Call for memories of midwives at the former Mona Taylor Maternity Home in Stannington

As part of a project looking into maternity care in the county, investigations are focusing on the former Mona Taylor Maternity Home in Stannington.

And while plenty is known about Mona Taylor herself, the Northumberland Archives team is hoping to get memories of the maternity home from people who worked there or gave birth there, or were born there and had details kept by their family.

Mona Taylor was born Maria Mona Waldie Griffith in 1852. She married Thomas Taylor, a mine owner, in 1880 and they had two sons and two daughters.

She was a fierce supporter of the women’s suffrage movement, organising meetings and conferences in the North East and spending 30 years campaigning for equal voting rights for women.

When her husband died in 1942, the Woodhouse Homes in Stannington were renamed The Thomas Taylor Homes in recognition of his work for the people of Northumberland and the neighbouring maternity home was named after Mona.

Coun Jeff Watson, cabinet member for culture, heritage and libraries, said: “We’d like information and particularly photographs of the maternity home, which operated from the 1940s to the 1960s, as even though the home existed in living memory, there isn’t a lot of information about it or the care provided.”

The project is supported by the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Bright Charity and the Northumberland Archives Charitable Trust.

Information about the former maternity home can be passed on by calling 01670 624358 or emailing [email protected]