Smedley Hydro is a former Victorian

hydropathic Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and Physical therapy, physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and tr ...

spa and hotel in

Birkdale Birkdale is an area of Southport, within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, though historically in Lancashire, in the north-west of England. The area is located on the Irish Sea coast, approximately a mile away from the centre of S ...

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

, Merseyside, England. The building has been used as a college, hydropathic spa, and hotel and is currently the home of the General Register Office for England and Wales.

History

Birkdale College

Smedley Hydro started out as Birkdale College, with 47 rooms, for the education of young gentlemen.

Hotel

John Smedley formed the Smedley Hydropathic Company for £25,000 at £5 a share in August 1876. The company purchased the building for £7,500 and extended the building to accommodate 140 visitors as a hotel. The hotel offered luxurious facilities to guests, including a spa which opened on a five-acre site on 1 May 1877, and was the first and only hydropathic hotel in Birkdale and the fourth out of six in Southport to offer hydrotherapy. The resident physician was Dr Barnado. In 1881 the

Birkdale Palace Hotel The Birkdale Palace Hotel was a luxury hotel located in the Lancashire coastal resort of Birkdale, Southport, on the north-west coast of England. The building towered over the surrounding area for over a hundred years before being demolished in ...

was refurbished and re-opened as a hydropathic spa as a rival to the Smedley. By 1882 the Smedley had two wings added, the west wing having the dining room and the east wing having the drawing room which led to the ballroom. Between 1924 and 1928, the hotel was closed while the main building had its roof raised to form a third storey and to be in line with the roof of the east and west wings. In 1932 the hotel became known as the Smedley Hydro Hotel and had Turkish and plunge baths, with all guest rooms having hot and cold running water and either gas or coal fires. The hotel also boasted conservatories, a sun lounge and a ballroom that had a theatre stage and resident dance hostesses.

World War II

In September 1939 the government took over management of the hotel building, turning it into a centre for the registration of the British population. The plan was originally intended only for the duration of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. When

VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

came, Smedley Hydro was not returned to its owners, thus the building has not served holidaymakers since 1939.

Post WWII

In 1952 national registration and

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

ended, and it was intended that operations at Smedley Hydro would be wound down. However, the government decided to continue to use the building to handle the administration for the unique identification numbers (now known as NHS numbers) required by the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. In 1991 the

General Register Office General Register Office or General Registry Office (GRO) is the name given to the civil registry in the United Kingdom, many other Commonwealth nations and Ireland. The GRO is the government agency responsible for the recording of vital recor ...

for births, deaths and marriages was relocated from London to the Smedley Hydro site.

References

{{Reflist Victorian architecture in England Buildings and structures in Southport