This History of the Royal Alex
Rockinghorse has been part of the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital ever since our charity was founded in 1967. Here’s a brief history of the much-loved Royal Alex in Brighton.
The Early Years
It all started at a meeting held in Brighton Town Hall on 23 June 1868.
Decisions were taken to develop one of England’s earliest children’s hospitals that would benefit the city and surrounding areas.
The title of ‘Brighton Hospital for Sick Children’ was chosen and a private house was acquired for this purpose at 178 Western Road in the city. The house was adapted to provide just a handful of small rooms with hospital beds and not long after, an adjoining house was adopted to meet the increasing demand.
The move to Dyke Road
Three years following its opening, the hospital proved so popular that it was decided new premises were needed. Church Hill House, a disused schoolhouse in Dyke Road was purchased for £5,000 in 1871. With 20 beds the new premises was opening as the new Brighton Hospital for Sick Children on 14 July by the Bishop of Chichester. However, four years later, it was decided that the building was in desperate need of redevelopment.
In 1880, the foundation stone of the redevelopment of the Brighton children’s hospital was laid. The new three-storey building was designed in Queen Anne style with red brick, terra-cotta dressings and mouldings, by Thomas Lainson at a cost of £10,500, with four wards with 74 beds.
The hospital was officially opened by Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales in July 1881. The title of the ‘Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children’ was adopted by gracious consent of Their Royal Highnesses. Over the years, many additions and improvements to the hospital buildings and facilities were made.
The Royal Alex and Rockinghorse
Our charity, known as the ‘Rockinghorse Appeal’ back then, was founded by much-loved paediatrician Dr Trevor Mann in 1967. Originally started as an appeal to provide the first incubator outside of London, Rockinghorse was adopted as the Alex’s official charitable fundraising organisation.
The initial aim of the appeal was to raise funds for research into children’s diseases and a target of £40,000 was set – a substantial amount in those days. Supported by local business people, the fundraising appeal began. Thanks to the generosity of the community, the funding began to have an impact and the difference it made to local children was immediate.
With the support of Rockinghorse, Brighton became a pioneering city in paediatric and neonatal care. The Alex became the first place in the entire country to have a ventilator, designed to breathe for tiny and premature babies. This helped put the Alex on the map.
The ‘new’ Royal Alex
In early 2001, it was announced by the Health Secretary that a ‘new’ Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital would be developed. £28million had been allocated for the relocation of the new hospital which was to be built next door to the Royal Sussex County Hospital.
A ‘ground breaking’ ceremony was held in 2004 and the concerns of residents were addressed with the formation of a ‘Children’s and Young People’s Board’. The object of the board was to make a real difference in the way that paediatric services at the Alex were going to be delivered.
Now known simply as ‘Rockinghorse’, our charity launched a multi-million-pound fund in 2006 for the new Alex. These funds were to help equip the new hospital (which was set to open in 2007) with the purchase of ground-breaking, state-of-the-art and cutting-edge equipment.
Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra paid her final visit to the ‘old’ Alex on Dyke Road in June 2006. Promising it certainly wouldn’t be her last to Brighton, she said at the time that she was looking forward to the official opening of the ‘new’ Alex the following year.
Almost 124 years after it had been established in Dyke Road, the old Alex closed its doors in June 2007. On 22 June, the final patients were transferred to the new Alex on Eastern Road in Brighton, next to the county hospital.