Arrangements for Possible Hospital Evacuation

Aspley Guise School c.1916 [Z1306/3a/20/1]

Monday 22nd March 1915: This month there has been considerable correspondence between Major Stevens, the County Director of Bedfordshire Voluntary Aid Detachments, and the Commander-in-Chief of Eastern Command at Whitehall concerning arrangements to be made in the event of it becoming necessary to evacuate Suffolk hospitals to Bedfordshire due to invasion or bombardment. One proposal is to use school buildings as hospitals should the need arise. A report on the impact this would have on specific schools has been issued today:

Cardington: It would, I think, be possible to transfer the elder scholars to Willington School and the younger ones to Cople School. But this could possibly be avoided by the use of the Howard Reading Room for hospital purposes. I understand that it has been used by the local branch of the British Red Cross Society for their drills, etc.

Aspley Guise: Arrangements might be made to transfer the scholars temporarily to Aspley Heath School, but this would be a very long journey for some of the scholars, particularly the younger ones, and it is probably that some of them would be found to reside outside the bye-law distance of 2½ miles from Aspley Heath School. There is however at Aspley Guise a Parish Hall capable of seating 250 persons and there are good Institute premises at Aspley Heath; possibly these might be of use as Hospitals.

Biggleswade: In view of the present demand on the school accommodation it is doubtful whether any school premises could be granted for use as a hospital without entirely disorganising attendance at school. It is suggested that the Masonic Rooms should be utilised as before for hospital purposes.

Sharnbrook: It is very difficult to make arrangements for the transfer of scholars to other suitable premises. No other schools are available. There is, however, a large room which it is believed will be quite suitable for hospital purposes.

Goldington: Cannot transfer scholars to other schools. There is a good Reading Room which might be large enough for a hospital though it is not large enough to accommodate the scholars in attendance at the school.

Melchbourne: No other school premises available for transfer of scholars. The school is very small and would accommodate but few patients.

Kempston: Arrangements might be made to place the Rural School for use as a Hospital.

It seems clear from this report that any major scheme to locate hospitals in school buildings would create serious difficulties for educational arrangements in the county.

Source: WW1 Nursing Records [WW1/NU4]

The Seabrook Family

Image: Old Heath House, Aspley Heath (formerly the Flying Duck), 2007

Tuesday 15th December 1914: Anyone familiar with Aspley Heath will know the Flying Duck beerhouse in Heath Lane. Dorcas Seabrook (nee Yarrow), the wife of the landlord Harry Seabrook, comes from a long line of soldiers and now has three brothers following the family tradition. Charles Yarrow is serving at the Front with the Signal Corps of the Royal Engineers. He has written to his sister that “the weather is very bad and I shall be glad when the cuckoo comes and picks up all the dirt … Thank my mates for tobacco and pipe, which were more than acceptable. You don’t know the value of a pipe here; it’s like looking for gold, but I have still got three left. … If you can possibly let me have a pair of socks, no matter what kind, I shall be very pleased, as we cannot get any”.

George Yarrow is with the 7th Regiment of  the Dragoon Guards. He had served for two years in Egypt, then for six in India and is feeling the contrast in the weather: “It is snowing hard here, and by Jove, it is a bit parky after the climate I have been used to this last six years; but, we shall soon get used to it again. It is a rather strange sight to see snow lying on the ground; I had almost forgotten what it is like”. He asked his sister for paper and envelopes, and for a bar of Sunlight soap which is very scarce at the Front. So far his Regiment has suffered only light casualties.[1]

Mrs Seabrook’s third brother William is currently training at Northampton. Their father, Frank Yarrow of Wootton, served in the Crimea (where he helped Florence Nightingale in the hospital wards) and through the Indian Mutiny[2]. Their grandfather and great-grandfather were also soldiers.

Source: Bedfordshire Times 18th December 1914; Army Service Records

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[1] Prior to joining the army George Yarrow had been apprenticed as a tailor. He was disciplined four times during his army service for offences relating to drunkenness, twice in 1908, on Christmas Day 1913, and in March 1916. On 2 May 1916 he was admitted to 3rd General Hospital at Le Treport vomiting blood. He died four days later from a perforated gastric ulcer. A telegram of 5 May from Harry Seabrook states that he would like to visit George but could not bear the expense. A certificate from a clergyman supported the claim that Mrs Seabrook would be unable to afford the cost of a journey to France.
[2] Frank Yarrow is described in the 1881 census for Wootton as a farm labourer and Chelsea pensioner.