This was achieved by holding a fundraising carnival at Bristol Zoo in 1905 which raised £4,000, together with donations of £7,500 by Sir George and £4,000 by his brother Samuel.

[5] During the First World War, the Memorial Wing at Bristol Royal Infirmary together with Southmead Hospital were requisitioned by the War Office to create the 2nd Southern General Hospital, a facility for the Royal Army Medical Corps to treat military casualties.

[8] After the war, there were attempts to amalgamate the Royal Infirmary with Bristol General Hospital to allow greater division of labour and the provision of specialist services.

In 1920, Henry Herbert Wills sought to promote this by depositing £105,070 in a trust to be handed over if the hospitals could be combined.

[4] Geoffrey Tovey, serologist and founder of the UK Transplant Service, worked at the hospital shortly before the Second World War.

The report, published in 2001, led to greater emphasis on clinical governance within the NHS and the publication of the performance ratings of individual heart surgeons.

[16] In May 2014, the helipad became fully operational and started receiving air ambulances from Bristol and the surrounding area, speeding up transfer times for patients who were being airlifted to the hospital.

A substantial quantity of material about the history of the infirmary can be found in papers collected by the surgeon Richard Smith.