page_title: Pemberton Memorial Operating Room
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Pemberton Memorial Operating Room / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Joseph Despard Pemberton
context_page_description: The Pemberton Memorial Operating Room is a National Historic Site of Canada, the first operating room of the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, British Columbia. It established the Royal Jubilee Hospital as the leading surgical hospital in the province.
  The construction of the building to house the operating room was financed by a bequest left by Joseph Pemberton, and supplemented with additional funding by his widow Teresa Pemberton, who also partially funded the purchase of equipment. The funds were originally intended for the construction of a maternity ward, but were insufficient for such a project.
  Interior components were selected and designed to be easily cleaned and disinfected after each surgical procedure, including the mosaic tile floor, and it was connected to a sterilizing room. The design implemented anti-sepsis techniques developed by Joseph Lister, who visited the room in 1897 and was favourably impressed.
  It was used daily from its completion in 1896 until 1925, when the hospital expanded and built six new operating rooms.
context_section_description: John Chapman Davie Jr. began lobbying for a hospital in Victoria in the mid 1880s, planning for a single-level pavilion design of interconnected buildings. The Royal Jubilee Hospital was opened in May 1890, with three wards, an administrative block, residences, and a laboratory. The hospital's debt grew during the early 1890s, but as a result of addressing an 1893 smallpox epidemic, the city passed a bylaw allowing it to pay off the mortgage "as a show of appreciation".
  On 9 January 1894, F.B. Pemberton spoke to the hospital's board of directors, stating that a $2,000 bequest had been left to the hospital by his father Joseph Pemberton, who had died in 1893 as a result of a heart attack while horseback riding. Various proposals were made for its use, but the bequest stipulated that it was to be used for development of new property. The board elected to build a maternity ward, for which Joseph Pemberton's widow, Teresa Jane Pemberton donated an additional $1,500. However, the $3,500 was insufficient for such a project.
  The hospital's board of directors debated potential uses of the funds, and on 7 October 1895 settled on building an operating room favoured by Davie. It would implement the anti-sepsis techniques developed by Joseph Lister,  which Davie had studied during a sabbatical in Europe in the 1880s. The winning design, "Plan 3" by John Teague, was selected on 20 March 1896, and the winning tender for its construction was submitted by Thomas Catterall for $3,614. Teresa Pemberton donated the additional $114.
  The cornerstone was installed on 15 May 1896 by Teresa Pemberton, in a ceremony during which she was presented with a silver trowel to "show appreciation for her generous support and flexibility towards the project". The trowel's handle was carved from an oak timber taken from the Beaver, the first steamship to operate in the Pacific Northwest of North America. The silver blade was made from silver mined at Bluebell mine, the base from matte obtained from Silver King mine, and the gold ferrule from matte obtained from Le Roi gold mine. Neither the cornerstone, nor the time capsule buried beneath it, has been discovered since then.
  Pemberton became the building's namesake for his posthumous bequest. By July 1896, nearing completion of construction, the board of directors was informed that $500 would be required to equip the operating room; this was provided by the Women’s Auxiliary and another donation by Teresa Pemberton. Upon completion, it "established the Jubilee as the leading surgical hospital" in British Columbia.
caption: Joseph Pemberton, whose bequest allowed the construction of the operating room
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