A history of Mildmay Hospital

"Of institutions for the training of women in Christian work and philanthropy, there is none more widely known than that of Mildmay. It has now two hundred and twenty workers engaged in its various departments, including deaconesses, nurse, probationers, and students in training for foreign work.

It was one of the earliest institutions in this country, if not the first, to revive in modern times the ancient office of deaconess. This had been done by Pastor and Madame Fliedner at Kaiserswerth, on the Rhine, the Alma Mater of Florence Nightingale, and it was on a visit to Kaiserswerth that the Rev. William Pennefather and his wife Catherine received inspiration for founding the Mildmay Mission.

This mission was started in 1860, when Mr. Pennefather was vicar of Christ Church, Barnet. Both he and his wife were deeply interested in foreign missions, and their first venture was a missionary training home for women. This formed the nucleus of Mildmay.

The scheme was greatly developed when Mr. Pennefather removed to St. Jude's, Mildmay Park, in 1864. The training of women for parochial work was now begun. The name of deaconess was adopted for these workers, and in time the training home was changed to Deaconess House.

The period of the foundation of the mission was one of great awakening on the part of educated women to the Christian Church's need for their service in the more public spheres of philanthropy. From her invalid's room, the "heroine of the Crimea" was calling to the leisured women of her day to be up and doing. One of Florence Nightingale's earliest essays was a plea for the revival of the office of deaconess.

Mr. and Mrs. Pennefather chose this name for their workers (Deaconesses) after prayerful consideration. It was novel, but it was apostolic. The devotion of the founders to the mission is known throughout Christendom. Mr. Pennefather made Mildmay the centre for Evangelical Church conferences, which have now been held annually for fifty-one years; and Mrs. Pennefather organised the women's work and started clubs and meetings for poor people. Both have passed to their rest, and memorials to their noble work exist in recent additions to the institution.

The headquarters of the mission are at Mildmay Park. The buildings which compose the Mildmay compound are grouped around a central garden. Captain F. L. Tottenham, the superintendent of the mission, has a house in the compound, and is assisted by Mrs. Tottenham as the directress of women's work.

The Conference Hall is a handsome building, erected in 1869; and the conferences held there each June attract Christian workers from all parts of the kingdom and from abroad. Throughout the year it is used for services, meetings, and Bible classes connected with the mission.

Below the hall are rooms which serve as storehouses for the garments sent to Mildmay for distribution amongst the poor. In one room a weekly sewing class is held for poor widows. They have hot coffee and buns, cheerful and kind people to talk to them, and receive sixpence for their work. The garments are well made and cut out, and the mission is glad to receive orders."

"Lectures in physiology, nursing, health, tropical diseases, surgical work, and a short course of nursing at the Mildmay Medical Mission Hospital, keeping of accounts, sol-fa singing, cooking, and laundry.

The directress, Mrs. Tottenham, thus describes the necessary qualification for candidates for deaconess work.

" We first need as workers those who are truly converted to God, and really desirous of winning others to Him. There must also be some natural fitness in gifts, temperament, and health."

The probation and student houses, situated in the compound, first receive the candidates, who remain for one month on probation. If they like the work and are considered suitable for it, they remain for a period not exceeding two years. The time varies according to the previous knowledge which the students possess. Part of their time is spent in theological study, and they attend classes for cutting out, needlework, cooking, and other practical subjects. They also engage in parochial work under experienced workers.

After leaving the student house for the central deaconess house, candidates work, as a rule, in the mission for two or three years longer before they are regarded as qualified to be Mildmay deaconesses.

The admission to full membership is signalised by a simple dedication service, conducted by the chaplain of the institution, who is at present (1911) the Rural Dean of Islington.

The girls' hostel is provided for educated girls between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three who wish for experience in home mission work. The charge is twenty-five shillings weekly.

The Nurses' Home has a pleasant frontage to Newington Green, and is the most historic portion of the settlement.

There is a staff of fifty nurses attached to the house, who are sent out to private cases."

"The Deaconess House adjoins the Conference Hall and has about forty deaconesses in residence. Miss Hankin is deaconess-in-charge. The house is bright and pleasant, with a large room, No. 6, for devotional services and various meetings, and a very spacious drawing room arranged with writing tables and lounges. Each deaconess has her own room or cubicle. The rules of the house are very simple. No vows are taken, but it is expected that love and devotion will keep the residents at their appointed tasks. Ladies are expected, if it is in their power, to pay £50 per year for board. Many who cannot do this are accepted according to their circumstances. Some receive a small allowance for personal expenses.

The Mildmay deaconesses work under the clergy in fifteen London parishes. They are engaged in devotional exercises at home, and in house-to-house visitation in the very poorest districts. They pay between forty and fifty visits a week. Each deaconess, as a rule, has charge of a mothers' meeting in her district and gives the address herself. Girls' clubs, boys' clubs, work amongst children, and other good works are also carried on by the deaconesses.

Besides parochial work carried on from the central house, some of the deaconesses are employed in the various institutions and homes belonging to the community. Others work further afield - in Malta and Tunbridge Wells; at the Prison Gate Mission, Dublin; the House of Refuge, Oxford; and the Deaconess House at Kingston, Jamaica. One Mildmay deaconess is in charge of the Diocesan Deaconess and Missionary Training House, Toronto, Canada: and another has charge of the Church Ladies' House, founded by the Bishop of Liverpool.

The training of a Mildmay deaconess is in accordance with the principles of the Church of England. The curriculum embraces the following subjects:

(1) The Old and New Testament, Christian doctrine, history and contents of the Prayer Book, outlines of early Church history and outlines of Christian evidence."

"The Mildmay Mission Hospital, in Austin Street, Bethnal Green, is the centre of a most useful and beneficent work amongst the very poor of East London. There are fifty beds devoted to the needs of destitute patients. A medical mission is held at the hospital on Tuesday and Friday, beginning with a short mission service. There is an average attendance of 150. On other days some 80 or 100 out-patients come for dressings. Patients are also visited in their own homes.

"Home," the dearest word in our mother tongue, means a scene of heartbreak to thousands of London's poor. One example may be quoted to show how bravely many bear the misfortunes of poverty.

The attention of one of the deaconesses was called to a family who had lately removed to her district. The man and his wife were steady Christian people. They had seven children. The eldest boy (away from home on a training ship) sent them ten shillings per month, the second, earning eight shillings per week, gave his mother five or six shillings per week, keeping a little for clothes. The rent was seven shillings a week, and, through the father being out of work, had fallen into arrears.

When the deaconess called she found the family in great distress, without food or fire. "The children never worry me for food, miss, if I haven't any for them," said the mother, " but just say their prayers as usual when they go to bed."

She was very grateful for a little help given. A few days later a gift of butter came to Mildmay from the Country House Mission, and the deaconess took a quarter of a pound to this poor family as a special treat.

A Pathetic Story

It was getting late and dark when she reached the house. Her knock was soon answered, and she stepped inside, to find mother and children quietly gathered together in the little sitting-room without a glimmer of light. A penny in the gas-meter soon remedied that, and the mother said, "My boy was just praying for God to send someone, and when he heard the knock he said, ' There's someone come, mother.'" The deaconess found them without food or fire, but wonderfully patient. She sent one of the boys for bread, and with the nice country butter the family had a nourishing meal....

...An annual sum of £25,000 is required to support the various agencies connected with Mildmay, and for this amount the mission relies chiefly on voluntary help. Some of the very poor set a wonderful example as donors to its charities. A dear old woman of sixty-seven, who lived in a top attic, earning a precarious living by making patterned rugs and mats out of bits of cloth, sends one of her rugs every year to the Mildmay sale. She only earned four and sixpence a week, and out of that paid two and sixpence for rent, yet she could afford to be generous!"