It is well known that military nurses played an imperative role in WW1, tending to the hundreds of thousands of soldiers badly wounded on the front lines. The Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service formed the largest group of military nurses and, by the end of the War, thousands of British nurses had been dispatched around the world to care for wounded soldiers. However, what is perhaps less well known is the story of the civilian nurses that stayed at home, cared for the sick and delivered the children of the women that remained in Britain.

Queen’s Institute Nurses attending a visit at Marlborough House in 1901 – Image courtesy of the Queen’s Institute

At the beginning of the 20^th Century, midwifery was a vastly unregulated profession, so much so that any woman could practice midwifery without training or qualifications. This changed, however, in the run up to the First World War when growing attention was given to child and maternity welfare. The 1902 Midwives Act established the Central Midwives Board and dictated that a woman could not call herself a midwife unless she was certified by the Board or she risked being fined up to £5 (the equivalent of around £500 today). Further progress was established in 1910 when the loophole in the Act that allowed women to practice as midwives as long as they didn’t call themselves midwives was closed, and the fine for practicing uncertified was increased to £10 (the equivalent of around £1000 today).

Therefore, during WW1 in East Sussex, midwifery was usually provided by certified district nurses that had undertaken the required training. Many district nurses were voluntary, although some received a small salary after they trained in return for committing to a period of service, and they were organised into local nursing associations which were then coordinated by a paid nursing superintendent. In East Sussex, all local Associations fell under the umbrella of the Sussex County Nursing Association. The 1902 Act also made local authorities the local supervising authority over midwives, so the East Sussex County Council (ESCC) Public Health Committee worked closely with the Association to monitor the work of midwives and grant midwifery training scholarships to interested district nurses.

The Sussex County Nursing Association was affiliated to the Queen’s Institute, which was a body established by Queen Victoria in 1887 to represent nurses nationally. A Queen’s nurse was expected to have three years hospital training and then a further six months of Queen’s approved district training, which involved learning how to treat and care for patients without the appliances readily available in a hospital. Midwives would then also be expected to undertake training in maternity nursing: 4 months’ worth if they were a previously trained nurse and 6 months’ worth if they were new. Fees for maternity training were around £30 – £40 (the equivalent of around £3,100 – £4,100 today), hence the need for Council training grants.

Queen’s Institute Nurses attending a visit at Marlborough House in 1901 – Image courtesy of the Queen’s Institute

The annual reports of the Sussex County Nursing Association provide an interesting glimpse into how the First World War impacted district nursing and midwifery in East Sussex. The 1914/1915 Annual Report demonstrates that the Association’s leaders were concerned that the War abroad would have a detrimental impact on the work of the association at home. In the report Lord Edmund Talbot MP highlighted ‘the importance of not allowing the many calls made on our thoughts, time and means by the war to lessen the interest shown in the special work of the Association.’ Talbot’s concerns were mirrored elsewhere in the report when it was recounted that subscriptions, on which the Association depended to carry out their work, had fallen since the beginning of the War. Still, the Association accepted that ‘the war has, so far, we are thankful to say, had less effect on the work of the Association than it has had on some other social and charitable work.’ Although they had been lucky so far, there was clearly concern that attention would be drawn abroad when illness still existed and needed to be treated at home.

The final paragraph of the 1914/1915 Annual Report particularly focuses on the possible detrimental impact that the War, through drawing attention and funds away from the Association, could have on midwifery provision in East Sussex. To ensure that the vital service midwives provided was not forgotten, the report emphasised ‘it is now more than ever necessary to keep up the staff of nurses in the county, and the need of the special work now being developed to safeguard infant and child life is rendered still more urgent by the steady drain on manhood of the Empire caused by war.’ In addition to money to fund the Association, it was also vital that district nurses remained, and new midwives were recruited to safeguard the lives of the children that would populate the post-war generation.

Interestingly, although the following year’s 1915/16 Annual Report of the Association highlighted the progress that had been made to improve delivery of midwifery, particularly the effect that the 1902 Act had on decreasing infant mortality, there was still concern that doctors were covering the practices of unqualified and uncertified midwives. Then again, this wasn’t felt to be a pressing issue in Sussex. The report once again raised concern about a fall in subscriptions but still felt that ‘as last year…the war has had less effect on our Association than it has, we fear, had on some other social and charitable work – subscriptions have only fallen £15’ (the equivalent of around £1,500 today).

A baby’s footprint being taken by a nurse for identification purposes. Photograph, 1910/1920 – Image courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London

Furthermore, although the Association had shown concerns the year before that they would struggle to retain nurses, the report stated that ‘the Superintendent’s Report shows that the village nurses have again kept loyally, as a whole, to their regular duties in spite of the temptation to undertake more prominent work offered by the war.’ Although the Association’s accounts were in debit (double the amount they opened with), on the whole it was felt that ‘the second year of the war has been weathered fairly.’ The report once again concluded by calling on subscribers to continue to support their work which was now largely directed toward midwifery/maternity services and safeguarding ‘infant and child life while the manhood of the empire is being drained.’

The next year, the 1916/1917 annual report of the Association outlined in further detail what work the Association was undertaking to safeguard infant and child life. It stated that the Association was under constant pressure to train up midwives to deliver children, but in addition, the Association was further developing its school for mothers. The school for mothers involved a lecturer providing classes for mothers on how to provide the best support and care for their child. The lecturer also acted as an infant consultant, answering queries about infant health when a doctor wasn’t available.

What is missed from all Association Annual Reports from this period is any mention of district nurses working in a local War Hospital established during the War in Brighton. The October 1914 edition of the Queen’s Institute’s magazine outlines how nurses all over the country adapted during the War and states that a Second Eastern General War Hospital had been established in Brighton Grammar School. More than 100 nurses were employed in the hospital and a quarter or more were Queen’s district nurses. 520 beds were prepared and 300 wounded soldiers arrived from Mons on September 1^st 1914. It is unclear why reference to this and the additional demand on local nurses is missed out the Association’s Annual Reports, and it is perhaps a further testament to how key the Association believed midwifery and maternity welfare to be, with their work in this area referenced throughout the reports instead.

Ideal Home Exhibition, England, 1920: a rubber baby being used to demonstrate feeding methods, watched by two boys. Photograph, 1920.
1920 – Image courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London

Following the end of the War, further provision for the training of midwives was introduced by the 1918 and 1936 Midwives Acts. The 1918 Act also required local authorities to set up a committee for maternity and child welfare matters. The resulting ESCC Maternity and Child Welfare Committee assumed the Council’s responsibilities for monitoring midwifery practice in East Sussex. In December 1918 the Committee abolished the £45 grant limit for nurse midwives, thereby encouraging more nurses to train as midwives by providing suitable financial support, and approved the employment of part-time midwives, thereby increasing flexibility of the role. Both of the measures suggest that in the inter-war years, recruitment and retainment of midwives continued to be regarded as important in East Sussex. The Maternity and Child Welfare Committee remained in place until 1948 when the NHS was introduced and ESCC delegated responsibility for provision of home nursing and midwifery to local associations.

As for the Sussex County Nursing Federation, in 1918 it was split into two separate East Sussex and West Sussex bodies, as work had increased and it was difficult for one body to coordinate two counties. As a result, the East Sussex Nursing Federation (later renamed the East Sussex Nursing Association) was established. The Federation/Association remained in place coordinating nursing and midwifery in East Sussex until 1970, when the Association handed its delegated functions back to ESCC due to changing conditions in the health service and pending local government reorganisation. The Association was reconstituted as a Trust which carried out welfare work for serving and retired nurses.

Ultimately, district nurses and midwives made a vital and unique contribution to East Sussex during WW1, which serves as a further example of the crucial role women played in maintaining the Home Front. You can read more about the history of district nursing and midwifery on the Queen’s Institute’s website celebrating 150 years of district nursing.

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Four men and women with addresses in Hastings and St Leonards , all of them members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), served in the Friends Ambulance Unit between 1914 and 1918.

Cousins Percy and Harold Tyler both worked in France tending the wounded; Bessie Carey from Ore served as a Nurse and Frederic Hipsley worked in a hospital in Birmingham. The three men were Conscientious Objectors, as their Quaker religious views precluded them from participating in warfare. They served their country and community as fully as their sincere religious antipathy for war would allow.

Another – very prominent – Quaker in Hastings, Wilson Crewdson, JP, who had been a candidate for MP at the General Election in 1912, went to France to work in a hospital. His two sons joined up and both had long careers as professional soldiers. The courage and contributions of Conscientious Objectors needs acknowledging.

For more information about groups such as the Friends Ambulance Unit and those who served in them, see the Library of the Religious Order of Friends and the Red Cross Archive

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In Bexhill, the Bray family included three qualified Nursing Sisters whose service in the First World War was recognized in the Bexhill Observer of 4 August 1917. They were Evelyn, Ethel and Mary Bray. They were the daughters of Alderman John Bray, auctioneer estate agent and founder of John Bray & Sons. They were already qualified and experienced nurses by 1914. Ethel Bray was also a trained masseuse.

Evelyn Cicely Bray – Image Courtesy of Di Knell

Evelyn and Ethel both served in the arena of war close to the Front lines and were recognised for their courage and dedication. Evelyn was awarded a Royal Red Cross medal and Mary served at a large hospital for wounded soldiers in Northumberland, and was active in setting up a hospital for the wounded in London.

Sister Ethel Bray joined the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, (QAIMNS), in August 1914 and went rapidly from No.2 General Hospital, Colchester, to France with Dame Maud McCarthy’s party and by December, joined H.M. Hospital Ship Asturias. In February 1915, the ship evaded attack by a German submarine whilst bringing wounded soldiers back from France. Ethel reported “Torpedo was not three feet away from us”. She claimed to be “not at all nervous” and continued to serve on Hospital Ships aboard H.M.H.S. Nevasa in the Dardanelles until having completed “a sea mileage of 70,000.”

Ethel Bray – Image Courtesy of Di Knell

On applying to remain on the QAIMNS reserve after demobilisation, her military record reads “Recommended for exceptional service and devotion to duty whilst serving in the H.M. Hospital Ship Nevasa M.8. F. in Gallipoli from August to December 1915.” From 1917 she was in charge of a Military Hospital in Ipswich. She remained on the Reserve until 1937 aged 58. Her taste for nursing afloat also continued in her civilian life aboard P&O liner, Narkunda, from 1929 to 1937.

Her sister Cicely Evelyn Bray, known as Evelyn, trained at the Poplar Hospital, London and joined the QAIMNS in 1914. She was posted to Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich and by 1916 when she was awarded the Royal Red Cross Medal, she was in charge of the operating theatre there.  In October 1917, she was posted to a casualty clearing station and was reported to be the Acting Assistant Matron. By May 1918, she was Sister-in-charge of the Surgical Hut of a hospital in Rouen, where one of her patients included Private Ransom of Bexhill, who had been admitted to the Surgical Hut mortally wounded. She wrote a letter of condolence to his mother saying “I am so sorry to have to tell you this. How dreadful it is for you mothers, all losing your gallant sons”. In the same month, Evelyn was also mentioned in dispatches (meaning her name appeared in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which her meritorious action was described). 

Mary Bray – Image Courtesy of Di Knell

While in Rouen, Evelyn met an officer in the Royal Flying Corps called Alfred Guy Garrod, known as Guy, who would become her future husband. He was later to become Air Chief Marshal Sir Guy Garrod, M.C., D.F.C. Evelyn and Guy married at the Garrison Church, Rouen in September 1918. A formal portrait of Sir Guy Garrod can be seen on the BBC Your Paintings web site.

Unfortunately, less is known about their sister Mary Bray. In February 1918, she married Captain Edward Clayton of Cricklewood at St Peter’s Church Bexhill, and the Bexhill Observer reported “For a great part of the year 1915 she assisted at a large Government Hospital for wounded sailors and soldiers in the north of England. For a year and a half she has been in working charge of an improvised hospital in London for wounded officers.”

Transcriptions of many of the Bexhill Observer reports from the War years and QAIMNS records used to research the Bray Nursing Sisters can be seen in the Access Centre at Bexhill Museum.

This story was submitted by Di Knell, WW1 Research Group Volunteer for Bexhill Museum

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1918 would see the end of the war in Europe and the eventual victory of France, Britain and America against the German army. However, the emergence of a highly infectious and deadly form of influenza also swept the world, over the course of 1918 and 1919. Exhausted by the fighting and rationing, the people of many countries found themselves already weakened before the virus struck and, as a result, had little ability to fend it off.

Origins

“CampFunstonKS-InfluenzaHospital” by U.S. Army photographer

Whilst commonly referred to as the ‘Spanish Flu,’ the actual origin of the influenza strain that spread around the world in 1918 and 1919 is difficult to be certain of. Recent studies suggest it originally began in China and was transported across the world by Chinese Labourers heading for the Western Front in Europe. The ‘Spanish’ connection came from newspaper reporting of the outbreak. In order to avoid causing alarm either at home or on the front lines, newspapers in Britain, France, Germany and America all restricted stories of the epidemic in their own country. This led to a high proportion of stories examining the effect in Spain, particularly after King Alfonso XIII became severely ill with the virus.

It has also been speculated that a British military camp at Etaples, which was also the site of a mutiny in 1917, may have been the epicentre for the virus. The huge movement of men across the world because of the war meant that the virus was transmitted across oceans and continents infecting people as it went. The arrival of these men at key camps or transport hubs meant that the infection could then be spread in all directions by those who had come into contact with it.

Symptoms and effects

The virus was notable for being both highly infectious and for also causing incredibly high fatalities in those who contracted it. The virus often caused extreme bleeding from particular mucous membranes such as the nose and the linings of stomach and intestine. Over half of the people who came into contact with the virus would become infected and this was not helped by the tendency of those suffering from it to have large, and obviously highly infectious, nosebleeds. Most of those who died from the virus were killed by pneumonia, which was a byproduct of the influenza, but many also died from blood loss and the virus itself. One of the virus’ most deadly tendencies was to invoke an overreaction of the suffer’s immune system, known as a cytokine storm, resulting in both the virus and the immune system attacking the body causing trhe patient’s death.

The epidemic had three major peaks around the world. The first of which bore all the resemblance to traditional influenza. It proved most dangerous to the young and those over 65. The second wave however saw the virus mutate into something far more deadly. This new virus was unusual in that it often targeted young adults rather than those who had contracted the first virus, many of these first wave survivors appeared to have developed a measure of resistance to it. Another group that was disproportionately affected, in comparison to other influenza outbreaks, were pregnant women.

The third and final wave of the virus was not as deadly as the previous mutation but still caused a disproportionate amount of deaths to tip the virus back into pandemic state.

“USCampHospital45InfluenzaWard” by Uncredited U.S. Army photographer

One of the key factors in the transmission of the virus lay with the treatment of those who were highly ill and infected in the army. Traditionally, speaking in civilian life those who were extremely ill remained stationary, usually at home, and were treated there. In the army, those who were in similar situations were, by necessity, evacuated from the trenches and passed through various field hospitals and medical outposts. Those men who were suffering from the virus brought it with them out of the trenches and into hospitals and railways stations. From there it spread.

Outbreak in East Sussex

The first wave of the virus arrived in East Sussex in the summer of 1918. Its exact point of arrival into the country is unclear but naval bases at Scapa Flow, Scotland, showed the first signs of infection in May and the virus arrived in Glasgow shortly afterwards. It then appears to have travelled down the country to the East Sussex coast. 1918 was to be the decisive year of the war. Following the German attack in March, the fighting in France and Belgium had been fierce and constant. As a result, not many members of the public were properly paying attention to the virus in their midst. In his study into the outbreak in East Sussex, Jaime Kaminski shows that the press and some local department stores of Brighton were incredibly light-hearted about the outbreak. The shop Hanningtons took out an advert in the Brighton Gazette declaring a new ‘Sales’ to be the best method of treating the sickness.

This did not last when, in October and November 1918, the virus mutated and entered its far more deadly second wave. By the week ending 19 October, 16 people from East Sussex, including Brighton and Hove,  had died in the new outbreak. This increased to 55 the following week and 92 the week after that. The epidemic peaked the week ending 9 November with 101 fatalities. It would begin to steadily decrease after this period but, by the end of January, over 600 lives had been lost in the county. At the height of the epidemic primary schools were closed, though secondary schools remained open. Of particular concern to local authorities was the risk of infection on public transport or in entertainment venues such as cinemas or music halls. In response to the virus, many people began walking to work rather than risk using trams or buses whilst Local Government Boards brought in regulations that restricted entertainment venues from operating for more than three consecutive hours. Despite this, there was little interest in disinfecting the halls after each show.

The additional danger of the epidemic was the likelihood of medical staff contracting it and spreading it to other patients before succumbing themselves. At Brighton Infirmary, of 141 influenza patients being treated 12 were their own nurses. Of 14 Queen’s Nurses at the hospital on Elm Grove, 8 had contracted the virus and were severely afflicted with pneumonia. Upon contracting the virus whilst in East Sussex, the poet Robert Graves claimed that there was not a nurse to be found anywhere in Brighton as the medical services were stretched to breaking point.

The third wave of the virus would then follow in January and February 1919. It was not as deadly as the previous wave but by the end of March it had still accounted for 157 additional fatalities in East Sussex.

Aftermath

The exact death toll from the virus is unknown but the figure in Britain is usually stated to be around 250,000. In total, the war killed over 704,000 men from the British Isles. In France, 400,000 people died from the flu and over half a million in the United States. The death toll in India has been estimated as between 10 and 17 million dead. It is estimated that a third of the world’s population was infected and between 10 and 20% of those who were infected died. Estimates for the total death toll caused by the influenza outbreak range from 25 to 100 million people.

Sources

A terrible toll of life: The impact of the ‘Spanish Influenza’ epidemic on Brighton 1918-19 – Jaime Kaminski

1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic Mortality in England and Wales

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The manner and location of the fighting during First World War on the Western Front was greatly removed from the environment that the British Army was accustomed to operating in. Conflicts across the Empire, such as the Boer War, had meant very particular forms of battlefield medicine. The change from African battlefields to those in the fields and countryside of France and Belgium was to initially prove a tough obstacle for the Army Medical Corps to overcome.

The Western Front

Courtesy of The Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton & Hove

The large scale use of weaponry, such as machine guns and artillery, coupled with the deployment of armies into the trenches meant that, if suffered, wounds could be incredibly serious. Artillery shells could easily remove men’s limbs or inflict terrible damage upon their bodies. Machine gun bullets could fracture bones and pierce organs. The muddy and watery conditions of the Western Front, large portions of which had been well-tended and manured farmland before the war, were also ripe for infection.

As historian Joanna Bourke explains, the war produced wounded men in staggering numbers:

In France there were 5 casualties for every 9 men sent out, compared with 2 for every 9 in the Dardanelles and only 1 to every 12 in Salonica and East Africa. Furthermore 31 per cent of those who served in the army were wounded, compared with only 3 or 4 per cent of those in the navy or airforce. In the first year of the war, 24 per cent of officers and 17 per cent of soldiers in Other Ranks were wounded. Between October 1915 and September 1918, 12 to 17 per cent of soldiers of Other Ranks were wounded each year.

The severity of these mutilations was unprecedented … All parts of the body were at risk: head, shoulder, arm, chest, intestines, buttock, penis, leg, foot. Over 41,000 men had their limbs amputated during the war – of these 69 per cent lost one leg, 28 per cent lost one arm, and nearly 3 per cent lost both legs or arms. Another two hundred and seventy two thousand suffered injuries in the arms or legs that did not require amputation. Sixty thousand, five hundred were wounded in the head or eyes. Eighty-nine thousand sustained other serious damage to their bodies.

During large scale operations, field hospitals would often become overwhelmed with casualties. In the initial years of the war, before its conditions were fully understood, infection could fester in men who could otherwise have been successfully treated and saved and led to loss of limbs and lives. Army medicine was undergoing a steep learning curve and many techniques would have to be re-written or invented to deal with the numbers of wounded men.

Treatment

The initial, and obvious, aim of treating men wounded in the First World War was to save their lives and as much of their bodies as possible. The first stage of this process lay with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). The RAMC composed of doctors, stretcher bearers and ambulance drivers were often the first to begin structured treatment of soldiers who had been wounded. There were also large numbers of female nurses operating within field hospitals in the various theatres of the war, as well as in the established hospitals on the home front. Many of these women were members of the the Volunteer Aid Detachment (VAD). The VADs fell under the control and administration of the War Office during the conflict and it is from them they drew their pay. Some VADs who were abroad in one of the British Red Cross Hospitals or those run by the St John’s Ambulance drew their payment from the Red Cross. The conditions at the front were not conducive to swift medical treatment.

The conditions on the front line meant a lower standard of medical care, unhygienic equipment, lack of water, inadequate lighting and poor supplies of operating instruments, including ligatures, needles and supports. When this is considered against the remarkable fact that it took, on average, between eight and twelve hours to evacuate a wounded soldier from the front to a Casualty Clearing Station (CCS), it is not surprising that so many men returned home without a limb. The even starker situation at Gallipoli, where a soldier had to face a voyage of two to three days, led Major Stanley Argyle to despair at the number of limbs that were amputated and lives lost that would otherwise have been saved. – William Birnie

Courtesy of The Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton & Hove

However, whilst the treatment of wounded men was a priority, the objectives of this treatment could fall into two different lines depending on the wound. Were wounded soldiers being treated so they could recover from their wounds and go on to lead as happy and normal a life as possible, or were they being treated so they could recover their strength and return to the war? Some wounds would, of course, prevent the man from returning to action. But this split objective manifested itself most obviously in the treatment of shell shock. Medical professionals such as William H Rivers and Lewis R Yealland had conflicting approaches to the treatment of shell shock or ‘war neuroses’. Rivers preferred a form of counselling whilst Yealland favoured a more regimented system of punishments, autosuggestion and, if required, electric shocks. The use of electric shocks to stimulate recovery of muscles and limbs was also pioneered by the women of the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps.

For men who had lost arms or legs, their immediate future was difficult to say the least. Before the First World War, prosthetic arms and legs were incredibly heavy and unwieldy designs that often cause the wearer a great deal of pain and discomfort. Over time they would degrade and break and they were expensive to acquire or repair. They also paid very little regard to functionality and, as a result, were – particularly in the case of arms – almost useless as usable replacements. Additionally, whilst servicemen were permitted to receive free artificial limbs (before the war they had only ever been free to those who had lost limbs in military service), the demand for them completely outstripped supply. The huge numbers of men who lost limbs in the war prompted a revolution in the treatment of amputees and the design of prosthetic arms and legs.

Two American firms, Rowley and Hanger, were invited by the government to set up subsidiaries in Roehampton, London, in the grounds of a former mansion commandeered by the Imperial War Office. This site became Queen Mary’s Hospital and opened its doors to its first 25 patients in 1915. During the war it became known as one of the world’s leading limb fitting and amputee rehabilitation centres, providing treatment and training opportunities so that patients could later find employment. Demand was high and often men left hospital with artificial arms without the proper training in their use. Artificial limbs were made on-site, yet, despite this, limb provision remained a struggle and it was only after the armistice that the situation was brought under control. New mechanisms were patented and lucrative government contracts enabled new research and developments to take place. – William Birnie

Image from Europeana and the Wellcome Library

Prosthetic arms, such as the one on the right, were designed during the war to overcome some of the deficiencies of older designs. These include new features such as;

Made from aluminium, this prosthetic left arm has a canvas coated hand to give the appearance of a gloved hand. The fingers of the hand are set in position. The joints of the arm are adjustable and the hand is removable. Aluminium was preferred to wood as it was much lighter and was more comfortable for the wearer. As such it is one of a new generation of metal limbs that appeared in the 1920s and which gradually replaced the predominantly wooden ones. The arm is strapped to the shoulder with padding. The McKay Prosthetic Limb Company who made this arm was one of a number of companies set up during and immediately after the First World War. They were seeking lucrative government contracts to supply soldiers who had lost limbs in the conflict. – Europeana

Whilst it is more commonly know as a hospital for the treatment of Indian soldiers during the war, the Royal Pavilion at Brighton also served as a hospital for ‘limbless soldiers’. The local magazine the ‘Brighton Season’ covered the activities of the hospital in its 1917-1918 edition.

Once the lives of the men were saved, the focus moved on to providing them with the skills and trades to support themselves in civilian life. The men who had gone to war were, generally speaking, the backbone of the country’s working classes and productivity. It was important for the country’s economy for such men to contribute again after being medically discharged. A Queen Mary’s Workshop was opened in the grounds of the Pavilion and, inside, men were taught new skills and new trades such as cobbling and engineering in order to find civilian jobs. Whilst staying at the hospital some soldiers got involved with producing the hospital newspaper ‘Pavilion Blues‘.

Other men were sent to establishments such as Chailey Heritage School where they would undergo ‘educative convalescence‘ and learn how to overcome their injuries from children who were also missing limbs or had other physical impediments.

Following their treatment in hospitals like the Pavilion and also once they had undergone a period of retraining, wounded men would be sent to Roehampton for fitting of their final prosthetic limb. New jobs and industries began to open in Brighton and East Sussex to provide careers for these wounded men. The diamond merchant Bernard Oppenheimer opened a diamond polishing factory in Brighton and recruited heavily from the population of wounded soldiers.

The end of the war would not bring about the end of the difficulties for the men who had been wounded in it. In an attempt to write them out of wartime experience, no wounded men were part of the victory parades through London in the aftermath of the armistice and the peace. Additionally, whilst wounded men were entitled to a war pension, the amount they received was commensurate with the level of their wound.

The loss of two or more limbs, for example, entitled a man to a 100% pension, whereas amputation of a leg above the knee was assessed at 60% and below the knee at 50%. Psychological and functional somatic disorders, such as shell-shock, were more difficult to categorise – Edgar Jones et al

A pension would be paid to the widows of those men who were killed in the war or died of their wounds but, again, the exact amount was often influenced by various factors such as the man’s rank, his wife’s occupation (if any) and the number of children (either legitimate or illegitimate) that they may have had.

In the years after the war, men who had obvious war wounds found themselves shunned by a society that no longer wished for visual reminders of the conflict. The lack of any substantive welfare system meant that many men found themselves in increasingly dire financial and medical situations. Whilst some care homes and facilities continued to operate in the post war years many stopped or closed shortly after the conflict. The implication being that their war work was now completed.

But, for a time, many of the men who had suffered such horrific wounds found treatment and solace in East Sussex. The view and treatment of disabled people changed dramatically during the war and in its aftermath. The treatments and techniques required to save the lives of those wounded on the battlefield, had a huge impact on modern understandings of medicine. The fields of prosthetics, skin-grafting, and psychiatry and counselling, were revolutionised by the First World War. The medical profession would never be the same again.

Courtesy of The Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton & Hove

Sources

Julie Anderson – Wounding in the First World War

William Birnie – Object of the month: First World War amputees

Joanna Bourke – Dismembering the Male

Edgar Jones et al – War Pensions

Scarletfinders.co.uk – British Military Nurses

 This story was written with support from The Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton & Hove

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At the end of the 19th, and beginning of the 20th, century there was little educational options or support for children deemed as being handicapped or ‘crippled’ as they were termed at the time. In response to this absence of infrastructure, Grace Kimmins established the Guild of the Poor Brave Things in 1894. The Guild aimed to provide different and positive forms of education to physically handicapped children.

A result of this new movement was the creation in 1903 of the Chailey Heritage Craft School which provided room and board for handicapped children and regular structured lessons. Alongside this, Kimmins also unveiled the Guild of Play which sought to provide an alternative to activities on the rough streets of urban Britain.

Originally the school was only open for disabled boys. However, in 1908 it began to admit non-disabled girls from the Guild of Play who would be taught to become good housemaids and were taught skills such as laundry and midwifery.

When the First World War broke out and the British Army began to sustain heavy casualties, the school began to take on new and unforeseen duties. Following her work as a Patron and fundraiser for the new endeavour the Princess Louise Military Hospital opened its doors to wounded soldiers.

With so many men returning from the front lines having lost limbs, many were sent to the hospital to learn from the children how best to overcome their injuries. This ‘educative convalescence’ program allowed soldiers and children to learn and play alongside each other in a safe and instructive environment. This education would take the form of agriculture, forms of industry such as toy making, and artistic classes such as painting.

Further than this, the children of the school helped construct new wooden buildings on the site which, when completed, they then moved into thus freeing up their original building for use by wounded soldiers.

The War Office closed the hospital as a place for soldiers in 1920 but it was shortly afterwards reopened as the ‘Princess Louise Special Pensioners Hospital’ by the Ministry of Pensions, where it continued to allow injured men to work alongside children.

The work and experiences of the soldiers and children at the Chailey Heritage School were recorded in a photographic album pamphlet by Sir Robert Jones.

Images from the Chailey Heritage photographic album pamphlet. (c) All images are courtesy of The Keep. To view the images in person visit The Keep and order the this record

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At present, it is proving difficult to ascertain as to exactly where the hospital was, but the book does contain clues. For example, the old Bexhill Sidley Crowhurst Rail Line Viaduct is shown in the distance of one drawing and ‘shiny rails to London town’ are mentioned in a poem elsewhere.

I would like to find out more about this if any one can help.

Since this story was first published we have been able to ascertain the location of the hospital.

The Sisters purchased ‘waste ground’ at the top of Filsham Road; part of the Filsham Park Estate in 1908.  Building began on the Convent of Our Lady on 26 June 1908, the feast of the Sacred Heart).  The architect was Edward Boniface of Bexhill and the builders Eldridge and Cruttenden of St Leonards.  The nuns took possession of the convent in 18 June 1909.

In early October 1914 the British Red Cross Society asked permission to use some of the rooms on the ground floor as a hospital for wounded soldiers sent home from the front.  Voluntary Aid Detachment Sussex 16 was stationed there until 1917.

The original chapel was converted into a ward (it later became a classroom and remained as such until 1992).  The organisation of a hospital meant less room for the community and the school based there.  The nuns lived in cramped quarters.

The first wounded to arrive were 35 Belgian soldiers in October 1914.  The hospital staff were given 3 days notice to prepare.  There were no fresh patients until 26 January 1915 – this time 30 British wounded.  At first the hospital took semi convalescent cases from 2^nd Eastern General Hospital in Brighton. At the beginning of May 1915 the source of supply changed – convoys of wounded were sent direct to the hospital from the front.

268 cases taken in during 1915.  The operating theatre was in near constant use.

Eventually the hospital wing became too small and the detachment moved to larger premises in Dane Road.  By that time however, the nuns had earned the gratitude of the local inhabitants for their charity and kindness.

The Commandant of the Red Cross Nursing Detachment, Miss Doris Harrison, felt a strong calling to enter the religious life so did not move with the hospital to Dane Road.  She joined the community in January 1917 as Mother Mary Xavier.  She later became Mother Superior.

The following medical figures were involved in the running of the hospital and caring for the patients:

Medical Officer: Dr W. E Grandy MD DPH

Dr Tomson MD

Mr Light of Middlesex Hospital, surgeon

Mr Williams, dental surgeon

Miss Doris Harrison, Commandent

Thank you to the Sister-in-Charge of the Canonesses of St. Augustine for the information, and for kind permission to use the photographs from their album of Filsham Park Sussex 16 VAD Hospital.

This story was originally submitted by Dudley Ellis

If you know anything more about this hospital then contact us and we’ll pass the information on.

Images from the VAD Autograph Book.  (c) All images are courtesy of Dudley Ellis

Images from the album of Filsham Park Sussex 16 VAD Hospital.  (c) All images are courtesy of the Canonesses of St Augustine

The post Autographs from a VAD nurse: Filsham Park Hospital appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.

The use of massage as a means of treating wounded soldiers during the First World War was pioneered by the trained women of the Almeric Paget Militaey Massage Corps (A.P.M.M.C) under the supervision of Pauline Paget.

Life on the Western Front for British soldiers could be both mundane and dangerous. Of the British soldiers that went to war eighty-eight percent returned from the Western Front alive and would only spend a few days at a time in the front line trenches. However, whether they were to be involved in a major offensive or just in the wrong place at the wrong time, the threat of death or serious injury was a serious one. In the region of 1.6m British men were wounded during the war. Some of these wounds would be serious enough to see them evacuated from France completely and returned to Britain for convalescence.

Map location of Summerdown Camp, Eastbourne

Much of what was Summerdown Camp has been developed into housing since the war but, at its peak the camp covered a large area to the north-east of Eastbourne.  Nestled into the South Downs Summerdown opened in 1915 as a convalescent home for wounded soldiers. At its height Summerdown contained 3,500 wounded men who were known locally as the ‘Blueboys’ on account of their issued uniforms. Whilst the men in the camp were confirmed as wounded, some of their wounds would not necessarily be obvious upon appearance. Of course the men were still under military jurisdiction and curfews so it was important for the residents of the camp to be easily recognisable when out in the town. Furthermore, being a man who seemed physically fit yet not in army uniform could result in pressure being placed upon them by civilians to join the army. The handing out of white feathers by women to men suspected of being too cowardly to join the army has become infamous today and was extremely humiliating at the time.

Treatment of wounded men during the First World War was often difficult, time-consuming, and experimental. The sheer numbers and types of wound that could be suffered often overwhelmed the resources and abilities of medical staff at the clearing stations around the front lines. Upon arriving back in Britain, treatment for a multitude of wounds could be provided. Many of the treatments pioneered during the war have become the foundations of modern medical science including skin grafts and artificial limbs as well as psychology.

Almeric Paget Massage Corps

The treatment given to men at Summerdown included regular sessions with the women of the Almeric Paget Massage Corps. Initially founded by Almeric Paget and his wife Pauline Page Whitney, the Massage Corps offered the services of 50 masseuses to the War Office. Once this offer had been accepted numbers of Almeric Paget masseuses increased steadily across the war until reaching 2,000 during 1918. The corps itself would change over the war as well, becoming the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps in 1916 and the official body for all massage services to the army. From 1917 members would also be sent overseas to provide treatment in France and Italy.

Pauline Paget at Summerdown Camp

Women in the Corps were easily distinguishable from women in the regular Nursing Service. The wore a simple uniform with the badge of the A.P.M.M.C on their left arm, whilst the presence of red bars on the shoulders denoted seniority. The treatment they gave was a mix of massage and electrical stimulation. Given the number of men requiring massage the work was often very physically intensive. Electrical work was less demanding. To stimulate muscle movement they would usually use the Bristow Coil.

Whilst portions of these treatment now seem outdated by modern standards they did lay the foundations for much of what we now understand as physiotherapy.

The Angel of Summerdown

Before her marriage to Almeric Paget, Pauline Page Whitney had been born and raised in the United States. With the formation of the A.P.M.M.C and the outbreak of the war, she became increasingly active in the organisation and was regularly seen at Summerdown Camp organising the corps there. So taken where the patients with her and the masseuses that she was widely referred to as the ‘Angel of Summerdown’.

Summerdown Journal announcing Pauline Paget’s death

Primarily based in her house at Berkley Square in London, Pauline Paget maintained a strong interest in the women of the A.P.M.M.C and the services they provided to wounded soldiers. However following three weeks of illness she died in November of 1916 and, as a result, never lived to see how important the organisation would become.

News of her death was published in the New York Times and a monument to her still exists in the grounds of St Mary’s Church in Hertfordshire.

Sources

The information and images for this article were kindly supplied by Eastbourne Borough Council ahead of their forthcoming exhibition on Summerdown Camp

Find out more about the Almeric Paget Massage Corps at the ScarletFinders website

For more images of Summerdown Camp see East Sussex County Council’s Library Flickr page

The post The Angel of Summerdown appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.