PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Flete House, in the wonderful South Devon countryside, was used by the City of Plymouth as a maternity hospital during and shortly after the Second World War. It seems to have closed in around 1952/53. The original House dated from the Elizabethan period and was the seat of the Damerell family until the time of King Edward III and the Hele family until 1716, when the estate passed to the Bulteels. The two principal fronts were altered by Mr J C Bulteel in about 1836, when they were rebuilt in a castellated style. At the time the Second World War broke out, the estate was in the hands of Lieutenant-Colonel, the Lord Mildmay of Flete, PC, TD, DL, JP., whose father, H B Mildmay, Esquire, had erected a new mansion in the place of the house referred to above. It was apparently quite an adventure visiting patients here during the period it was a hospital as there was only a sparse bus service from Plymouth and that was actually provided at the expense of Lord Mildmay. The first baby to be born at Flete arrived on Monday July 14th 1941. By the end of that month three babies had been delivered and each was christened after a member of the Mildmay family: Francis Bath, Anthony Pester and Helen Moss. By the end of 1941 there had been a further 124 births. Lord Mildmay remained in residence at the House until his death in 1947 and was apparently often seen in the Wards. Closure came on Thursday May 8th 1958, less than a month after the last baby was born there. Flete House was returned to the Mildmay family in 1959.
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