St. Aidan's royal free hospital

THE ROYAL - LOCATION : The Hospital can be found at No.8 Holbeck Road in the small seaside town of Elsinby near to Scarborough, Whitby, Ashfordly and Aidensfield in the North Riding of Yorkshire.

THE ROYAL - 1886 FOUNDING YEARS : TJ Middleditch's Grandfather had made a fortune mining windstone and decided he wanted to put something back into the community, the Hospital was founded in 1886 and opened by Prince Albert, the Duke of Clarence.

THE ROYAL gets its name from ROYAL on account of it being opened by the Duke of Clarence and FREE on account of him making his fortune mining the windstone. The building was endowed by the Middleditch family at the turn of the century.

1911 : THE ROYAL celebrated a quarter of a century marking 25 years of providing health care to the locals of Elsinby.

1914 to 1918 THE FIRST WORLD WAR :

1936 : THE ROYAL celebrated its half century marking 50 years of providing health care to the locals of Elsinby.

1939 to 1945 THE SECOND WORLD WAR :

1948 : After the second world war in 1948 the family charity was effectively nationalised and given to the NHS, and it was in that same year that the founders grandson TJ Middleditch who was a kindly, benign and greatly respected figure took command of THE ROYAL as Hospital Secretary aided by Matron.

1961 : THE ROYAL celebrated three quarters of a century marking 75 years of providing health care to the locals of Elsinby.

THE ROYAL - 1960's : Mr. Middleditch retired c.1969, but still kept the Hospital close to his heart and always seemed to return to save the day when things seemed certain to fall apart at the seams and until his retirement a sense of the ancient regime ran through  the Hospital. To assure the smooth running of the Hospital the family trust was placed under the care and supervision of the then Matron.

1960's : ALL CHANGE

Around 1969 after the retirement of Mr. Middleditch's the sense of aincient regime and change began to be swept away by a collection of new administrative reforms and the arrival of Mr. Middleditch's replacement Adam Carnegie.

Mr. Carnegie, who was employed at the time by the DHA (district health authority) ruffled a few feathers with his modern ideas and forward thinking of how THE ROYAL should be run, so much so that he pointed out on one occasion to Mr. Middleditch that he was employed by the DHA and not by the Middleditch Trust when he was encouraged to resign but refused.

Adam Carnegie eventually left after a scandal involving another member of the staff at THE ROYAL and he was subsequently replaced by THE ROYAL's first female administrator Jean McAteer.

Note : The Telephone number for THE ROYAL back in the late 60's and early 70's was Elsinby 3323 and there was no Tuesday Evening Surgery.

1986 : THE ROYAL celebrated its centenary marking 100 years of providing health care to the locals of Elsinby and THE ROYAL

THE ROYAL TODAY : THE ROYAL is still open to this day and although the Hospital has changed in many ways over the years since the 1960's most noteable the addition of the Middlditch Wing and accompanying wards the family tradition and values at THE ROYAL have been carried on thanks to the son of two of the former Doctor's at the THE ROYAL in the form of Dr. Jonathan Ormerod son of Dr's Gordon Ormerod and Dr. Jill Weatherill who married after the death of Dr. Ormerod's first wife who died in a coach crash.