Hospital whites?

[Moonraker]

I have a postcard of Corsham Hospital, Wiltshire, in September 1915 showing nurses and patients posed in front of the building. Some of the latter appear to be wearing white uniforms. I'm familiar with "hospital blues" (worn, I think, with a red tie), but how common were "hospital whites".

My notes suggest that in September 1915 the hospital was at the town hall. Can anyone confirm this? (There's not much frontage to be seen in the card.)

Moonraker

Ah! The wonders of the Internet. I've just searched for "Corsham Town Hall" in Google Images and I've got some modern photographs that show that it's the building in my card. Since 1915 a balustraded ramp seems to have been built up to the front door. It would have been useful back in the Great war for getting patients into the hospital.

[4thGordons]

Is it possible that these are the canvas/cotton work uniforms/coveralls? (discussed in a good few threads)

Chris

[Moonraker]

I hope to attach a scan of the card, having at last worked out (fingers crossed) how to reduce the size to an acceptable level using the PSC I bought more than a year ago. The whites look to be between the coveralls suggested by Chris and pyjamas. One gentleman on the left is wearing a solar helmet.

Moonraker

[Andrew Upton]

I would bet strong money on these being standard Hospital Blues but with the orthochromatic film having rendered the blue a much lighter shade. Being items of clothing that would have been frequently laundered and faded lighter won't have helped.

[Piorun]

I'll put my money with Andrew. These are blues. Contrast them with the nurses. Clearly different. Antony

[4thGordons]

I'm with Anthony and Andrew

I think these are Blues - as rendered by orthochormatic film.

(compare white slings on a couple of chaps)

We tried to duplicate this effect here

See Grumpy's colour swatch demo

Chris

[Moonraker]

I've been working through my notes and found that on 20 August 1915 the Home Office wrote to chief constables reminding them of the ban on treating military hospital patients to alcohol and pointing out that most patients wore hospital uniform of blue or grey.

Moonraker

[J T Gray]

Did the specification for Hospital Blues change over the course of the war? I've a set of photos, which I must get on here (watch the press in the next day or two), and there seem to be two distinct sets of them, one with a pair of whacking great pockets and one without. There's also three postcards of the hospital interior where the men shown are either wearing uniform or bedclothes, not a sign of blues.

Adrian

[centurion]

Did the specification for Hospital Blues change over the course of the war? I've a set of photos, which I must get on here (watch the press in the next day or two), and there seem to be two distinct sets of them, one with a pair of whacking great pockets and one without. There's also three postcards of the hospital interior where the men shown are either wearing uniform or bedclothes, not a sign of blues.

Adrian

Hospital blues were often procured locally by the hospitals in question. There would be some central stock as well. As a result local manufacturers might well interpret the specifications differently and hospitals might accept minor variations in the style and the material used in the interests of keeping the cost down. Examination of enough hospital photos will real many variations. Different material will fade differently so after a while and many re-washings there would be many hues. The Blues were no so much a uniform as a means of identifying a man as 'still a serving soldier but under hospital care and supervision' so normal strictures on uniformity did not necessarily apply