Small and special

Welcome to Small and Special

Small and Special is a collection of resources relating to the early years of The Hospital for Sick Children at Great Ormond Street, England’s first in-patient children’s hospital. Here you can trace a patient, learn about childhood diseases, or investigate a member of the medical staff.

Small and Special includes a database of patient admission records - from the Hospital’s first in-patient in 1852 to the last admission in 1914; a collection of articles on the early history of the Hospital and pen-portraits of the Hospital’s personalities; and a gallery of images.

Browse around the site to discover its treasures. Better still, register now. It costs nothing, and registered users get access to more detailed information and the ability to print and download results of searches.

10,000 new records added to database

Willie Perry: patient from 19 November 1877 to 29 December 1881

William Perry was admitted on 19 November 1877, age two, with chronic disease of the larynx. In hospital he was given a tracheotomy, and was discharged (cured) but he was back in less than a year, on 18 February 1879. He was still suffering from a chronic disease of the larynx, and the old tracheotomy was causing problems. Still, he was discharged, relieved, on 16 March the same year. Willie made his third and final visit in late November 1881, with ‘old tracheotomy’ as the diagnosis. He was discharged relieved, on 29 December 1881. To find out more about Willie click here.