Early days of Wentworth Hospital
The Natal Mercury of 28 April 1969 carried a lengthy article on Wentworth Hospital. Among the enlightening details provided was how the name Wentworth was derived. It was the name of the Erskine family estate on the Isle of Wight. David Erskine was Colonial Secretary in the Natal Government from 1857 to 1875.
Wentworth Hospital was built during World War 2 as a naval facility. In 1946 it was bought for R800,000 from the British Admiralty. In 1965 at a cost of R200,000 a cardio-thoracic unit was established for the purpose of open-heart surgery. The work of the unit was much-acclaimed and had a patient success rate of 90%.
In 1969 history was made at Wentworth Hospital when the first heart transplant operation in Natal was successfully carried out. By that time the Hospital was one of the most advanced in the country. It had four highly specialised departments: cardio-thoracic, neuro-sugery, plastic surgery and clinical biometrics.
The Grays of Brighton Beach
The recollections of Mrs Ethel Collett in the Bluff Annals compiled by the King’sRest Women’ Institute are most informative about life in Brighton Beach before 1941.
Ethel was the daughter of Mr and Mrs Henry Gray. She was born in 1910. Her father’s family owned property in Brighton, England, so when Henry Gray bought 120 acres of land in the area between the present Mersey and Clunas Rds in about 1920, he named it Brighton Beach. The property extended from beach over the hill down to where Tara Rd is today.
In order to have vehicle access to the top of the hill, Gray hired 20 Basutos to cut and clear the bush. At his own cost he then had the road hardened. The job took 18 months and was completed in 1925. Henry Gray named the road Grays Inn after the court cluster in London.
A man of considerable financial means, Gray owned an asbestos factory. Sludge from the factory was used to harden Grays Inn Rd. Eager to promote residence in Brighton Beach, in 1924 Gray bought a 12-seater bus. Daily at the rate of sixpence return, the bus brought interested folks to Brighton Beach from the city.
In order to lessen dependence on rain water tanks, Gray installed a water pump and piped water from the spring in the area now known as Van Riebeeck Park. This proved a necessary development for the small hotel Gray he opened in 1928 at the top of Grays Inn Rd overlooking the ocean. The hotel had two family rooms and six bedrooms. The remains of the building were demolished around 1970.
Ethel Gray’s primary schooling took place at a school in Jacobs. In her teen years she supervised cattle dipping at the tank her father had built for the use of all local cattle owners. Henry Gray died in 1941 – the same year that saw the completion of the Brighton beach tidal swimming pool. Gray Park Rd was named after Henry Gray.
———————————–researched and written by Duncan Du Bois
