis she describes him as ’tall and thin, of studious bearing and he wore a wig’. -
Letter written by Dr John Addenbrooke
AHRF 1/4 This letter written by John Addenbrooke on 4 August 1716 is held in the Hospital archives. He is giving advice for the treatment of a patient who is thought to be suffering from an internal ulcer. Emetics, purges, bleeding and spa waters are suggested. -
Memorial plaque to John Addenbrooke
By the terms of his will dated 1 May 1719, John Addenbrooke left about £4,500 to be held in trust for his widow (who survived him by only six months) and then (for they had no children) – ‘to hire, fit up, purchase or erect a building for a small physical hospital in the town of Cambridge for poor people of any Parish or any county’ This bequest gave John Addenbrooke the distinction of being the first Englishman to bequeath his private wealth to found a voluntary hospital. -
Addenbrooke’s Hospital opened on Trumpington Street
When the hospital or Infirmary as it was called opened on 13 October 1766 it had twenty beds and during the first week it treated eleven patients and there were three surgeons and three physicians. To attend the hospital you had to present yourself at 11 o’clock on a Monday morning and admissions were made from 11 until noon. -
Joseph Merrill legacy
Joseph Merrill was a bookseller of Cambridge and in his will dated 28 Sep 1805 he left to Governors of Addenbrooke’s Hospital £500 part of which was to be used for the ‘purpose of erecting iron railing in front of the said hospital’. -
Bowtell Extension
John Bowtell was a bookseller and stationer of St. Michaels Parish, Cambridge in his will, dated 8 June 1813 he left £7,000 to Addenbrooke’s Hospital for the purpose of ‘enlarging the said hospital’. The hospital was extended and the colonnade and pediment were added at the front of the building. The work was completed in 1824. -
George Paget elected Physician at Addenbrooke's
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Medical School
At a Quarterly meeting of the Governors they granted admission of medical students to the Hospital. -
George Humphry elected Surgeon to Addenbrooke's Hospital
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First bedside examinations
George Paget was the first physician in the country to introduce bedside examinations in clinical medicine. -
Alice Fisher, Matron at Addenbrooke's from 1877-1882
Alice Fisher, a protégé of Florence Nightingale, was an exceptionally able woman who had been to the Nightingale Training School at St Thomas’ and had co-written ‘Hints for Hospital Nurses’ while a Matron at Newcastle Fever Hospital. She was appointed Matron at Addenbrooke's in May 1877 and left in March 1882 on her appointment as Matron to the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford. Letter from Florence Nightingale -
Ministry of Health report
A report from the Ministry of Health on the designation of Addenbrooke’s as a teaching hospital was received by the General Purposes Committee on 18 August 1947, along with correspondence with the University who would also welcome such a designation. Thus plans for a new larger Addenbrooke’s were assured. -
Foundation of the National Health Service
Addenbrooke’s, The Maternity Hospital, Mill Road, Brookfields Hospital, Chesterton Hospital and The Home of Recovery, Hunstanton formed the United Cambridge Hospitals under the administration of the Board of Governors who were responsible to the Ministry of Health. -
43.895 acres of a site purchased
43.895 acres of a site on Hills Road was purchased for £4,350 from the Pemberton Trustees. -
Landscaping started on new site
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Addenbrooke’s Hospital on Hills Road in 1961
Work progressed very quickly on the construction of the hospital on the ‘new site’ and on the 1 June 1961 the Ward Block was handed over by the contractors Kerridges of Cambridge. The remaining buildings: the out-patients department, the casualty department, the x-ray department and the small residence were completed by September.
On the 3 October the first six patients were admitted to the New Addenbrooke’s Hospital on Hills Road. -
First operation on the Hills Road site
The Hospital Archives hold the in-patient registers for this period which lists all those admitted to both sites. We also have the neurological theatre registers and the first operation on the new site was on 14 October, the surgeon was Mr Lewin, (In 1960 Walpole Lewin accepted an appointment to establish the Neurosurgical Unit for East Anglia, based at Addenbrooke's Hospital).
You can read more about these earlier days at
50 years since first patients on Hill Road -
All departments and wards operating in New Hospital
The Hills Road site opened with a 2 storey out-patient department containing 6 clinic suits, out patient theatre, physiotherapy department, pharmacy, temporary biochemistry and haematology labs, dental surgery, ECG and Medical Photography departs, and offices for the Almoners and Dietitians. An accident service and X-ray departments were in single story buildings which were linked to the out-patient departments and a 5 storey ward block, which has 4 wards with 94 beds for neurosurgical, neurolo -
Stage I opened by The Queen
The Queen being greeted by nurses outside Outpatients. -
Contract awarded to John Mowlem & Co. for building Stage II
Stage 1 of the new hospital in 1964 showing on the right the ward block of 100 beds for Neurology and Neurosurgery and Orthopaedics; on the left the MRC building and the University Department of Radiotherapeutics. In front is the small residency and dining room and just visible is part of the Outpatients Department. -
Medical Sciences Tripos introduced
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School of Physiotherapy opened
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Clinical School Planning Committee established.
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Completion of Stage II
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First NHS re-organisation
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End of Board of Governors of United Cambridge Hospitals
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University of Cambridge, School of Clinical Medicine
After the inauguration of the Clinical School by Princess Margaret in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit, the first medical students were admitted
On 21 November 1980, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge officially opened the Clinical School Building. University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine -
Addenbrooke’s first whole body scanner opened by the Prince of Wales
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The Rosie Maternity Unit opened.
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Last patient moved from old Addenbrooke's Hospital
The Old site last was sold to the University. And opened in 1995 as the Judge Institute of Management Studies, now called the Cambridge Judge Business School. -
Addenbrooke's, Rosie and Fulbourn NHS Trust Hospitals
Addenbrooke's Hospital, and the Rosie and Fulbourn Hospitals formed the Addenbrooke's NHS Trust Hospitals. Fulbourn Hospital left the Trust in 2002 to become part of a new Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. -
Addenbrooke’s and Rosie Hospitals became a Foundation Trust
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Addenbrooke’s Hospital’s Emergency Assessment Unit (EAU) officially opened
On 29 June 2006, Addenbrooke’s Hospital’s Emergency Assessment Unit (EAU) was officially opened by Professor Sir George Alberti, the national clinical director for emergency access. -
Cambridge University Hospitals is top hospital in Midlands and East Anglia
Cambridge University Hospitals – the NHS Foundation Trust which runs Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie Hospitals – has been identified as the top hospital in the Midlands and East Anglia
