The original idea of a hospital for St. Ives began with the recognition that some kind of provision should be made for injured and dying seamen from the First World War.

In 1916, the year after Capt. Edward Hain’s death in Gallipoli, the annual report of the Hain Steamship Company Ltd., reveals the strong wishes of several share holders to provide a worthy memorial to perpetuate the name and memory of its late director. Consent having been obtained from Sir Edward and Lady Hain, the committee considered various suggestions and concluded that nothing was as fitting as the erection and equipping of a Hospital at St. Ives; the building to be named – ‘The Edward Hain Memorial Cottage Hospital’. When completed it would be handed over to the Nursing Association Chairman, Lady Hain, for the benefit of the inhabitants and any sailors living in the district who served on the steamers of the shipping line.

Within a week of the war’s end, the death occurred of Mrs. Morris of Albany House. This was a detached property overlooking the bay, a most suitable position for a Hospital. By January 1919 the house and grounds had come into the possession of the Memorial Fund Committee for the sum of £2,375. Monies remaining from the original £5000 voted, enabled the necessary alterations to be carried out, and the Hospital was declared open by Lady Hain on April 8^th 1920 in the presence of the Mayor and Corporation and other town notables. Provision had been made for 10 beds with enough space for more, a private ward and an operating theatre which would eventually allow minor operations to be performed by visiting surgeons, with the patient’s own doctor in attendance. Local doctors were happy to be appointed as honorary medical staff, as were dentists, while the first matron was Miss Duncan Niel, who had much experience of war time nursing.

Townspeople had been solicited and there was a generous response, especially so at a time when mining had seriously declined, and fishing, as always, was an uncertain occupation. Practical items, too, were donated; scrubbing soap, mops, buckets, cutlery, crockery and many other necessities, all supplied by the people of St. Ives who found it hard even to sustain their own families, and was only the beginning.

Subsequently Lady Hain presented an endowment of £8,000 which, when invested, gave an annual interest of £500.

Over the years a variety of benefits, big and small have been provided for the hospital from funds raised by the League of Friends. In 1988 a day room, as well as a new two-bed ward upstairs were added besides many other pieces of equipment for the benefit of both patients and staff.

Since the setting up of the National Health Service in 1948 the hospital has come under the control of the Health Authority.

Source: Friends for life: The story of our Hospital by Mary Quick