In 1946, The Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital,Taplow, Berkshire, was built as a hospital for children which would treat juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) was first described in 1896 by Frederick Still, a paediatrician at Great Ormond St Hospital, it wasn’t until 1946 that a specialised centre for the study of Juvenile Rheumatism was established in Taplow. Within a few years Rheumatic Fever more or less disappeared, due to the improved nutrition and hygiene of the population and because the bacterium, which caused the illness, became much less virulent.

The team subsequently turned their attention to children with, what was then called, Still’s Disease. It was Dr Barbara Ansell who first recognised that the different patterns of disease had differing courses and outcomes and needed, to some extent, different treatments.