Michael Bolton Furse and American wife, Frances, moved to South Africa from England in 1903. Their only child, a daughter, Jane was born on 19 August 1904. In 1909 Michael Furse was consecrated the Bishop of Pretoria . When Bishop Michael trekked around the vast Anglican Diocese of Pretoria, Jane would sometimes accompany him. She became sorrowfully aware of the poverty and disease rife among the African people. She made up her mind to be a doctor in order to serve them. But Jane contracted scarlet fever and died on 3 August 1918. She was buried at a cemetery in Irene in Pretoria.[3]
In 1921 work began on a hospital to be built in her memory in a part of the diocese known as Sekhukhuneland. The hospital was named the Jane Furse Memorial Hospital. It grew in reputation in South Africa and internationally as a centre of excellence. The greater part of the medical staff came from the United Kingdom, supplemented by doctors from Canada, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Germany and South Africa. Medical students came from the USA, Germany and Israel to gain valuable experience. As the mission hospital grew, so did the town, businesses and services around Jane Furse, which eventually become known by the name of the hospital.[3]
On the 1 May 1976 the hospital was taken over by the Lebowa Government at the insistence of the South African government. As part of the process of land restitution in the Limpopo Province, the extensive hospital complex and agricultural grounds were returned to the Anglican Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist in 2004.[4] The government remained in control of the hospital while a new complex was being built on the outskirts of the town of Jane Furse.
When the hospital was decommissioned in 2008 and moved into the new Jane Furse Hospital, everything of value, including items of historical interest, were stripped and sold off, leaving the buildings derelict. The Anglican Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist is seeking compensation from the relevant government departments for the damage to the property.
A slow process of rehabilitating the Jane Furse Memorial Hospital and grounds for use of a range of non-medical activities is being undertaken, in the hope that it can once again be a place of service to the surrounding community. It currently houses the Jane Furse fire brigade, a post-natal clinic, a crèche and a centre for disabled children. An NGO is using part of the agricultural land to train people in appropriate small-scale farming techniques. A drop-in centre for children is also housed next door to the old hospital complex and St Mark’s College.
By Unknown
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