Stephen Cottage Hospital

Stephen Cottage Hospital
NHS Grampian
Geography
Location	Dufftown, Moray, Scotland
Organisation
Care system	NHS Scotland
Type	Cottage
Services
Emergency department	Minor injuries unit
Beds	20
History
Opened	1890
Links
Lists	Hospitals in Scotland
Other links	List of hospitals in Scotland

Stephen Hospital is an NHS hospital in Dufftown, Moray, Scotland. It is administered by NHS Grampian.

The Stephen Hospital is situated in upper Speyside and serves the inhabitants of Dufftown and the surrounding area. The hospital consists of two wings - one built in 1890, and the other added in 1984. Itl has 20 beds providing medical care, rehabilitation, assessment, palliative/terminal care, and convalescence. The hospital also has a busy 24-hour minor injuries unit.

History

The hospital was funded by one of Dufftown's most famous sons, George Stephen, later Lord Mount Stephen, born on 5 June 1829, the oldest of eight children. At the age of 21, he emigrated to Canada to work for his cousin William Stephen, a Montreal draper and on his cousin's death in 1862 became sole proprietor. By 1866 he was running his own successful wool-importing company and investing in other textile businesses. With his business booming, he started buying shares of the Bank of Montreal. His abilities saw him appointed director in 1873 and president of Canada's largest bank in 1876 - and the most powerful financial figure in the country. Stephen, as chief financier, headed the group that built the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). By feigning reluctance to accept the challenge from the Canadian Government, Stephen drove down the terms to the group's advantage, but even then the challenge was a mammoth one - to drive the railway through the Rockies to British Columbia. In November, 1885, the last spike was driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia, and the country finally tied by rail. To a significant extent, George Stephen from Dufftown was the person most responsible for the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the opening up of Canada to new settlers. In 1891 he became Baron Mount Stephen, the title derived from a mountain in the Kicking Horse River Valley of British Columbia, previously named in his honour. In 1892 he made his permanent home in England, at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire. George Stephen, the boy from Dufftown who changed the face of Canada, died on 29 November 1921, his barony but not his legacy becoming extinct on his death. Today his contribution is commemorated by a plaque on Dufftown Tower.