Records of the Southampton Dispensary and Humane Society

The minute books are very detailed up to 1903, always containing details of correspondence (often with copies of letters). After 1938 only the correspondence of the Humane Society is included. All minute books include notices of investments, insurances and mortgages. Wages to dispensary workers are also noted. Names of the dispensary doctors and later dentists are given, and the distribution to them of surplus revenues. All minute books give accounts of equipment purchased particularly after 1938. The names of patients are not given anywhere, although numbers treated are given up to 1882.

<span class="wrapper"><p>See also</p> <p>D/Z 13/18 "Proposed plan for a Dispensary" 1823</p> <p>D/Z 50/1/14 Annual Reports 1886</p> <p>D/PM 104 Second Annual Report 1825, Page and Moody Collection</p> <p>D/PM 40 1846 Annual Report (incomplete), Page and Moody Collection</p></span>

• <corpname>Southampton Dispensary, 1832-1827</corpname>
• <corpname>Southampton Dispensary and Humane Society, 1827-</corpname>

Deposited by Messrs. Burnett, Swayre & Co., 11 Westwood Road, Southampton. (Acc 3514).

The Southampton Dispensary, founded in 1823, was a charitable organisation providing advice and medical attention to the sick poor of Southampton. The Humane Society awarded rewards to people who risked their lives to save others from drowning. It amalgamated with the dispensary in 1827 to form the "Southampton Dispensary and Humane Society". There is a gap in the records between 1903 and 1938; after the gap, the changes in the national organisation of medical help for the poor, which had taken place meanwhile, caused the activities of the Humane Society to be the more prominent. The organisation was drastically re-organised in 1963, and continues to exist in a new form laid down by the Charity Commissioners.