Appeal for Women Volunteers

Group of nurses of the Voluntary Aid Detachment Bedford No.2, c.1914-1916 [Z1306/12/10/3]

Tuesday 12th March 1918: Lady Ampthill, head of the Voluntary Aid Detachment, has appealed for more women to prepare for hospital service. She says:

 “We want women not only for France, but for Salonika, Malta, and Egypt, and for the nursing of the wounded we want the very best type of woman. It is not essential that she should have a first aid certificate; if she is the right sort she will readily be accepted and trained. The friction that existed to some extent between the trained nurse and the voluntary helper has died, and they are working together today in the happiest spirit.

We can place about fifty cooks a week, and the cook of forty-five or fifty is just as welcome as the younger woman. Special cookery courses are provided for members to give them a knowledge of hospital needs. We have 300 V.A.D.s driving transports and ambulances in France, and we should be very glad to get more drivers, only they must have had at least six months’ experience. There is an opening for women as laboratory assistants; we give them the necessary training.  

We hope that some of the women discharged from munition works will come to us. The care of the wounded is surely the finest work women can do – the general service member helps in the task no less than the actual nurse. We need a steady flow of recruits during the coming months.”

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 15th March 1918

Bacon Hoarding

Two prize pigs in Brown & Merry Bedford sale yard c.1910 [BMB13/2]

 

Wednesday 6th March 1918: A case of bacon hoarding has been reported at the Bedford Food Control Committee. A man had called at the office and stated that he had purchased 140lbs of bacon in November and another 40lbs in January. He had been in the habit of purchasing a pig-and-a-half at a time for the past seventeen years. He also had about one hundredweight of potatoes, and at first said he had a sack of flour but then changed his mind. He had been instructed to send in a full return of what food he possessed but had not done so. There were three people in his household. The Committee decided to seize al the bacon except 20lbs, and send it to the two Voluntary Aid Detachment hospitals.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 8th March 1918

Hospital at Eaton Socon to Close

V.A.D. Recruitment Poster [Wikimedia]

Friday 25th February 1916: The County Director of the Red Cross for Bedfordshire has informed the Assistant Director of Medical Service at Bedford that the hospital at Eaton Socon which has been run as a convalescent home by the No. 8 Bedfordshire V.A.D. since November 1914 is to close at the end of next month, though it is hoped it will soon be possible to reopen it in alternative premises:

I regret to inform you that the Relief Hospital at Eaton Socon which has been financed privately will be closed on the 31st of March. The Commandant has however got the promise of two other buildings. She would however like you to inspect them on either March 1st or March 3rd. If you pass them she will have the necessary cleaning done. When the Hospital re-opens it will be necessary to obtain the 3/- grant would you please communicate direct with the Commandant, Mrs Brackenbury, Eaton Socon, St Neots, and settle which date is convenient to you.

 Source: WW1/NU4, letter dated 26 February 1916

Final Preparations at Wardown Hospital

Wardown House 1914 [Z1306/75/8/2]

Friday 7th January 1916: In November we heard that Wardown House was being prepared as a hospital for wounded soldiers. There are currently just 21 patients being treated there but the military authorities are anxious for the hospital to be fully available and have been told it should be ready to receive a consignment of wounded patients within a few days. Just a few minor repairs and renovations are now needed, which will be carried out by the Luton Borough Engineer. Luton Town Council is contributing half the £10 cost of rearranging the heating apparatus and the provision of hot water. The Voluntary Aid Detachment have applied for the use of rooms currently occupied by the caretaker but their application has been refused. The matter has now been referred back to the Parks Committee asking them to reconsider; the hospital committee is anxious that the entire house should be given over to the hospital as in order to work efficiently it will be necessary for nurses to sleep on the premises.

Mary Green and Nora Durler, the commandants of the hospital, have asked for donations of money, domestic items, household linen, fruit, flowers and vegetables. They have also appealed for the following medical appliances:

•  A wheeled trolley with a stretcher for transporting the sick and wounded
• One or more self-propelling wheelchairs
• An irrigator with a stand
• A set of three enamel wash bowls on a stand for the operating room
• One dressing waggon for the wards.

Source: Luton Times, 7th January 1916

The Men of the Voluntary Aid Detachment

Hayward-Tyler section of the V.A.D. [Luton Times]

Thursday 9th December 1915: We often hear of the ladies of the Voluntary Aid Detachments but should remember that a number of men are also doing their part. The men of the 1st section of Luton’s Red Cross are doing active work, attached for night duty to Wardown Hospital. One of the men attends the hospital every night ready to help as required. Messrs. Hayward-Tyler’s works formed this V.A.D. section some ten years ago. All the men are thoroughly experienced, with many holding merit medallions. Their training has been carried out by Arthur Dines, the first section leader appointed in Bedfordshire. Hayward-Tyler have taken a keen interest in the men’s work and they are trained to proper military standard, as they demonstrated in the ambulance operations at the Territorial recruiting demonstration held at Luton Hoo. Much credit is due both to their leader and to the men who are prepared to give up much of their leisure time to carry out this important work.

Source: Luton Times, 10th December 1915

Red Cross Work at Wardown Hospital

Wardown House, 1914 [Z1306/75/8/2]

Monday 15th November 1915: It is encouraging to hear of the sterling work being carried out by the volunteer nurses of the Luton Voluntary Aid Detachments at Wardown House Hospital. Early in the war the mansion was placed at the disposal of the military authorities. Gifts of furnishings and equipment were sent from all over Luton and in October 1914 it was opened as a clearing hospital. As such it was used to nurse any cases of sickness among the troops training in the Luton area, and was also used as a training school for men of the Royal Army Medical Corps. At its busiest as many as 90 patients at a time were in residence, in the wards, in the annexe, or even accommodated in tents outside the house. Nurses provided by the V.A.D. have provided vital services from the time the hospital opened.

New arrangements are now being made for Wardown. Last week the hospital was transferred from the military authorities to the control of the V.A.D. Committee. At the present time there are only a few patients, but preparations are being made to receive about 70 wounded men who will be transferred from Aylesbury Hospital. These will be nursed entirely by the women of Red Cross V.A.D.s 12 and 14, under the command of Mrs. J. W. Green and Mrs. R. Durler. The Voluntary Aid Detachments were founded in 1905 at a meeting presided over by Queen Alexandra, and function under the auspices of the British Red Cross. By 31st March 1915 there were 2,207 V.A.D.s in Britain, with 66,059 members.  The Red Cross ladies of Luton include two quartermasters, 44 nurses and seven cooks. These volunteers are all now leading a life very different to the one they enjoyed before the war. Three of the nurses are on “active service” in France, and the remainder have been notified that they will now be called upon for both day and night nursing duties. They will be under the direction of a matron-in-charge and assisted by two professional nurses from London.

Wardown will make a perfect setting for wounded soldiers to begin their road to recovery. The dining-room, library, billiard and drawing rooms with their panelled ceilings have been turned into wards; upstairs rooms have been allocated for use as an officers’ ward, nurses’ quarters and the quartermaster’s stores. Considerable improvements were made to the property while the North Midland Division were based in Luton and it now meets high standards of cleanliness, ventilation and sanitation

Source: Luton Times, 12th November 1915

Grovebury Red Cross Hospital

Inspection of Voluntary Aid Detachment 1915 [Z1306/12/10/1]

Friday 12th November 1915: The Red Cross Hospital which opened at Grovebury Road, Leighton Buzzard on 23rd August has temporarily closed following the departure of the Royal Field Artillery for Ripon. In the two and a half months it was in operation it treated fifty four patients. These include both cases of sickness and those hurt in riding accidents at the Artillery School in Page’s Park. For much of this time the hospital operated with only a small number of nurses from the 18th Bedfordshire Voluntary Aid Detachment.  Fortunately by kind permission of Mrs. Leopold de Rothschild they were assisted by members of the 12th Buckinghamshire Voluntary Aid Detachment, the Linslade and Wing Branch of the St. John Ambulance Association. The Leighton Buzzard Red Cross detachment has now been asked to accommodate fifty wounded soldiers. They are hoping to be able to accept at least part of this number if they can get local help.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 2nd and 16th November 1915

Houghton Regis V.A.D. Hospital

Houghton Regis, c.1910 [Z49/1024]

Tuesday 26th October 1915: The Voluntary Aid Detachments for Bedfordshire have all been asked to reply to a questionnaire concerning their activities. The response from Houghton Regis  V.A.D. 46 gives a good example of the scope of a detachment’s work:

The Hospital was opened on January 13th 1915 and has been working without interruption up to the present time. The daily average attendance of members is 7, who are on duty two at a time from 7.30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. The number of patients passed through this Hospital is 195 – the average number of days that patients were retained in the Hospital was 10 days. The Hospital has received a Government Grant of 3/- per day per occupied bed since March 1st and also a Mobilization Grant of £10.0.0 from the British Red Cross Society.

One member has undertaken Special Service at Home, and has been nursing at The Nursing Home, 3 Mandeville Place, Manchester Square West for three months. No members of this Detachment are serving abroad and at present none have volunteered for Special Service, as the Detachment is a small one, and has only been started a year and a half.

A Working Party was formed last winter, to which most of the members belonged, and several large parcels of garments for the sick and wounded were sent to the Depot at Bedford. The members have also done a great deal of needlework for our own hospital.

No Members of the Detachment are working abroad and none have attended at the County Hospital. Night duty was undertaken by the Members from January until May, but as only slight cases of sickness are admitted, it was not found necessary to continue this, and an orderly is now on duty at night.

There were six beds in this Hospital when it was opened, but the number was increased to nine after few weeks, and arrangements are now being made to add five more beds in case they are required for wounded during the winter.

K. M. Baker, Commandant

Source: WW1 Nursing Records [WW1/NU3]

Major Stevens is Disheartened

George Herbert Fowler [Z50/141/65]

Tuesday 12th October 1915: Major Stevens, the Chairman of the Bedfordshire Territorial Force Association and County Director of the Voluntary Aid Detachments for the county has written to Eastern Command expressing his frustration with confusing and contradictory correspondence he has received, pointing out that “a number of letters addressed to your office on Red Cross work have never been answered, and it makes it most difficult to carry on under these conditions”. It appears that Eastern Command have confused hospitals intended for use only in the event of invasion with others which have been, or still are, in use for sick and wounded soldiers.

An example of the difficulties caused by dilatory and inconsistent War Office actions is the “hospital” at Aspley Guise. A private house was fitted up as a hospital ready for occupation by Dr Fowler [1] at considerable expense. This was offered to the War Office on 14th April. On the 18th April Eastern Command replied to say the offer could not be accepted and that they were unable to issue mobilisation orders for the Voluntary Aid Detachment. After two further letters stating that the place was ready for use and a doctor had placed himself at the hospital’s disposal Eastern Command replied that “The War Office orders are that no more V.A.D. Hospitals are to be taken”. By October Eastern Command appeared to be under the impression that the Aspley Guise hospital was in operation, however Dr Fowler’s offer of the property is no longer open. Understandably Major Stevens is now reluctant to find and staff new hospitals without an assurance that if they are got ready for use he will not subsequently be told they are not required.

Major Stevens has made repeated applications to mobilise the Sandy V.A.D., to which he has had no response; nor have his letters concering the issue of brassards and identity certificates to members of mobilised V.A.Ds. On 16th September he wrote asking permission to mobilise the Goldington V.A.D. which was working as a convalescent home, but never received a reply. The hospital has now been turned into a relief hospital attached to the Eastern General Hospital at Cambridge. He concludes “I can only end up this rather long letter by saying that the Military Authorities have given us so very little help and encouragement that many of our best members have gone to France. We still wish to help in every possible way, and if in your turn you will help us, I am sure that Red Cross work in this County can be made a success, but at present things are most disheartening.”

Source: WW1 Nursing Records [WW1/NU4]

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[1] Dr George Herbert Fowler was a member of Bedfordshire County Council and the founder of the Bedfordshire Record Office (now Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Record Service, the authors of this blog)

A New Red Cross Hospital at Leighton Buzzard

Leighton Buzzard Workhouse c.1915

Sunday 29th August 1915: Since the previous Red Cross Hospital at the Corn Exchange in Leighton Buzzard closed last December the town has not had accommodation for troops requiring treatment due to illness or accident. A new Red Cross Hospital has now been set up in the Board Room of the Workhouse in Grovebury Road and is already providing treatment for soldiers at the Artillery Training School. Like its predecessor it is under the direction of the local Voluntary Aid Detachment, with Miss Blewitt as Commandant. The Board Room is light and airy and perfectly suited as a hospital ward. Any gifts of fruit, flowers, vegetables, rabbits, jam and so on would be gratefully received, at would the loan of bed rests and bed tables.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer 31 August 1915

Hospital Evacuation Arrangements

Men with recruiting poster outside Sandy Town Hall [Z50/142/478]

Thursday 8th July 1915: 

After much negotiation arrangements have finally been agreed for the removal of sick and wounded from V.A.D. and private hospitals in Suffolk to Bedfordshire in the event of invasion. Should it become necessary the following emergency hospitals will be set up in Bedfordshire (numbers of beds are shown in brackets):

Turvey Schools (50) – to take patients from Elvesden Hall Hospital (8), Halesworth Patrick Stead Hospital (26) and Beccles Red Cross Hospital (20)

Bedford: Kempston Schools (100), Dunstable Yeomanry Drill Hall (80) – to take patients from Ampton Hall Suffolk Hospital (150) and Sudbury Red Cross Hospital (30)

Sandy Town Hall (60) – to take patients from Henham Hall Hospital (50) and Hengrave Hall Hospital (10)

Biggleswade Masonic Hall (30) – to take patients from Aldeburgh Red Cross Hospital (21)

Marston Moretaine Schools (50) – to take patients from Newmarket Rous Hospital (8), Sudbury St Leonards Hospital (6), Saxmundham R.A.M.C. Hospital (20) and Tostock Place Hospital (4)

Ampthill British Schools (100) – to take patients from Easton Park Hospital (50) and Bury St Edmunds West Suffolk General Hospital (45)

Woburn Town Hall (30) – to take patients from Melton Red Cross Hospital (30)

Toddington Wesleyan Schools (40) – to take patients from Bury St Edmunds Northgate Street (40)

Luton Union Infirmary (30) – to take patients from Newmarket Red Cross Hospital (35)

Luton, Coutts and Co, Bedford Road (30) – to take patients from Shrubland Park Hospital (25) and Woolpit Hospital (6)

Luton, Tennyson Road Schools (90) – to take patients from Sproughton Maryland (18), Ipswich Broadwater (40), Whepstead Plumton House (15) and Brettenham Park (23)

Source: WW1 Nursing Records [WW1/NU4]

Hospital Evacuation Arrangements

Tuesday 18th May 1915: The Director of the Voluntary Aid Detachments for Bedfordshire is becoming increasingly exasperated over the demands made by Eastern Command and the Suffolk Red Cross that he make definite arrangements for the accommodation of sick and wounded soldiers from Suffolk in the event of an evacuation becoming necessary. Today he has sent the following somewhat sarcastic letter to his Suffolk counterpart:

Dear Sir With reference to your letter of May 9th. You are in a very happy position if you have been told that any suitable buildings can be taken if the existing Hospital accommodation is insufficient. I may at once point out that there is no existing hospital accommodation in this County and what we have to do is to extemporise some. Practically every suitable building is in occupation of the troops. The fact of being told that the troops may vacate these buildings is not quite good enough for me to give you any definite undertaking. The following buildings may be used and you can send your wounded there. I suppose you will be able to give us at least 48 hours notice. 

Luton: The Infirmary at the Union House, Dunstable Rd; Tennyson Road, County School; Coutts and Co’s Factory.

Biggleswade: Masonic Hall

Sandy: Sandy Town Hall

Bedford: Kempston School 

Ampthill: British School 

Clophill: The Schools

We would as far as possible have beds etc., but the accommodation would be and must be rough. We cannot fit up these buildings now in anticipation of what may happen and what if it does happen will come very suddenly. I will in due course directly I hear from the various Commandants give you approximately the numbers that can be placed in each of these buildings.
 Yours very truly,
Major F.A.D.Stevens

Source: WW1 Nursing Records [WW1/NU4]

Hospital Arrangements

Men with recruiting poster outside Sandy Town Hall, c.1916 [Z50/142/478]

Tuesday 30th March 1915: The County Director for the Bedfordshire Voluntary Aid Detachments has written to Eastern Command explaining that a number of hospitals which were said in September 1914 to be available for casualties from overseas can no longer be used for that purpose. The list and the reasons for the withdrawal of these buildings from the list are as follows:

Cardington Parish Room: A present occupied as billets for the Irish Horse.

Eaton Socon Hospital: At present filled up with convalescents from Cambridge.

Grafton Rooms, Bedford: At present used as an Officers’ Mess for one of the Battalions stationed in this town.

Kent House, Bedford: Not available now.

Biggleswade Hospital: This hospital has done excellent work for six months; but work had to cease as the masons required the buildings for their dinners. The A.D.M.S. (Colonel Murray) states that another V.A.D. Hospital is not necessary.

Ampthill Hospital: This V.A.D. has formed a hospital for the troops stationed in Ampthill Park.

Dunstable Hospital: This hospital is full of sick from the neighbouring troops.

Wardown House, Luton: This hospital has troops from the neighbourhood.

Town Hall, Sandy: This building is occupied as billets by the National Reserve.

Corn Exchange, Leighton Buzzard: This building has been used as a hospital, but is now being used as a Government factory.

Source: WW1 Nursing Records [WW1/NU4]

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]

Wounded Soldiers at Bedford Station

 Group of nurses of the Voluntary Aid Detachment Bedford No.2, c.1914-1916 [Z1306/12/10/3]#

Thursday 1st October 1914: A train carrying soldiers wounded during the Battle of the Aisne has just passed through Bedford. It stopped at the Midland Railway station for half an hour, during which time nurses from the Bedford and Ampthill Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachments supplied them with refreshments. One of the men in particular was lucky to be alive – a bullet had passed through a button on his tunic, through the top of his trousers, and out through the bottom of his tunic. The soldiers were all in good spirits and anxious to recover quickly so they could return to the front.

Source: Beds Times 9/10/1914

News from Leighton Buzzard

Wednesday 19th August 1914

Leighton Buzzard Corn Exchange and Lake Street [Z1130/72/61-62]

The war is beginning to affect life in the market town of Leighton Buzzard now that Territorial soldiers have been billeted there. The Wesleyan Sunday School in Hockliffe Street has been open during the week for the men to use for recreational purposes with an entertainment has been laid on for them every evening. The Corn Exchange in Lake Street has been turned into a hospital with the help of the Leighton Red Cross and has been operating with a staff of ladies from the Leighton Voluntary Aid Detachment. The dozen inmates are all suffering from either minor illnesses or injuries suffered while on duty. The soldiers are due to leave today and it is expected that the patients from the Corn Exchange will be taken to the Military Hospital in Bedford.

Source: Luton News 20th August 1914