Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa was opened in 1956 through public subscription as a memorial to soldiers lost in the Second World War. The suggestion that the memorial take the form of a children's hospital was proposed by Vyvyan U.T. Watson. Mr Watson, a prominent businessman, had lost his first born and only son, Peter Tennant Watson, at about four years old, to an outbreak of diphtheria in Cape Town. Mr Watson was a major force in steering the organization of the building of the hospital. The Peter Pan statue on the hospital grounds, sculpted by Ivan Mitford-Barberton, was donated by Mr Watson and his wife, Gwendolyn. Mr Watson was later President of the South African Red Cross Society. It is one of two dedicated children's public hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only a few dedicated children's hospitals in the Southern hemisphere.
^Millar, Alastair J. W.; Rode, Heinz (23 March 2012). "Our surgical heritage: the role of the Department of Paediatric Surgery in the development of paediatric surgery in Cape Town, in Africa, and around the world". South African Medical Journal. 102 (6): 409–411–411. doi:10.7196/SAMJ.5744 (inactive 10 November 2024). ISSN2078-5135. PMID22668921.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)