The Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) opened to the public on the 27th of May 1839. As the hospital picture shows, this was an imposing new building. The newly appointed matron was Mrs. Sophia Hogg, unfortunately, the RBH archive has no picture of her. 

The role of Matron in the 1830s bore little resemblance to such positions now. This can be seen in the person specification for the post at the time and the supporting testimonial supplied for Mrs. Hogg. Applicants applying for the post of Matron needed to be free from “family and the burden of children.” The hospital’s rules and bylaws set out the role of Matron, the focus of which was to manage domestic affairs. This included maintaining an inventory of the household goods and furniture in the hospital and a record of provisions which included meat and beer.

In her testimonial for Mrs. Hogg, Miss Steele Matron, of St George's Hospital, London declared that Mrs. Hogg was worthy of such a role of owing to her ability to manage domestic affairs. Indeed, Matron’s role seems to have had little focus on direct patient care beyond policing the patients’ whereabouts. This was to confirm no patients were absent prior to the locking of the hospital doors at 8 pm. Her responsibilities in relation to the nursing staff were to ensure they undertook their duties. 

Duties for the nursing staff were little more than those of domestic help at the time of Mrs. Hogg’s appointment. There was, however, an expectation by the house surgeon that nurses would administer prescribed medication. The house surgeon expressed concerns that owing to the nurses being illiterate he had to administer medication to patients.  Mrs. Hogg recognised that not only was literacy essential, she needed nurses with the ability to care for the acutely ill patients admitted to the RBH.

The RBH archive provides insight into the trials and tribulations of finding satisfactory nursing staff. This was not an easy task given that many of the nursing applicants were often unable to read or write. Another woman was unsuccessful in her nursing application due to having been dismissed from her post at Reading’s Battle Union Workhouse for being intoxicated whilst on duty. Yet finally Mrs. Hogg achieved her goal of finding suitable nurses by requesting references for applicants, dismissing those deemed unfit for the role and petitioning the board of governors for increased renumeration for those deemed capable.

This last approach, she believed, secured retention of staff. Given the acuity of patients admitted to BRH, Mrs. Hogg needed more skilled nurses. One way she achieved this was by successfully petitioning the board of governors for a nurse at night rather than having a laundry maid overseeing patients.

In 1845 Mrs. Hogg was awarded a £10 gratuity in thanks for her work (she was counselled this was not to be thought of as a precedent). Owing to ill health, Mrs. Hogg relinquished her role as Matron in October 1846. At the time of her resignation the importance of nursing contribution was acknowledged. This was emphasised by the house surgeon who wrote to the board of governors praising the work of the nursing staff and identifying their crucial role in managing recent fever cases admitted to the RBH.

Picture showing the front of the Royal Berkshire Hospital in 1840

The Berkshire Medical Heritage Centre at the Royal Berkshire Hospital have kindly given permission to use this picture.