3-053-810 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Croquet at the Convalescent Home of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Highgate, [north London], 1873. 'Cromwell House...has a garden with a spacious lawn, convenient for the game of croquet. That favourite pastime of ladies is not unsuitable for the open-air recreation of men who have lost strength by long confinement to a sick-bed. The scene shows a party of the convalescent patients, with two or three officers of the institution, playing on the green with a quiet enjoyment of their social sport which is pleasant to see...we may be allowed to hope that none of these poor fellows, though one or two have been compelled to bring their crutches into the garden, will be permanently deprived of the use of their limbs. If the ablest surgical treatment and skill at the hospital, followed by the kindest care for their returning health at Highgate, can obtain for their cases a complete cure, it is possible that next summer may find them restored to the full measure of natural activity. They may yet be capable of joining in a game of cricket, which is ever so much better for young men than a game of croquet, except when the players are really invalids'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.