12 June 1999

Historic charters discovered in bank vault

A strongbox of papers which had lain undisturbed in a Dundee bank vault for more than 30 years yielded its secrets recently and will now be available to the public via the University of Dundee Archives.

When Mr Murray Marshall, customer services officer at the Royal Bank of Scotland's city centre branch in Dundee stumbled on the Dundee Royal Infirmary papers just after the closure of the hospital, he had little idea of their significance. He noticed the old parchments were hand-written in Latin and in English and that each was attached by ribbon to a plate-sized red seal contained in a protective tin, known as a "skippet". What he had found were the original Royal Charters for Dundee Royal Infirmary dating back to 1819, 1877 and 1898 respectively. After obtaining permission from the Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust, the bank delivered the old documents to the University Archives.

Archivist Mrs Pat Whatley described the find as "significant and exciting". "The charters add an important missing piece to the university's extensive archive of local medical records. It's particularly good to have them as they are the very starting point of the hospital's history."

The first charter, dated 1819, was granted by George iii and signed on his behalf by George Prince of Wales. It incorporated the Dundee Infirmary and the Asylum as an establishment consisting of two independent bodies. The 1877 charter separated the Royal Asylum and the Royal Infirmary. The 1898 Supplementary Charter established a maternity hospital with an associated district service and permitted consultant physicians and surgeons to be directors of the Infirmary Board.

The DRI charters join the records from 18 hospitals and boards including Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum, Strathmartine Hospital and Maryfield Hospital and other bodies in the University Archives. The earliest surviving such record is an account book for Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum dated 1805.

Said Pat Whatley: "The parchments are dirty but otherwise in very good condition. Luckily they have been protected in the bank's vaults. If parchment gets wet it can shrink irreversibly and can become transparent.. Once the conservators have "relaxed" the parchment from its long-term folded state, and it has been cleaned, we will have facsimiles made to go on display at Ninewells."

Two of the three seals, made of red wax embossed with the royal coat of arms, are also in good condition and will go on display. The third will require some conservation work./ends