[1] When the Local Government Act 1929 abolished the poor law unions, the hospital passed to Lancashire County Council.

[3] During the Second World War it functioned initially as a British military hospital, the first patients arriving in 1940 as a result of the German invasion of Norway.

In a symbolic ceremony, Aneurin Bevan received the keys from Lancashire County Council alongside a 'guard of honour' of nurses.

Dolan had been appointed as matron before the hospital had officially opened in 1929, and was pictured alongside Bevan and Diggory in the news stories of 1948.

Before she died, Sylvia said: "Mr Bevan asked me if I understood the significance of the occasion and told me that it was a milestone in history – the most civilised step any country had ever taken, and a day I would remember for the rest of my life – and of course, he was right.