George B. Turner (Deputy Secretary and Treasurer and Hospital Secretary)

Three folders of research and correspondence relating to Crichton Royal Hospital, Hannahfield House and the Robert Burns manuscript, 'The Whistle'. Crichton Royal Hospital miscellaneous material (1886-c.1985, 17 documents): New Moon, special Burns 1896 issue; three editions of The Crichtonian, September 1937, June 1939 and February 1949; Scottish Hospital Advisory Service report; notes about Crichton Royal Farm history, hockey club, golf course, Solway Holiday Home, hospital brochure, Burns manuscripts, articles by James Harper about Dr W. A. F. Browne and the early history of the hospital and correspondence. Hannahfield House material (1975, 10 documents): Correspondence between George B. Turner and Margaret Hudson relating to the history of the building, copied extracts from various sources including McDowall's History of Dumfries about Hannahfield and two sketches of the grounds. 'The Whistle' material (1979-1985): Research notes, extracts from books, and extracts and copies from sources including the Chronicle of Crichton Royal, New Moon and Robert Burns and the Riddell Family by J. Maxwell Wood, relating to the poem by Robert Burns and the location of the original manuscript or manuscripts.

1886-1985

3 folders

George B. Turner was a member of the administrative staff at Crichton Royal Hospital from 1930 to 1975, he was also Treasurer to the Board from 1958 to 1971 and Hospital Secretary from 1971 to 1975. He is also the author of the second volume of 'The Chronicle of Crichton Royal' taking up where Dr C. C. Easterbrook left the story in 1937 and continuing until 1971. Hannahfield House was leased by the Directors of Crichton Royal Institution from the War Office in 1889 and was occupied by private patients. The grounds of the house continued to be used by the War Office as an Army Camp for training. In 1929 Crichton Royal Institution purchased the Hannahfield estate consisting of 33 acres. The following year Hannahfield Hall was converted to a recreation hall and served as the base for the Crichton Royal Club, which oversaw all recreational activities and groups at the hospital. Hannahfield House was used as accommodation at various times for staff and patients and in the early 1950s it was converted for accommodation for the new Children's Unit established in 1951 at the hospital and renamed Ladyfield West. The Whistle was a ballad written by Robert Burns in 1792. The origins of the ballad were a drinking contest that took place at Friar's Carse, the neighbouring estate to Ellisland where Burns lived, on 16th October 1789 and was attended by Burns who wrote the ballad describing the evening. The competition began as a drinking contest between three cousins, Sir Robert Laurie, Robert Riddell and Alexander Fergusson of Craigdarroch. The prize was an ebony whistle which had been brought to Scotland by a Dane in the service of Prince George of Denmark. The whistle was presented to whoever drank the most claret and was still able to blow the whistle at the end of the evening. The winner was Alexander Fergusson who reputedly drank upward of eight bottles. The Board of Directors of Crichton Royal Institution found themselves the owners of a manuscript of the ballad when they purchased the estate of Friars Carse, formerly the home of hospital founders Elizabeth and James Crichton, in 1895. Ownership of the manuscript was then transferred to the new owners of Friars Carse when the Board sold it in 1909. Research on the location of the manuscript or manuscripts, as a second manuscript is thought to have existed at Crichton Royal and was lost some time between 1948 and the 1970s, has been carried by George B. Turner and former Health Board Archivist, Morag Williams.

Staff publications, DGH1/6/18

Enquiries for reproduction for commercial purposes should be directed to the Archivist, Dumfries and Galloway Archives and Local Studies

The papers are available at Dumfries and Galloway Archives subject to conditions of UK Data Protection Act 1998, Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and NHS Records Management Code of Practice 2012. Subject to these restrictions, this material is being digitised by the University of Glasgow as part of a Wellcome Trust funded project. Material that is digitised will be accessed freely online through the Wellcome Library catalogue.