City of Glasgow Fever and Smallpox Hospitals

The first fever hospital in Glasgow opened in 1865 on Kennedy Street (Townhead) during an epidemic of typhus.

[1] In 1869 a typhus epidemic required an extension of the Parliamentary Road Hospital to 250 beds.

The following year a relapsing fever epidemic resulted in a lack of accommodation for patients.

[2] Further capacity for infectious diseases was required; Belvidere Estate, a 33-acre site based on the grounds of Belvidere House just north of the River Clyde and south of London Road near Dalmarnock and Parkhead,[3][4] was purchased for £17,000 to be made into both a smallpox and fever hospital.

[5] Given the urgency of requiring accommodation initially temporary wooden pavilions were built, with first 'temporary shed' occupied on 19 December 1870.

[7] The Belvidere remained primarily an infectious diseases hospital until after the creation of the National Health Service in 1948.

[11] The annual report of 1902 of the City of Glasgow Fever and Smallpox Hospitals, Belvidere, showed that 4,435 patients were admitted in comparison to 4,932 the year before.

Sinclair is credited with securing the higher education of fever nurses as well as their physical well-being.

She trained at the Western Infirmary, was previously a sister as Wolverhampton Fever Hospital and superintendent of the Bradford Nurses’ Institution.

Campbell trained at Knightswood Fever Hospital and the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

This included training in anatomy and physiology, hygiene and dietetics, medical and surgical and fever nursing for probationers for five hours of per week for seven months.