NHS Grampian Archives

The Med-Chi Heritage Event will take place on Thursday 26th March 2026 in the Suttie Centre at 6.30pm to 9.30pm.
Please find the exciting programme below.
To book your free space, please follow the link to Eventbrite.
All welcome 😊

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/foresterhill-health-campus-the-peoples-hospital-tickets-1981478462421?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

The snow in Aberdeen just now looks pretty much the same as this 1932 image of the City Hospital. While the snow continues across the Grampian area, there are various things you can look at online. Some indexes are available via the Guides and Indexes page on our website at www.nhsgrampian.org/archives, including admissions to the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital from 1877 to 1900, images from Dr Gray's Hospital admission register from 1819 to 1827, and a register of deaths from tuberculosis in Aberdeen County from 1916 to 1923, which also includes images.

Emails can also be sent to [email protected] with any research queries.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - we'll be back on 5th January 2026.

This image shows one of the wards in the original Royal Aberdeen Hospital for Sick Children, which was on Castle Terrace, decorated for the festivities in 1889. People would gift presents, food, toys, and decorations for the children who were in hospital, a tradition which still continues today.

Kingseat Hospital has a fascinating history, and this is an excellent article detailing the work which went on. You can also see some more images of the buildings, along with a layout plan showing where the various named villas were, at https://sway.cloud.microsoft/qD6adOARVjHaHLPn

Kingseat Hospital: The 'village asylum' outside Newmachar that revolutionised mental health care in Britain Kingseat Hospital near Newmachar in Aberdeenshire pioneered a villa approach to mental healthcare, replacing the grim, prison-like asylums of the Victorian era. Though long gone, Kingseat’s legacy as Britain’s first 'segregate asylum' endures.

A new index is available! Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin opened in 1819, and the first volume of admissions covers from then up to 1827. Images are also available, so you can take a look at the index then have a look at the relevant page online. This means there are are now two volumes of records which can be viewed this way, following on from the Aberdeen County register of deaths from tuberculuosis.

Visit https://sway.cloud.microsoft/d88YyR8t7nuytRiK to take a look. It can also be accessed via the Guides and Indexes section at www.nhsgrampian.org/archives, along with some other indexes. You can also email [email protected] for further information on other records available.

Maps and plans are a great source for seeing how things used to be, and proposed changes taking place. This plan shows the layout of Aberdeen Royal Lunatic Asylum (now Royal Cornhill Hospital) along with some proposed new additions in the early 1890s. There are pencil amendments, including the new layout of Cornhill Road to meet the junction with Watson Street. This move didn't just change things for the asylum - it also meant the relocation of Aberdeen Convalescent Hospital to a site in Cults.

It's not just medical information that can be found in the records of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. This entry explains why there is a gap in the minute books from 1745 to 1746 and how the Jacobites and Cumberland's army caused 'confusion' in the city.

A transcription can be found at https://sway.cloud.microsoft/qkajySABBuJOLmKj

Both the run up to, and the months following the Battle of Culloden, which took place on 16th April 1746 can be described as a tumultuous period in Aberdeen's history, and a brief glimpse of this can be found in the minutes for Aberdeen Infirmary.

This image shows an entry explaining what happened to the Infirmary, and begins by describing how, on the Wednesday after Michaelmas 1745, a party of rebels from Strathbogie led by John Hamilton put a stop to the election of magistrates in Aberdeen, which meant there could be no election of new Directors for the Infirmary. It goes on to say that about the end of December 1745, the rebels, having turned all things into confusion after the affair at Inverurie, possessed themselves of the Infirmary, putting not only their own wounded men, but also some of the McLeods who they had taken prisoner.

By the beginning of March 1746, however, things had changed. The entry states that after His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland had come to Aberdeen with the army under his command in quest of the rebels, some of his sick soldiers were put into the Infirmary, and until the middle of August the Infirmary was used as a hospital for the army, meaning that the old Infirmary Directors were not able to act as they formerly been able to, even after they had been chosen anew, following an act passed by the Town Council at the beginning of July 1746. Once the Duke of Cumberland's soldiers were removed from the Infirmary, the Directors were able to act and set the hospital on its former footing.

You can find out more about the Jacobites in Aberdeen, and some of the key locations in this leaflet -https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2020-09/Jacobite%20Trail.pdf

Another new index has been published today, and in a first for NHS Grampian Archives, images from the volume in question are also available to browse online. Part of one of the Aberdeen County Register of Deaths from Tuberculosis volumes has been transcribed by volunteer Diane May for the period covering 1916 - 1923.

The volume continues up to 1943, but only information which is over 100 years old has been made available. This will be added to each year, so keep checking back!

*Edited to add - this volume only covers people within Aberdeen County, and does not include Aberdeen City notifications. Some people from Aberdeen County were admitted to the City Hospital in Aberdeen.

Visit https://sway.cloud.microsoft/KxM8lRrBST4hXAVU to take a look. It can also be accessed via the Guides and Indexes section at www.nhsgrampian.org/archives. You can also email [email protected] for further information on other records available.

Aberdeen County Tuberculosis Register of Deaths, 1916 - 1923 This volume of notifications of deaths within Aberdeen County from tuberculosis covers the period 1916 - 1923. The digitised images and corresponding transcription are now available to search and view

We're almost at the Christmas and New Year holidays for 2024! Emails to [email protected] won't be monitored from Tuesday 24th December until Friday 3rd January 2025, and bookings for accessing the Research Room will be taken from Thursday 9th January 2025.

Thanks to everyone who has enquired, researched, visited, and come along to talks this year.

The image here shows an example of Christmas fare at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in 1937. Most appropriately, the carver on this occasion is Professor Learmonth, Professor of Surgery at Aberdeen University. Hopefully his carving skills were up to scratch! Looking on are the nursing staff of Ward 8 in the surgical block, including Sister in her frilled cap.

Delighted to announce a new index to some of the records in the collection has been published. Volunteer Christina has been working on indexing the admission register for Kincardineshire Combination Poorhouse (later Woodcot Hospital) for a number of years, and has completed the volume covering admissions from 1867 to 1917 (catalogue reference GRHB 21/2/1) 🎉

You can search it, and some other indexes which are available, online at https://www.nhsgrampian.org/work-with-us/professionals/library-services/NHSGArchives/guides-and-indexes/

A fascinating and tragic story of two Aberdeen women, with a little bit of research from the archive collection.

The war memorial, the plane crash and the two Aberdeen women never seen again 💔

On their way to bring home prisoners of war, Jane Curran and Rhoda Fraser lost their lives... and we shouldn't ever forget 👇

Read more here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0dBnKt0