Uncle Tom.
“…pennies make shillings, shillings make pounds, and the pounds will buy the cots.”
In 1903 Thomas Pyman created an innovative fundraising campaign. His aim was to raise money to provide beds and other facilities for the new children’s ward in The Maitland Hospital.
Inspired by a campaign in England, he appealed to the children of the district through the pages of the Maitland Mercury. He encouraged them to come up with ideas to raise money – ‘children’s bazaars, penny concerts’ and, as he wrote, ‘I imagine your own little brains will be brimming over with ideas.’ (Maitland Mercury, 6 June 1903)
Known to his readers and supporters as ‘Uncle Tom’, the campaign continued until late 1904 with regular reports and encouragement in the Maitland Mercury.
The Maitland Mercury reports list the names of donors, and their different fundraising activities.
Some examples of the Maitland Mercury letters and reports written by ‘Uncle Tom’.
By September 1904, the Hospital Cot Fund had raised close to £200, and the money was used to purchase items for the children’s ward.
In describing the children’s ward in January 1905, the Mercury noted that, hanging over the mantel of the fireplace, was ‘a large picture, containing portraits by Mr E. Cameron of some of 72 children who have assisted “Uncle Tom”. There was also a ‘white marble tablet, let into the wall’ acknowledging the fundraising effort, and ‘each cot’ had ‘a silver tablet attached to the foot, bearing an inscription relating to the donors’. As well, ‘the snow-white counterpanes on the cots are adorned in the centre with the letters “C.W.” (children’s ward) elaborately worked in red, and the pillow-slips and sheeting are stamped with the letters “U.T.” (Uncle Tom) in black.’ (Maitland Mercury, 16 January 1905)
The children’s ward, about 1906.
(University of Newcastle Special Collections A8803-P0063)
The large picture in the centre of the back wall is probably the portraits of the children who assisted ‘Uncle Tom’. According to a Maitland Mercury report, 10 May 1934, the picture was still in the hospital. It has since disappeared.
The marble tablet commemorating the fundraising campaign.
(Maitland Hospital Collection 307)
In 2021 the tablet was still embedded in the wall where the children’s ward was located.
Excerpt noting the names inscribed on items in the children’s ward.
Description of the photo montage of ‘Uncle Tom’s noble little band of workers’.
The January 1905 Maitland Mercury article also observed that a Mercury Guild of Mercy was established in order to continue the work of the Cot Fund and to support a variety of ways to improve the experiences of children in the hospital. The aims and objects of the Guild were set out as:
To assist in maintaining the “Children’s Ward”, Maitland Hospital, by giving one penny per month and to collect one shilling per year.
To assist children who have been ill to obtain change of air to complete their recovery, and to receive children from all other districts for the same purpose.
To visit sick children in our respective districts, and in the hospital.
To be kind to dumb animals.
To hold half-yearly meetings, and discuss matters affecting the guild.
To wear our “badge” of royal blue.’
Over the next couple of decades the ward was not always used as a children’s ward. In 1936, however, it was reopened for that purpose and Thomas Pyman was invited to visit.
Maitland Mercury, 12 May 1936, p.6.