THE PEOPLE’S HOSPITAL: A HISTORY OF McCORDS, DURBAN, 1890s–1970s Julie Parle and Vanessa Noble Occasional Publications of the Natal Society Foundation PIETERMARITZBURG 2017 The People’s Hospital: A History of McCords, Durban, 1890s–1970s © Julie Parle and Vanessa Noble 2017 Published in 2017 in Pietermaritzburg by the Trustees of the Natal Society Foundation under its imprint ‘Occasional Publications of the Natal Society Foundation’. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without reference to the publishers, the trustees of the Natal Society Foundation, Pietermaritzburg. Natal Society Foundation website: http://www.natalia.org.za/ ISBN 978-0-9921766-9-3 Editor: Christopher Merrett Proofreader: Cathy Rich Munro Cartographer: Marise Bauer Indexer: Christopher Merrett Design & layout: Jo Marwick Body text: Times New Roman 11pt Front and footnotes: Times New Roman 9pt Front cover: McCord Hospital: ward scene, c.1918 (PAR, A608, American Board of Missions Collection, photograph C.5529); ‘The people’s hospital’ (Post (Natal edition) 24 February 1963). Back cover: The McCord Hospital emblem (CC, MHP, Boxes 7 and 8 (2007) – McCords 7 and 8, ALP, Series II: McCord Hospital Documents: Golden Jubilee 1909–1959: A Report on McCord Zulu Hospital) Printed by CPW Printers, Pietermaritzburg CONTENTS Abbreviations and acronyms List of maps and figures Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1 ‘Bringing light to the nation?’: missionaries and medicine in Natal and Zululand 1 Chapter 2 ‘Growing pains’: the Beatrice Street Dispensary, the Cottage Hospital and the Mission Nursing Home, 1904–1919 27 Chapter 3 ‘A going concern’: McCord Hospital, 1920s–1940s 57 Chapter 4 ‘We were forced to improvise … and our difficulties multiplied’: expansion at McCord Hospital, 1940s–1960s 85 Chapter 5 ‘No one person is McCord Zulu Hospital’: a complex Christian community of care 129 Chapter 6 Fighting ‘a good fight’: the ‘McCord family’ and the struggle against apartheid, 1940s–1970s 167 Epilogue and conclusion 213 Bibliography 223 Index 233 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ABC American Board of Commissioners ABM American Board of Missions ACWC American Canadian Women’s Club ALP Aldyth Lasbrey Papers, McCord Hospital Papers, Campbell Collections, Durban AME African Methodist Episcopal ANC African National Congress ARVs anti-retrovirals AZM American Zulu Mission BMA British Medical Association CC Campbell Collections, Durban CPS Civilian Protective Service ICU Industrial and Commercial Workers Union lb pound (weight) KCAL Killie Campbell Africana Library, Durban LRCP Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians MB Mouldy Box, McCord Hospital Papers, Campbell Collections, Durban MD Doctor of Medicine MHP McCord Hospital Papers and McCord History Project, Campbell Collections, Durban MRCS Member of the Royal College of Surgeons MSCE Master of the Supreme Court NAR National Archives Repository, Pretoria NNRA Natal Native Reform Association NPA Natal Provincial Administration OPD out-patients department PAR Pietermaritzburg Archive Repository TB tuberculosis UCCSA United Congregational Church of Southern Africa UKZNMSA Medical School Archives, University of KwaZulu-Natal VD venereal disease LIST OF MAPS AND FIGURES Map 1 Natal Map 2 Durban Figure 1 Increase in patient numbers, 1935–1945 106 Figure 2 Total out-patient clinics, 1940–1979 107 Figure 3 Patient numbers, 1940–1979 109 Figure 4 Surgeries performed, 1940–1979 116 Figure 5 Maternity Department: live births and caesarean sections performed, 1940–1979 118 Figure 6 Medical residents, 1940–1979 139 Figure 7 Honorary doctors, 1940–1979 140 Figure 8 Administrative staff, 1945–1979 149 Map 1 Natal Map 2 Durban PREFACE When in 1909 Dr James McCord founded the little mission hospital on the hill, the event mirrored the confluence of two myths: hope and service. I use the term myth in a very guarded way as the springboard of passion-driven action. Philosophers maintain that ideologies and beliefs are rooted in the stem cells of mythology and that faith expresses the essence of things hoped for. Things hoped for come to fruition because faith drives humans to passionate action. The history of McCord Hospital thus becomes the history of hope realised. McCord Hospital was more than a place of diagnosis and healing of the body. It represented both an ideal and a practical demonstration of a community of faith where medical care presented an entry point. Patients came to McCord Hospital for physical and spiritual healing. Young African women came to train as nurses of a special type, to give care and love. Beyond these primary attributes, McCord Hospital pioneered the road to development, to take Africans into the universe of humanity when the political system in operation at the time believed that they were sub-human. The very physical location of the hospital on the ridge, the border of Durban at the time, was a demonstration of the boundaries between ‘civilisation’ and ‘heathenism’ as Africans did not fit into the definition of civilisation held by the powers that were. For 105 years the people’s hospital, as McCords was popularly known, bridged the gap between ‘civilisation’ and ‘backwardness’ giving care to the underserved and training professional nurses and doctors. That was not the end. In the 1950s, Alan Taylor, then Medical Superintendent, was instrumental in the establishment of the University of Natal Medical School, the present Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, which trained mainly African doctors when places for training at the white established medical schools were almost inaccessible to anyone other than white citizens. The residence where medical students lived became the Alan Taylor Residence. McCord Hospital continued to demonstrate practically the realisation of things hoped for throughout its history of care. As recently as the outbreak of the pandemic caused by HIV, the hospital typified the evidence of things unseen in the excellent programme at Sinikithemba, a place of hope. The change in status of the hospital from Christian mission-driven to a public service marked the end of an era. Readers of this book will walk through this long revealing journey and appreciate the story of Christian service to humanity. Lastly, and definitely by no means least, the community of McCord Hospital wishes to express most sincere gratitude to Julie Parle and Vanessa Noble for the meticulous detail in this story of faith, community and progress. McCords could not have deserved a better record than this. Paulus Zulu Professor Emeritus and last chairman of the McCord Hospital Board of Governors ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The McCord History Project has been, in the words of the hospital’s founder, ‘the work of many hands, over many years’. It was initiated by Professor Eleanor Preston-Whyte and Dr Helga Holst, and has been a shared endeavour with our friend and colleague Catherine Burns. The McCord Nixon Trust supported bringing the story of McCords into the twenty-first century, and we appreciate both the assistance given and the independence permitted to research and tell it as freely as we have. Helga Holst in particular has embraced the journey even when there were deviations from the pathway, lengthy but inescapable breaks, and occasional doubts about the destination. We have been generously assisted by many student interns and associates, professionals in the archival, information and research worlds, and by colleagues, both South African and international. The list of names here is no doubt incomplete so great has been the interest in McCords. We thank everyone who has given of their time and interest, especially, and in alphabetical order: David Agate, Fiona and Richard Bell, Keith Breckenridge, Heidi Brookes, Carol Brown, Catherine Burns, Hannah Carrim, Mwelela Cele, Suryakanthie Chetty, Howard and Paul Christofersen, Helen Clarke, Scott Couper, Harriet Deacon, Al Diesel, Anne Digby, Abigail Donaldson, Marcel Dreier, Emma and John Driebold, Marijke du Toit, Janet Duncan, Bobby Eldridge, Christopher Eley, Nafisa Essop Sheik, Karen Flint, Divine Fuh, Louis Gaigher, Nazim Gani, Liezl Gevers, Stacie Gibson, Janet Giddy, Mandy Goedhals, Simon Grest, Bill Guest, Zamaguni N. Gumede, Patrick Harries, Thevan Harry, Pearl Harris, Lily Havstad, Simonne Horwitz, Kalpana Hiralal, Lizzie Hull, Cyndie Huynh, Mona Jackson, Estelle Jobson, Sally John, Claire Kerry, Vukile Khumalo, Christine Kim, Steve Kotze, Emily Krige, Sherian Latif, Estelle Liebenberg, Noleen Loubser, Hines Mabika, Michelle Maguire (née Floyd), Zodwa Mageba, Desmond Makanya, Thandokuhle Maphumulo, Shula Marks, Mxolisi Mchunu, Thabani Mdladla, Lukas Meier, Senzo Mkhize, Mary Jane Molefe, Rebecca Naidoo, Glen Ncube, Pieter Nel, Percy Ngonyama, John Nixon, Heather Noble, Kyla O’Neill, Mavis Orchard, Diane Peters, Howard Phillips, Eleanor Preston-Whyte, Steve Reid, Lucy Robbins, Pascal Schmid, Fiona Scorgie, Judith Shier, Nellie Sommers, Stephen Sparks, Helen Sweet, Sinothi Thabethe, Zamanguni Thenjwayo, Steve Terry, Kirsten Thomson, Sandi Thomson, Jo-Anne Tiedt, Ingrid Ussher, Goolam Vahed, Thembisa Waetjen, Penny Watts, Fabio Zoia and Paulus Zulu. Our article ‘“The hospital was just like a home”; self, service and the “McCord Hospital family”’ was published in Medical History in 2014. We thank the editors for their permission to draw extensively on that article. In bringing this book to publication, thank you to the Natal Society Foundation, and to Marise Bauer, Jo Marwick and Phila Msimang.