The building of Ripley Hospital in 1912 was a real community effort, but much of the impetus came from one man, William Walker.

The idea was not new: there had been calls for a local hospital for many years, but the death in 1910 of Thomas Neal, a miner who died partly as a result of enduring the long journey to Derby in a horse ambulance, gave an extra urgency to the issue.

Walker was the manager of Pentrich pit where Neal had been injured, and he clearly felt a responsibility. Unlike the Butterley Company, men in independent pits like Pentrich did not have access to medical facilities on site.

Walker took action. He wrote to the newspaper outlining a plan. First, seek a gift of an acre of land. Then raise money, by subscription and by a levy of halfpence a week on wages. No politics or religion would be involved, and there would be trustees who would be elected annually.

At a public meeting in the Town Hall, it was clear that the owners and managers of the Butterley Company, by far the town’s biggest employer, considered that they already had medical facilities, and there was no need for a hospital. Other employers like the Crossleys and the owners of the independent pits, supported the proposal.

A subscription raised nearly £1200, a sixth of which came from employees of the Butterley Company, whatever their bosses said. Land was acquired, and it was the independent coal owners, with Bertrand Crossley, who laid the first stones in March 1912. By September, the building was open: twelve beds, a surgery, dining room and three bedrooms for live-in staff. Three of the town’s doctors agreed to be on call.

A week later, the hospital took its first case, another miner from Hartshay pit.

The town had come together to help itself, with a little push from one determined man.