Paxton Park Maternity Home, Little Paxton, St Neots

[mikebannister]

My birth certificate states that I was born in this Maternity home, but I am having difficulty finding any information on the home, or the reason my mother would be having a child there when she lived in Lewisham London over 50 miles away. The date of my birth was 11 October 1945, so the war was over, could this still be part of an evacuation policy, I am unsure.
If anyone could provide information about this place and the uses it was put to I would appreciate your help.
Also, there was a very informative book written by David A. Broad, a local resident. It's called The History of Little Paxton and was published in 1989. The ISBN is 0-9514293-0-2. There are photos of Paxton Park in the book and plenty of information about its time as a hospital. The Print run of the book was 2000 and when David left Little Paxton he sold all the books to Barretts book shop. Apparently copies were donated to LP School and St Neots Library. However I am having difficulty tracing Barretts Bookshop or any other source of the book, once again help gratefully received
Mike Bannister
Albury Wodonga, NSW/Victoria, Australia (Lifestyle on the Murray)

[lauraloulou17]

Hi Mike,
I live in St. Neots - Little Paxton comes under this postal area - and I know a reasonable amount about Little Paxton. I have seen David Broad's book - but don't honestly know whether Barretts would still hold any copies - it was a much sought after book at the time of publishing.etc. Their e-mail address is:[email protected] - but Barretts bookstore has now become part of the Ottakar's chain so may not hold such a specialised book...
Paxton Park no longer exists, most of the land has oviously been built on - the pictures are quite remarkable to see in comparison to Little Paxton today. However, it is still quite a beautiful village and is a much sought after location in terms of properties. etc.
I wish you luck with your search.
Laura

[mikebannister]

Hi,
I have emailed the bookshop to see if they still have copies. It is a longshot, but your information has brought that just a little closer to a resolution. I appreciate the time and trouble you have taken to respond.
Regards
MikeB

[lauraloulou17]

no worries - am glad to be of help. if necessary i could probably get hold of the telephone number for you - let me know how you get on.
Laura

[mikebannister]

Hi there Lauuraloulou17,
Have had no reply from Barretts despite a number of emails, would appreciate a phone number if you are still willing to obtain this on my behalf
Many thanks
Mike Bannister

[lauraloulou17]

Hi Mike,
I have found this telephone number for Barratts of St. Neots - (obviously UK) 01480 408700.
The following details may help you - the Barratts bookstore recently changed hands and became part of the Ottakars bookstore chain, good luck.

Manager: Jackie Houchin
Address: 47 Market Square
St Neots
Cambridgeshire
PE19 2BA

Tel: 01480 219586

Lauraloulou17

[mikebannister]

Many thanks will email now and if no reply phone tonight my time
I appreciate your help
Kind Regards
MikeB

[petermac]

Hi

Any luck with your search?

Happy New Year.

[mikebannister]

Hi there PeterMac,
I have procured a copy of the book, but while it has fleshed out the place and time a bit, I am still no nearer a resolution as to the whereabouts of records that would have been kept of my mothers confinement circumstances
Thanks for the reply a pleasant surprise
Happy New year from Albury Australia
Regards
Mike Bannister

[petermac]

Hi Mike

I was going to offer to scan and email the relevant pages from my copy of the book if you had no luck in finding it. I was born in Little Paxton, at that same maternity hospital in 1954!

Again, Happy New Year from Cambridgeshire.

Peter

[mikebannister]

Hi there again Peter,
Thank you for your kind offer. You could still help if you had any idea where the patient records went when the hospital closed down? Real longshot as my mother came from London and I was curious as to her circumstances at the time of my birth
Mike

[Teddy]

Hi Mike I have just joined the website hoping to find info on Little Paxton and also to visit it later this year. I was also born there in 1941 although my mums address was Bethnal Green .I believe the evacuation policy went on after the war in Europe ended because we were still at war with Japan plus there were a great many births in late 1945 due to a lot of boys already home from the war. Good luck with your search and if you do find out more do post it.Regards Ted Harvey

[MaggieAP]

Hi, I was also born at Paxton Park, in 1944 and started a thread on the Knowhere Guide, St Neots page, some years ago :
www.
knowhere.co.uk/St-Neots/Cambridgeshire/South-East-England/messages?start=2
My mother told me that expectant women, particularly those anticipated to have problems, were taken out of London to give birth, to keep the London hospitals free for war casualties. Apparently a coach arrived and drove around picking up women with their luggage [we were in Islington] until the coach was full [no family or friends allowed] and then it took off up the A1. There was no one to help, apart from the driver, on board, so it could have been chaotic if anyone went into labour, or there was an air raid. When they signed in, my 23 year old mother was first in her coach load and the two previous names in the book had been crossed out, marked deceased, which freaked her out. She was in the hospital for about month, during which time I was very frail and not expected to last the first couple of weeks, so I was taken away and christened with doctors and/or nurses as godparents. As my mother was not there, I have no idea who they were. As I survived I was weighed prior to delivery and was still underweight, so a nurse lifted my dress, laid the appropriate weight on my tummy and then called someone over to verify that I was okay to leave! We returned to London by train. It seems that there were several young women there who had become pregnant by airmen from a nearby American base, and some of the children were put up for adoption. One very young woman had apparently had three children fathered by Americans. I have since met a couple of people born there after the war, but have so far not found out if there are any records available, or what happened to records of any christenings but I intend to go on looking and will pass on any information found. Cheers, Maggie

[deec]

I was born in Little Paxton in October 1946. My parents lived in Finsbury and the local hospital was Barts, but things hadn't got back to normal after the war and expectant mums were still being sent out to the country. I seem to remember her telling me that they went to Paxton Park 2 weeks before their due date. I've always found it odd to have to put Hunts as my place of birth when I'm really a Londoner!

[Pat Nightingale]

Hi Mike


I was also born in Paxton Manor Paxton Park in June 1946. The house was used as a convalesent home for women with T.B. which my mother had at the time I was born. My family comes from east London and at the time there was a fair amount of shame connected to T.B. and it was known as a poverty disease. I was unaware my mother had the disease or why I was born in St. Neots until it was time for my T.B. jab at age 11 or 12 when a letter was sent to the school doctor and I was told bare details. About 15 years ago on a wet sunday I went to see what was left of the manor house, unable to find anything I drove around looking for a local elderly person who could hopefully give some directions, eventually met an elderly lady who told me the house was also used for unmarried mothers to have their babies. The lady explained the whole of Paxton Park now a housing estate and directed me to an old gateway that was an entrance to the grounds. My mother is still alive and has some faculties left but has always been reluctant to speak of this time,I will try for some more information and contact again.

Regards
Pat Nightingale

[jacksone]

I was also born at Paxton Park Hospital Sept 10 1950
At the time mother lived in the Keysoe area of Bedfordshire
We used to drive passed the place most weekends on the way
to Huntingdon up the Great North Road or the A1 which was a single carage road at the time
We watched it deteriate in the 60s and finaly get knocked down
My wife was also born there in 1949 she is from Peterboro in the other direction.
I must try and find a picture of the place pos cambridge records office
Richard Jackson

[DeniseG]

Hullo deec
I was born at Paxton Park in November 1946. My mother came up from London for the birth but I don't know why. I believe she didn't have any problems nor did she have TB. I've also been attempting to get a copy of the book mentioned in some of the other responses but also have been unsuccessful. I have lived in Australia for a very long time now but will most probably be coming to the UK at the end of this year or early next year. I'll follow up the book at that time.
Regards, DeniseG

[MaggieAP]

I was born in Little Paxton in October 1946. My parents lived in Finsbury and the local hospital was Barts, but things hadn't got back to normal after the war and expectant mums were still being sent out to the country. I seem to remember her telling me that they went to Paxton Park 2 weeks before their due date. I've always found it odd to have to put Hunts as my place of birth when I'm really a Londoner!

I was wondering if you were at school with me in Hertford in the 1950s - I was then Margaret Walker?

[Coromandel]

If anyone is still after David Broad's book on Little Paxton, try www. abebooks.co.uk, which currently lists four copies available from second-hand book dealers in the UK.

[DorothySandra]

A couple of points:
Hospital beds were in short supply after the war, especially in the cities, so they made use of all the hospital places they could.

Remembering that there was a baby boom just then: it's possible that this place took the overflow from a lot of labour wards - perhaps the mothers they thought would benefit most from a few days in the country? They might not be ill, but at that time nearly everyone was exhausted and a lot of mothers were malnourished from giving up some of their rations to husband and/or children, no matter how much the government told them not to do it.

As your mother was sent there two weeks [I]before the birth, it sounds as though she was poorly in some way but it might not have been anything life threatening.

[deec]

Maggie/Margaret - I certainly remember you from CH days. I was Ditteke Wheeler then. What a lovely surprise to come across an old school friend on this thread!

[MarkJ]

Please bear in mind this is a genealogy forum. General discussions about who went to which school or lived in a particular place would be best suited to somewhere like Friends Reunited or a Facebook group or via the PM system here.

Thread closed as the original poster has received the information they were after.