Odds and quads

The archive also includes material from what were the Alexandra Hospital for Children with Hip Disease, the Evelina Children's Hospital and the Glasgow Hospital for Sick Children. Different sets of admission registers cover all or part of the period from 1852 to 1914, with details such as patients' names, ages, admission dates, diseases, treatments and outcomes.

Along with substantial data for analysis, the records contain many touching vignettes of what life was like for poor, sick children during Victorian and Edwardian times.

From the Glasgow material, for example, we can trace the story of seven children admitted to hospital (and successfully treated) for belladonna poisoning after eating what they thought was treacle but was in fact a remedy for horses with sore throats.

The project started in 2001 with the digitising of records from Great Ormond Street, and has now been incorporated into Kingston's recently launched Centre for the Historical Record.