Home Front 1914-18 Hospital Locations: Oxfordshire Case Study
During the First World War many auxiliary hospitals and convalescent homes throughout the United Kingdom were run by nurses and nursing assistants of the British Red Cross and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. They worked together under the Joint War Committee and were attached to a central military hospital. So, for example Oxfordshire fell under the command of the Third Southern General Hospital.
The hospitals and convalescent homes came in all shapes and sizes, including stately homes, large residential properties, village halls, churches, schools, libraries and town halls. Many are relatively easy to trace as they are noted by name and often the name of the property has been carried forward to the present day.
The Red Cross holds a list of the Auxiliary hospitals, county by county across the UK. The Red Cross list of Auxiliary Hospitals can be found here
The list of VAD hospitals for Oxfordshire
The Red Cross list of Auxiliary Hospitals reveals the following-
VAD Hospital, Bicester Hall, Bicester
Sywncombe House, Henley on Thames
Town Hall, Henley on Thames
Harpsden Court, Henley on Thames
Battle House, Goring on Thames
Burcot House, Abingdon
Bruern Abbey, Chipping Norton
Clanfield
Old Grammar School, Thame
Hill Lodge, Chipping Norton
Oxford University, Felstead House.
Grimsbury, Banbury
None of the hospitals above are identified with a National Grid Reference in the Red Cross List, however some of these hospitals have been identified with a National Grid Reference on the Geograph website
Using this list I was able to gather six, eight or ten figure Grid References for ten of the locations. I also started using Google to see if I could find further information under local projects.
Next I logged onto the Home Front Legacy Recording App and entered the first National Grid Reference.
I sought to cross reference the image from Geograph, with that of Google maps and matching to the given grid reference. In some cases it is immediately apparent you are in the right location.
A good checking process can also involve using historic maps and comparing them to the modern day using the on-line maps provided by the National Library of Scotland. These maps cover the whole of the UK.
Click here to see the NLS side-by-side historic map app
I am now in a position to enter all of the known locations for auxiliary hospitals in Oxfordshire.
There are three that remain to be satisfactorily identified, Hill Lodge, Chipping Norton, Clanfield (no specific location) and Grimsbury, Banbury (again, no location).
Oxfordshire Health Archives holds a list of all its hospitals. I cannot however find these.
Chipping Norton War Memorial Hospital
This was originally a private house before 1875. During the First World War it was presented by Mrs Walford and run as a Red Cross Hospital by Mrs Daly of Over Norton Park. It was opened as a War Memorial in 1920 and run as a cottage hospital until 1948.
The hospital was closed and transferred to a new site on the London Road. The hospital was identified as being on Spring Street.
I cannot link this to Hill Lodge from the Geograph and Red Cross list but it is a First World War hospital.
The Third Southern General Hospital
This was a territorial-force hospital based at Oxford, at existing hospitals and other large facilities. It also had responsibility for the 1,000 beds in the attached auxiliary hospitals, listed above.
This website features more information about the Third Southern General Hospital- www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/war/military_hospitals/
For Officers-
Somerville College,Woodstock Road
High Wall, Pullens Lane
For Other Ranks-
Examination Schools High Street and prior to that Magdalen College School
Cowley Road
Oxford Masonic Buildings
New College Shelter
Radcliffe Infirmary
Town Hall
Durham Building
Radcliffe Building
The Wingfield Convalescent Home
Town Hall Ward Third Southern General Hospital
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Archives- PC90 no known copyright restrictions
I have now found all of these locations and added them to the Home Front Legacy ‘Map of Sites’.
Further internet searches have revealed the hospital at Clanfield. The Imperial War Museum have a record of the memorial for the hospital located at the Village Hall. I think the Village Hall is the Carter institute founded in 1906 by Amelia Carter to provide the men of the village with a reading room. I have contacted the Carter Institute.
The best I can do for the moment is to identify a potential location for the hospital at Grimsbury, the Manor House SP4625341715 List Entry Number 1199445, however there is no evidence for this. A search at the local record office might help.
From local knowledge I know that the County Asylum was used as a war hospital. The only record of its use in the First World War, is to be found in the National Archives!
The Carter Institute have now confirmed that this was the hospital in Clanfield and the attached photograph is of the memorial commemorating the work of the hospital.
Update
Thanks to Geograph we have now identified the Auxillary Hospital at Grimsbury. It was in the Sunday school of the Wesleyan Chapel on West Street, now demolished.
