ABSTRACT
The Bath Infirmary was a long time in gestation. First mooted in 1711, it was 1723 before a subscription opened and 1742 before patients were admitted. To understand how the Bath Infirmary weathered the vagaries of the Georgian economy, must delve beyond the broad correlation of crises to unravel expenditure patterns and sources of income. After 1742/43, the Annual Report consistently divided expenditure into four main categories: Hospital expenses; wages for the apothecary, register, steward, matron, nurses, chairmen, bath guides, and other ‘menial servants’; drugs and spirits for the apothecary’s shop; and House expenses. If the Georgian economy exerted inflationary pressure on the costs of the Bath Infirmary, its steady growth released surplus income and dispersed it in the direction of the middling sort. The trustees and governors were energetic in attempting to tap these resources and quick to develop marketing tactics to generate income.
