Dr James Calvert Spence was the guiding force behind the Babies Hospital, where he was a pioneer of modern paediatrics. It’s pictured here in 1955 and the colour photo shows the same location in 2025 for comparison.
This small but remarkable chapter in Newcastle’s history began on January 24th 1918 when the West End Day Nursery opened a couple of miles away on West Parade in Elswick. It was founded by Miss Greta Rowell, to provide care for young children roaming the streets while their mothers worked long hours in the factories producing munitions during World War I.
Its role began to change after the war. In 1925 it became the Babies Hospital and Mothercraft Centre, under the guidance of Dr Spence, a war hero who had been awarded the Military Cross at Gallipoli. He recommended closing the day nursery to increase the number of beds for in-patients, particularly children whose health had been ravaged by their unfortunate circumstances.
Conditions in Newcastle’s West End were harsh after the war: overcrowded housing, poor sanitation, damp homes and little sunlight meant many infants suffered from rickets. Spence’s use of open-air treatment – moving babies into airy wards or verandas, and letting them lie in sunshine when possible – was not just medical innovation, but a practical response to the realities of poverty in the city.
He also realised that feeding practices mattered. Many working-class mothers lacked information, support or confidence to breastfeed, especially while juggling factory work or domestic duties. The Babies Hospital’s “Mothercraft” training included teaching mothers how to breastfeed, giving them space and encouragement – a radical act of empowerment in that community.
Spence also held the novel belief that infants should not be separated from their mothers when they were admitted to the hospital. This idea went directly against the strict rules of the day, when visiting was thought to upset children rather than comfort them. His approach placed family care at the heart of medicine – a principle we take for granted today.
The hospital made a temporary move to Blagdon Hall in Northumberland during World War II, and in this period its outpatient services were gradually transferred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle. New premises were found near the RVI on Leazes Terrace, where the Babies Hospital in the photo opened on May 18th 1948. Meanwhile, in 1943, Dr Spence became the first professor of paediatrics in England.
By the early 1970s, paediatric surgical services had moved to the Fleming Memorial Children’s Hospital, and in 1975 the Babies Hospital finally closed its doors. Though its life was relatively short, the hospital left a lasting legacy. It stood not just for medical innovation, but for compassion – for the simple but powerful belief that children and mothers belong together.