# Treloar Hospital, Alton, Hampshire UK (2)



## MandyB (Apr 30, 2019)

Originally built by public subscription and the Daily Mail in 1901 for sick wounded soldiers returning from the Boer War. It was called "The Princess Louise Hospital" then, but was more commonly known as "The Absent Minded Beggars Hospital". The war ended in 1902 and the hospital was handed over to the government. It then became an Army Hospital under the command of the G.O.C. Aldershot, Hampshire. 
Once again, the hospital became disused in 1905 until Sir William Purdie Treloar, Lord Mayor of London, took over the hospital and it's vast and beautiful grounds and woods.
Sir William and his wife did not have children of their own, but had such big hearts, they adopted two. And then, saddened by the poor children of London, William Treloar went about raising funds for a hospital in the countryside where sick children could recover; receive a good education and learn a trade. 
1937 saw the hospital rebuilt.
On the 8th of September 1908, Lord Mayor Treloar and his wife received the first children from Alton Station.
In 1910, the hospital's very own platform was built by LSWR on the Alton to Basingstoke Light Railway Line.
The hospital closed in 1994 and was demolished in 2000 

The wards - taken between end of 1999 and Jan 2000


Back in the day....
















Newly built.....

















Alexanda House - Nurses Home 







Robertson House - Nurses Home (still standing) 





2019



Demolition begins in 2000







The White House (Doctors House) 2000


2017


2019



The large Water Tower 2015 (still standing)





The small Water Tower (still standing)



The Hospital Platform 





I have loads more photos taken from over the years but I think I better call it a day! I do have another album which have pics taken inside Robertson House so if you want to see those, take a look! I hope you have enjoyed these pics


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## Electric (Apr 30, 2019)

Welcome Mandy. Nice to see the before and after photos, they're a great collection for the local history album.


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## HughieD (May 1, 2019)

This is really interesting stuff. Liking those water towers. Thanks for documenting this and sharing it Mandy...


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## BikinGlynn (May 1, 2019)

Yeah thats a good fully loaded report, thanks for sharing


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## Sam Haltin (May 1, 2019)

A very nice report. As was the usual (and still is) they put a name to all the wards. The doctors house seems to be the worse.


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## Terminal Decline (May 2, 2019)

Its fascinating to see old photos like this. If only places like this now days still looked this way 5 years after closure!


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## prettyvacant71 (May 10, 2019)

Great to see some old pics of the hospital! I have to admit I do love the old names they gave to some of these places, long before political correctness paralysed our vocabulary, not that is was very nice to call such places "The Absent Minded Beggars Hospital" or "The colony for imbeciles or mental defectives", the naming procedure must have been quite a task Thanks enjoyed that.


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## Wallasey (May 14, 2019)

great to see


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## Sternerz (Jul 30, 2021)

I think there is a sinister story behind this early mental hospital. park prewitt of Basingstoke had a railway line that would of passed Eli Lilly as would the Alton line. I am from Basingstoke and there have been many very suspicious goings on in and around the town to do with big pharma company's. 
all very interesting.


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## Hayman (Jul 31, 2021)

Sternerz said:


> I think there is a sinister story behind this early mental hospital. park prewitt of Basingstoke had a railway line that would of passed Eli Lilly as would the Alton line. I am from Basingstoke and there have been many very suspicious goings on in and around the town to do with big pharma company's.
> all very interesting.


From online: "The original factory was built facing the main railway line and overlooking Lilly’s own private siding, by the side of which was built a coal fired boiler house." And "The Company had precious little time to reap any reward from its considerable investment in Basingstoke before war intervened, but at least the new factory had been built and partially equipped, and was ready to make a significant contribution firstly to the war effort and later to the supply of pharmaceutical needs to an exhausted post-war Britain." Perhaps those living in the UK just after the end of the war - myself included - were not prey to spurious 'urban legends', if only because the phrase was unknown then in the UK - another US import, as was Eli Lilly.


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## night crawler (Jul 31, 2021)

Nice record of the hospital. Welcome along


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## Jennyhuddles (Aug 7, 2021)

Do you have any pictures of the old cottages?


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## Jennyhuddles (Aug 7, 2021)

Do you have any pictures of the old cottages near the boiler house.?


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## Karen1976 (Nov 4, 2021)

Is this hospital still there? I have been trying to find the postcode but unable to. Me and my partner would like to go and have a look at this place.


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## john1975 (Nov 8, 2021)

Wonderful photographs of what would have been a wonderful hospital. I happen to work for the NHS in what must be the last or one of the last of the big psychiatric hospitals. 

The NHS "safe in tory hands" Do not make me laugh, take a look at these photos and make your own mind up.

Where do you suppose all the patients went?? Dumped, that is what happened, simply dumped, with those that were long term inpatients ending up either dead, in prison, or in tiny private houses where 3 or 4 of them would live. So much for "care in the community"...

john..


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## Hayman (Nov 8, 2021)

john1975 said:


> Wonderful photographs of what would have been a wonderful hospital. I happen to work for the NHS in what must be the last or one of the last of the big psychiatric hospitals.
> 
> The NHS "safe in tory hands" Do not make me laugh, take a look at these photos and make your own mind up.
> 
> ...


I fear you are right. The comparson is often made between how animals and how people are treated. Just as some people thrive in the 'communities' created by the armed forces, so many of the 'patients' did better in mental health institutions, whatever name you give them.


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## verdigris (Nov 9, 2021)

john1975 said:


> Wonderful photographs of what would have been a wonderful hospital. I happen to work for the NHS in what must be the last or one of the last of the big psychiatric hospitals.
> 
> The NHS "safe in tory hands" Do not make me laugh, take a look at these photos and make your own mind up.
> 
> ...


I agree John, having worked in a few of the old asylums in Essex. The loss of mental health beds over the last 40 years is a scandal. But governments of all colours were party to the closure of the mental hospitals, and all supported community care, not just Tories.
And many of these old 'bins' were fine buildings, with top quality fixtures and fittings, like Treloar. Some have been saved, in parts, for 'executive' housing, but many have been demolished wholesale.


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## john1975 (Nov 10, 2021)

Yes, you are right. The hospital where i work, you can tell, it was all built up to a quality and not down to a price. There has been some re-opening of facilities, and i was told a few years ago that it would all be coming back as there was an increasing demand for their services, but now, there is fresh talk of closing it in about 5 years. Whether this will come to anything i have no idea, as they have been saying this for the last 30 years and it is still there now!! The state of the place is terrible with awful neglect.. The waste of money too, all misspent...

john..


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## Hayman (Nov 11, 2021)

john1975 said:


> Yes, you are right. The hospital where i work, you can tell, it was all built up to a quality and not down to a price. There has been some re-opening of facilities, and i was told a few years ago that it would all be coming back as there was an increasing demand for their services, but now, there is fresh talk of closing it in about 5 years. Whether this will come to anything i have no idea, as they have been saying this for the last 30 years and it is still there now!! The state of the place is terrible with awful neglect.. The waste of money too, all misspent...
> 
> john..


The whole world of mental health and mental illness is a nebulous one. A broken leg can be seen and mended, a broken mind can only be 'seen' by the person comcerned. The unending changes to how anyone from criminals to protestors to the mentally ill is treated is some indication of the subjectivity of how to deal with such people. The asylums (or mental hospitals) gave the security that some of the inmates/patients needed and welcomed. Changes in attitudes - like 'progress' - do not always mean changes for the better. One of the biggest sufferers is the taxpayer.


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