Medical dates:

Medical character:

The Hertfordshire County Nursing Association (CNA) was established in 1908 in order to provide the necessary training for midwives following the Midwives Act, 1902, which came into full force on 1st April, 1910.

A Nurses' Training Home opened in December 1908 at 31-33 Marlborough Road, Watford.  It had accommodation for the Matron, a Staff Nurse, four pupils and one servant.

By 1911 the Watford Training Home was deemed too small and Southfield House was purchased for £2,000.

After WW1 in 1919 the Hertfordshire branch of the British Red Cross Society presented a fully equipped hut to the Home, enabling it to provide in-patient care.  The Society requested that the Home would undertake to arrange physiotherapy for disabled ex-servicemen in the hut when the Auxiliary Military Hospitals finally closed.  The Home's Committee agreed to this, and the Maternity Ward with 12 beds opened in 1920 as a Training Centre for Midwives.  It was jointly managed by Hertfordshire County Council and the Hertfordshire CNA.  A Branch Home opened at 12, St Albans Road, Watford, in 1923.

By the end of the 1920s it was acknowledged that the Training Home and Maternity Ward needed to be replaced by a permanent building.  As the County Council was responsible for the Ward, it was agreed that it would purchase No. 21 King Street as premises for the Home, but that the CNA would remain responsible for its administration.

The Watford Maternity Home opened in 1935.  In 1937 the County Council took over management of the Home and rebuilt it.

The Home joined the NHS in 1948 as the Watford Maternity Hospital under the control of the West Hertfordshire Hospital Management Committee, part of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board.  It had 51 beds.

In 1955 the Hospital had 58 beds and had become linked with the Watford and District Peace Memorial Hospital.

In 1960 it had 60 beds.

In 1968 it briefly became the Maternity Wing of the newly formed Watford General Hospital, made up of Watford and District Peace Memorial Hospital, Shrodells Hospital and Holywell Hospital.

It closed in 1969 when the new Maternity Unit opened at the Shrodells Wing of Watford General Hospital.

Present status (June 2009)

The Hospital was demolished during a road widening scheme and now contains new housing on King's Close.  The former County Court on the opposite side of King's Close is now a Sikh temple -  Sri Guru Singh Savha Gurdwara.