Matron was last at hospital

A sad 40th anniversary has recently passed largely unnoticed. On February 26, 1968, a fire at Shelton Hospital, Shrewsbury, killed 24 patients. It was Shropshire’s worst ever fire in terms of loss of life.

The matron at the time was Rosamund Butters, who is the lady on the right. Mr Ross Vickers, of Wellington, who loaned us this picture, said she was also the last matron at the hospital, as there had been no matron since her retirement.

This group are obviously having a celebration of some kind as they are cutting a cake, but Mr Vickers does not know the date, place or occasion.

There is a family interest as Mr Vickers’s wife is related to Rosamund Butters. Mr Vickers says: “Rosamund was my mother-in-law’s cousin.”

Next to her is the Shrewsbury mayor, a Councillor Becket, and his wife. On the left are a Mr and Mrs Clout. Mr Clout was, says Mr Vickers, hospital secretary.