St Aidan's Royal Free Hospital

THE ROYAL - LOCATION : The Hospital can be found at No.8 Holbeck Road in the small seaside town of Elsinby near to Scarborough, Whitby, Ashfordly and Aidensfield in North Yorkshire.

THE ROYAL - 1886 FOUNDING YEARS : THE ROYAL was established in 1886 by the Middleditch family by the founding member Mr. Middleditch who at the time had made a fortune mining windstone and decided he wanted to put something back into the community, the Hospital was founded in 1886 and opened by Prince Albert, the Duke of Clarence.

THE ROYAL gets its name from ROYAL on account of it being opened by the Duke of Clarence and FREE on account of him making his fortune mining the windstone. The building was endowed by the Middleditch family at the turn of the century and members of the Middleditch family ran the Hospital in various positions throughout the years.

Presently we have the Middleditch Ward which was named after T.J Middleditch who was the grandson of the founding member and who was also the Hospital's Secretary from 1948 to c.1969 when he retired, the ward was honoured and named after him after his death.

THE ROYAL - 1911 : THE ROYAL celebrated a quarter of a century marking 25 years of providing health care to the locals of Elsinby.

THE ROYAL - 1914 to 1918 THE FIRST WORLD WAR :

THE ROYAL - 1936 : THE ROYAL celebrated its half century marking 50 years of providing health care to the locals of Elsinby.

THE ROYAL - 1939 to 1945 THE SECOND WORLD WAR :

THE ROYAL - 1948 : After the second world war in 1948 the family charity was effectively nationalised and given to the NHS, and it was in that same year that the founders grandson TJ Middleditch who was a kindly, benign and greatly respected figure took command of THE ROYAL as Hospital Secretary aided by Matron.

THE ROYAL - 1961 : THE ROYAL celebrated three quarters of a century marking 75 years of providing health care to the locals of Elsinby.

THE ROYAL - 1960's : Mr. Middleditch retired c.1969, but still kept the Hospital close to his heart and always seemed to return to save the day when things seemed certain to fall apart at the seams and until his retirement a sense of the ancient regime ran through  the Hospital. To assure the smooth running of the Hospital the family trust was placed under the care and supervision of the then Matron.

Around 1969 after the retirement of Mr. Middleditch's the sense of aincient regime and change began to be swept away by a collection of new administrative reforms and the arrival of Mr. Middleditch's replacement Adam Carnegie who was employed at the time by the DHA (district health authority) and not the Middleditch Trust as he pointed out on one occasion when he was encouraged to resign by Mr. Middleditch but refused.

Note : The Telephone number for THE ROYAL back in the late 60's and early 70's was Elsinby 3323 and there was no Tuesday Evening Surgery.

For a more indepth view of THE ROYAL in the 1960's click on the picture below 

THE ROYAL - 1986 : THE ROYAL celebrated its centenary marking 100 years of providing health care to the locals of Elsinby and THE ROYAL.

THE ROYAL - 2006 : The Maternity Unit / Ward is closed at THE ROYAL (assuming THE ROYAL TODAY is set in 2008).

THE ROYAL - TODAY : The Hospital has changed in many ways over the years since the 1960's the family tradition and values at THE ROYAL have been carried on thanks to the son of two of the former Doctor's at the THE ROYAL in the form of one of our current doctors Dr. Jonathan Ormerod who is the son of former Dr's Gordon Ormerod and Dr. Jill Weatherill.