Names are needed for new roads being created as part of the new development at the former Oaklands House site in Coulsdon Road, Caterham. Oaklands House was part of Saint Lawrence's Hospital, Caterham on the Hill, which opened in 1870 as Caterham Asylum and closed in 1994.

Local councillors would like to keep part of the history of the site by naming some of the new roads after people who either worked or were patients at the hospital over its long history.

Before the Council can go ahead with this, it needs to try to contact the relatives or their legal estates for permission to use their names for the roads. The Council is interested in hearing from anyone with information about the following people:

Peter Sylvester: Final Chairman and Medical Administrator of St Lawrence's Hospital.

George S Elliott: Medical Superintendent 1880s.

James Adam: First Medical Superintendent until 1879.

Samuel Gibson: One of the last survivors of the Battle of Waterloo, later a patient at St Lawrence's.

Doreen Firmin: First woman Physician Superintendent, 1951-1959. Her name was given to the Doreen Firmin Training Centre, which is now the Clifton High School.

Barry Richards: Editor of medical journal Mental Deficiency Research, who worked at the hospital in the 1970s.

Emma Mosely: First Matron in 1870.

Diana Courtazzi: St Lawrence's Principal Psychologist, 1970s.

If you have any information about these people, please contact the Street Naming and Numbering Officer on 01883 732780, or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Councillor Martin Fisher, Chairman of the Resources Committee, said: "By naming the roads after some of the key people involved in the site means the area keeps a part of the history of the hospital which was a fixture of Caterham for 124 years."