Graphical version

London Metropolitan Archives

COUNTESS OF DUFFERIN'S FUND


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0074 H72/CDF

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: COUNTESS OF DUFFERIN'S FUND

Date(s): 1919-1935

Level of description: sub-fonds

Extent: half box

Name of creator(s): Countess of Dufferin's Fund

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

In 1883, the Countess of Dufferin arrived in India with her husband, who had been created Viceroy. She had been asked to take an interest in the medical relief of Indian women by Queen Victoria, who had been upset by the accounts of Mary Scharlieb and Elizabeth Bielby (both graduates of the London School of Medicine for Women), regarding their experience of this matter. Strict purdah was kept at this time by Muslim, but also some Hindu women, with the result that many suffered and died unnecessarily through lack of medical care. The Countess of Dufferin's Fund was established in 1885, to provide financial support for a "National Association for the Supplying of Female Medical Aid to the Women of India". This Association, which was formally registered in 1888, aimed to train women as doctors, nurses and midwives, to provide female wards in existing hospitals, and to endow hospitals for women and children. The Association consisted of a Central Committee which acted as a link between a number of local branches based in India. These branches were expected to contribute financially to the central fund, and to adhere to the objects of the National Association, but were otherwise independent. The Association celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1935.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Countess of Dufferin's Fund including minutes for 1919-1922 and a Jubilee annual report from 1935.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

3 items.

Conditions governing access:

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright is held by the depositor.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

The records were transferred along with the Royal Free Hospital and associated collections from the Royal Free Hospital Archives Centre to London Metropolitan Archives in 2013.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Deposited in December 2013.

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Added May 2014


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Medical charities | Charities | Charitable organisations
Health services
Nonprofit organizations

Personal names

Corporate names
Countess of Dufferin's Fund

Places
India | South Asia