No 25 General Hospital, Hardelot, Pas de Calais

[KateJ]

Could someone point me in the direction of researching a hospital in France? It's No 25 General Hospital in Hardelot for the period of approx June - December 1916. (I've discovered an excellent website for later in the war, when the Australians took over the hospital, but I'm particularly looking for 1916.)

I have a series of postcards sent by an unnamed nurse from this hospital to her relatives in Woolwich and Suffolk. I'm trying to track down who this nurse was, but her identy is being very elsuive (despite having at least 4 different surnames as to who she might be!) I might have a better chance if I can work out what nursing service was at No 25 General in 1916.

She was sharing lodgings with a fellow nurse called "Unwin" - but I've had no luck finding her either.

Thanks

Kate

[johnboy]

Might help.

No 25 General Dammes-Camiers Aug 15 - May 16; Hardelot Jun 16 - Jul 17; Wiesdorf Mar 19 onward Renamed from Meerut British in Aug 15

From Long Long Trail top left of this page.

[Sue Light]

25 General at that time was just one of the hospitals under War Office control and staffed by nurses of Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service and their Reserve, possibly some Territorial Force Nursing Service members and a good many VADs and military probationers from mid-1915 onwards.

It has a war diary at The National Archives (WO95/4085) but that won't shed any light at all on the nursing staff and won't have things like nominal rolls. It seems to me an near-impossible task to track down a nurse whose name you can't make a stab at. There are service records for a couple of Unwins at TNA, both Territorials which means they're unlikely to have clear details in their files of where they worked but still won't connect you with your postcard writer.

There's also one Unwin (only one Unwin) working as a VAD in France and who has an entry in the British Red Cross Register of Volunteers. Her record is likely to emerge sometime on the BRCS online database now slowly appearing, but those records tend to lose track of the women once they go overseas and again unlikely to mention where exactly she worked in France.

One way might be to go to the National Archives and search through every nurses' file in WO399 which has a surname even remotely likely. Not all nurses have surviving records, and it won't help if she was a VAD. Definitely no easy way!

Sue

[KateJ]

Thank you Sue for your helpful info.

I'm beginning to think that Unwin and the postcard writer were both VADs. I've been through the records of WO399 for Unwin and the surnames I think my mystery person might be and haven't found anyone with the right personal details.

From the style of her writing, the mystery person is almost certainly writing to a very close female family member in Woolwich (probably her sister) and also to another female family member in Levington Suffolk (but not with such close personal language, so perhaps a cousin).

Assuming the above gives me potential surnames of

- Cripps

- Cowie

- Woolnough

- Sprague

- Burdall

(Census returns from 1881 onwards shows that there was a very complex family setup for the recipient of the postcard - hence so many different names for the potential writer.)

If it is the recipient's sister, then the only person it could be is a Lavinia Edith N Cripps (but she was also known as Edith Burdall and Lavinia E N Cripps-Burdall). However Lavinia married in 1906 and became Lavinia (or Edith) Sprague.

Could married women become VADs?

In one of the postcard, the mystery writer writes

"Was delighted with your letter yesterday. No don't put N.S. just Miss".

Were VADs known as "Miss" (I presume N.S. means "Nurse Sister"?) If married women could be VADs, would they be known as "Miss"? Is the "Miss" pointing to her (at least at this stage in 1916) not being trained nurse or a probationer?

Sorry lots of questions. It's been puzzling me for weeks.

Many thanks for your help

Kate

[Sue Light]

I think perhaps the 'Miss' comment is quite telling. My guess would be that she is a trained nurse - 'Nursing Sister,' but is asking that her letters be addressed 'Miss.' I feel that would be a very reasonable request as although on-duty the VAD would be 'Miss' and the trained nurse 'Sister,' it would be more usual to address letters as 'Miss' even to the trained nurse. If she was a VAD, I can't honestly see why her family would think to write to her under the title 'Nursing Sister.'

There are a couple of Winifred Cripps as VADs, but neither in France at the right time, and a VAD called Clara Emily Mary Woolnough, but no other details. And marriage was not a bar to being a VAD in wartime though the rules varied at different times through the war.

As far as the trained nurses go there are files at TNA for two Cripps, Gertrude and Elizabeth; five Cowies, Alice, Anna, Annie, Margaret and Mary, and no Woolnoughs, Spragues or Burdalls. Though of course it could be they just don't have files there.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/army-nurses-service-records.htm

I guess a look at the files would help, if only to discount them. At least you've got a range of fairly uncommon surnames which is a good start!

Sue

,

[KateJ]

Oh my word! It "has" to be VAD Clara Emily Mary Woolnough who's writing the postcards!! Everything fits for her - unusual Christian names born in the right place – Levington/Woodbridge 1890 (according to Free BMD), which then matches up (on census returns) to the same family as one of the recipients of the postcards.

There was an extremely complex relationship going on between the parents of one of the recipients, which hasn't helped me because they claimed different relationships to each other and various children/visitors from one census to the next and names also changed between census.

But I think it was Clara Emily Mary Woolnough writing to a cousin Peg/Maggie Woolnough and another cousin Evie/Evelyn Cripps. And she was working with another VAD called Unwin (she talks about walking into town on her half day with Unwin and that she shares a room with her)

Again it didn't help that Clara used very personal language to her cousin, and slightly more formal language to another cousin.

It doesn't explain the "Miss" rather than "N.S" but perhaps her family didn't realise the correct way to address her.

Thank you so much!

Kate

[Sue Light]

Kate

I can definitely confirm that now. The British Red Cross Register of Overseas Volunteers gives a 'certificate' number - their identity papers. The number for Clara Woolnough is 9214 and that of Gertrude Emma Unwin is 9213, so that shows that they went out to France together.

Obvious wrong about the N.S., but you can't win them all :-)

Sue

[KateJ]

Sue,

This is just fantastic – thank you so much!

Unwin came from another part of Suffolk (Haverhill), although as Clara consistently calls her “Unwin” I don’t think they enlisted together as friends but rather became friends after they joined the VAD. As they were both Suffolk women, maybe they joined somewhere in Suffolk before being sent to France.

Thank you. I thought I’d never work out who the writer and Unwin were. I bought the postcards for princely sum of £20 in an auction – over a 100 postcards from France sent home during the War, all mixed up (ex postcard dealer’s stock), including about 14 postcards written by Clara to her two cousins.

I’m including Clara's postcards within a book I’m writing about postcards sent home during the war, so having both their names now gives flesh to the bones of the story of these postcards.

Thanks again

Kate

[Sue Light]

I'm really glad it's been such a good result though it would never have been the same for Smiths! Although both women have surnames at the end of the alphabet, eventually their details will be included on the BRCS database which should show which VA detachment they were part of - I'm sure it will prove to be the same.

BRCS online records

Sue

[KateJ]

Yes I'd seen that the Red Cross archives are only up to "J" at the moment! My book is due at the publishers next April so may be they'll have got to the end of the alphabet by then.

But if not, then I still have a reasonable story about their time in France. Very helpfully the postcards home were of the village of Hardelot and Clara had marked on the postcards the exact house/rooms where she and Unwin lived.

If I read the war diaries for the hospital, would the diaries tell me eg what battle/area the injured men had been sent from?

There was a cemetery near the hospital which has over 20 soldiers who died at the hospital so I could maybe see what regiments they were in and therefore what battles they'd been in before their deaths.

Kate

[Sue Light]

The war diary will only probably give the numbers admitted and discharged each day, unnamed, and often the names, regiments and cause of death for those who died. But the diaries can vary a great deal. The dates of death of the men via CWGC could certainly give some clue as to where their battalions were around the time of their death.

The hospital took over the buildings of the Secunderabad Indian General Hospital in December 1915 and the war diary of the Matron-in-Chief has several entries about the buildings and the nursing arrangements of the hospital. If you do a search for '25 General' starting with December 1915 and then onwards, there are quite a few references to it.

War diary of the Matron-in-Chief, France and Flanders

Sue

[KateJ]

Thank you for the link to the diary on your site (thank you for transcribing it and putting it online - an incredible resource)

Yes there's a lot of detail about number 25 General. Interestingly the Matron in Chief's diary confirms the setup of the hospital I can see from Clara's postcards. Clara marked the rooms she and Unwin were living in and where the mess was. This confirms the Matron in Chief's notes about the hospital's setup - a series of villas and hotels.

Two of the hospital's dead were 5th Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Riffles). Which pins this regiment down to being in the Somme area -

The Battle of Albert, The Battle of Bazentin, The attacks on High Wood, The capture of Boritska and Dewdrop Trenches.

So I guess No 25 General were taking casualties throughout the Battle of the Somme and Clara and Unwin were there throughout. Clara never mentions the scenes she must have seen - just that she's very busy and doesn't have time to write letters. By Nov 1916, she says that all leave is cancelled and not to expect her home that year.

By 1917 Clara was writing from No 6 hospital so that's my next line of research.

Amazing how much detail that can be extracted from seemingly short messages sent home on the back of postcards!

Thanks again

Kate

[KateJ]

VAD Nurse Miss C E M Woolnough was mentioned in Sir D Haig's special dispatches of 24 May 1918.

Clara's brother George was kia 28 April 1917 and commemorated on the Arras Memorial

[Sue Light]

Your chapters are getting fatter by the minute! And I have a feeling that the BRCS Archives will probably send you the details of the two women if you email them and the cards aren't currently in use as they've always done in the past.

Sue

[KateJ]

I visited the National Archives this week to read the war diaries of Number 25 General Hospital. Absolutely fascinating diary describing in minute detail the workings of a temporary hospital set up to cope with causalities from the Western Front.

The war diary is extraordinarily detailed including daily casualties coming in and out of the hospital. All those that died in the hospital were named, and the details of their funerals documented. Any soldier caught up to no good was also fully documented by the colonel in charge. Absolutely everything that happened in the hospital was documented - down to the detail of the daily numbers of spoilt eggs which had to be thrown away (although the daily stats for the number of spoilt stores stop in the weeks running up to the battle of the Somme).

Quite a few incidents are interesting

- An aeroplane came down in the hospital grounds because it had run out of fuel and the pilot stayed at the hospital until his aeroplane was fixed and ready to leave. This caused quite a flutter with everyone at the hospital and the pilot was treated very well.

- In 1916 and 1917 there were two referendums in Australia about conscription. The hospital were sent ballot papers for both referendums for its Australian patients and staff. The completed ballot papers were duly sent off by boat (where the papers were going to or if they got there isn't documented!).

- The hospital was twice ordered to be prepared to evacuate - on the 16 July 1916 and on 5 April 1917. But the hospital wasn't evacuated. Several times, the hospital could hear heavy fighting nearby.

- There were two suicides of named soldiers in or nearby the hospital. (One man is listed on the CWGC registers (but his suicide not noted), the other is not on the CWGC registers at all.)

- One of the French villas used by the hospital was broken into by patients. The villa was empty but a couple of passing Frenchmen spotted the break in and the soldiers ran away back into the hospital. The French told the commanding officer that they would be able to recognise the men who had broken in. The commanding officer ordered every single patient to stand by their beds (presumably those that could!) and the Frenchmen were ordered to walk around all the patients in the hospital in an attempt to identify the men. Of course the Frenchmen couldn’t identify the men at all and the culprits weren’t found. Presumably the patients then all got back into their beds and carried on being sick!

No mention by name of my two VADs. The only mention by name of nurses/VADs who those leaving after their contract had ended, or those who had caused trouble. For example, the names and details of two nurses were documented as they had got into difficulties when swimming in the sea and had to be rescued; their injuries were so severe that they had to be transferred to another hospital.

On 28 April 1916, 21 VADs arrived for duty at the hospital. The arrival of VADs is not mentioned in the war diary after April 1916 and before the date of my postcards. Therefore, because of the contents of Clara's postcard home, I think I can safely assume Clara and Gertrude arrived 28 April 1916. My hunch that Clara and Gertrude were in the thick of things during the battle of the Somme was correct.

From April onwards, the hospital was building up its bed-capacity and was rapidly expanding. Part of the hospital was based in the seaside villas of the rich of Hardelot, the majority of the hospital was under canvas.

- 19 June 1916 - total of 731 patients in the hospital

- 29 June 1916 - all leave stopped. Villa Geisha used for nurses.

- 30 June 1916 - Villa Mousme opened up as a new operating room with 2 tables

By 30 June 1916 the hospital comprised of 87 hospital marquees for 1,218 cases plus a number of smaller tents capable of holding 14 beds in each. Total number of beds available 1,568. Half the hospital marquees had wooden floors, the rest had tarpaulin floors.

The causality figures for June, July and August speak for themselves as to what was happening on the Somme. The hospital broke up their monthly admittance figures into those that came from "lines of communication" (ie soldiers not actually fighting but injured or ill whilst in the infrastructure); those transferred from other hospitals; and those that came from ambulances. The figures below are just those who were admitted from ambulances/the Front (the colonel used both terms "ambulances" and "The Front" in his statistics)

- June 1916 patients admitted that month from ambulances = 912.

- July 1916 patients admitted that month from The Front = 3,155.

- August 1916 patients admitted that month from The Front = 1,133.

The number of patients rise again in October/November 1916 for the tail end of the battle of the Somme. On 14 November 1916, the colonel reported that they were receiving causalities from the battle at Beaumont Hamel (this is the only time he names a battle). This was the final day of the Battle of the Somme. The wounded were still coming into the hospital throughout November 1916 and Clara wrote on her postcard home on 16 November “All leave stopped. Don't expect me this year.”

The diaries are incredibly detailed. They haven’t been digitalised yet but TNA had left markers in the box ready for them to be photographed, indicating that they will be online at some stage. I hope they do put them online soon because they are so rich in detail, and a gem for anyone researching named soldiers, officers and nurses.

Kate

[KateJ]

My research on Clara is going well. Could someone tell me how "VAD" was pronounced? Was it "VAD" as in rhyming with "fad". Or was each initial pronounced "V" "A" "D"?

Thanks

Kate

[Sue Light]

I'm definitely a V - A - D person myself, but I have heard some eminent speakers in my time refer throughout to VAD as in FAD. These days it seems to be correct form to write acronyms without the full stops between the letters, but I find it a bit implausible to think that in a time long ago when the initials were there, as in 'V.A.D.' they would be ignored for the purposes of pronunciation. To me, VAD as in FAD sounds pretty horrible.

Sue

[KateJ]

Ah - that explains my confusion. I'm sure way-back-when I used to always see it as V.A.D. and so I pronounced it as "V-A-D". But now I always see it as VAD so thought the pronouncation had changed to FAD. But I guess its just the modern way to drop the full-stops. I'll stick with saying it as V-A-D but writing it as VAD!

Kate

[KateJ]

Just thought I'd post an update to this

The direct descendants of Clara's brother, George (who was killed in action at Arras) have been in touch with me and I now have a photograph of Clara. Clara's British Cross VAD record is still not online, but fortunately one of Clara's great-great nieces requested her records some years ago, so I now have Clara's records (which, although conflicting in places, have been quite extensive). The village recorder of Clara's Suffolk village has also provided me with extensive help and documents - including a photograph of one of the recipients of Clara's postcards.

Slowly but surely the British Red Cross VAD records are going online. This week Gertrude Unwin's records appeared. I now know that she nursed at the same British hospital as Clara in Ipswich (Broadwater). So these were two friends who had nursed together in Britain and then volunteered for overseas service and were sent to Number 25 in Hardelot together.

Clare's and Gertrude's stories have been truly remarkable to research. Each time I think I've finished their "story", new evidence and photographs come to light. I have written and rewritten this chapter of my book so many times that my head spins with it all!

On Monday my book goes off to the publishers. Clara's and Gertrude's stories, along with Number 25 General Hospital and the French town of Hardelot is one of my major chapters. My book is due to be published on 15 May. Here's the holding page on Amazon - ignore the holding picture and text - we're working on this next week so this page will change soon. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1445635003

Kate

PS I know with absolute certainty that the minute the publisher presses that big green "GO" button at the their printers, more of Clara's photographs and postcards will turn up.

[Haverhillian]

I've stumbled across this site in my research of the local Unwin family. They were well known in the town of Haverhill for the various positions of authority and committee works. So far I have researched Gertrude's brothers, who had very interesting military careers, one was an advisor to Churchill in WW2. I have pre-ordered Kate's book in the hope that it can throw more light on the female side of the family.

Barry

[KateJ]

Hi Barry

Thanks for your comment on my blog. As I said in my previous post, as soon as that "go" button is pressed at the printers for my book, more info would turn up. This has certainly happened with both Clara and Gertrude!

I had confirmation yesterday that my book is now at my publisher's distributors, so I hope will be posted out to you ASAP.

For anyone else reading this thread, my book on the messages on postcards sent during WW1 is just about to be published. My book also contains appendices on how to research postcards sent from the Western Front. Clara's and Gertrude's time at 25 General Hospital feature significantly in my book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1445635003

Kate

[Haverhillian]

Have found that Gertrude Unwin was a Matron in 1929 so must have carried on in the nursing profession. Problem now is where to find records of hospital and which one.

[Jim Strawbridge]

Have found that Gertrude Unwin was a Matron in 1929 so must have carried on in the nursing profession. Problem now is where to find records of hospital and which one.

British Journal of Nursing archive would be a good place to start.

[Haverhillian]

Many thanks for your comment, unfortunately I've tried this site with no luck as the site seems to be non functioning. It keeps going round in circles to page not found and archive page doesn't bring up archives.

[seaJane]

Royal College of Nursing archives?

http://archives.rcn.org.uk/Calmview/