Hospital blues

[Wendyhugonnet]

James Wood. The back of the picture said " Hospital Blues" is it as it said their uniform if they were in hospital.

Wendy

[DMannus]

Wendy

yep - spot on - the uniform of servicemen whilst being treated in Hospital - you can see its a more casual cut. The message on the back is, maybe a wee play on words?

David

(Not an expert, by the way, but the subject crops up all the time, usually in photographs.)

[DMannus]

Here's an example:

'Under the watchful eye of UVF nurses, Volunteers play 'quoits' at the UVF Hospital,

set up in Queen's University (South Belfast)'

(reproduced from South Belfast friends of the Somme association WWW.belfastsomme.com)

[alliekiwi]

Wendy, as you guessed, 'hospital blues' were a uniform the men were issued with whilst they were in hospital. As you can tell from the name, the jacket and trousers were blue. Generally the lapels of the jackets were white (which doesn't appear to be the case in the photo you've posted, but you can see the white lapels on the chap reclining in the bottom right corner of David's photo) and the shade of blue varied. Your photo shows what must have been quite a light blue, whereas the one David posted is more the darker shade that I've usually seen. The men wore their own uniform hats with hat badges, but otherwise you have an impossible job telling what regiment a chap in hospital blues might be from - as witnessed by the two non-hat wearing men in your photo! Often they wore a white shirt and red tie with the uniform, but again... it seems not the case with the men in your pic.

Allie

[Scotty]

Allie, may I ask if the blue uniforms were worn in both British and French hospitals? Regards, Scotty.

[dundeesown]

Another picture for you. From Stobhill Hospital.good to see they still had an eye for the girls.

Gary

[DMannus]

Distant memory of 'The Stobbie' in Dundee ? Stobswell? Was there a hospital in Dundee? Somewhere near Albert Street?

David

[Pvt. Hope.]

As said above these 'Blues' were quite light, either due to the fabric itself or a strong light within the room.

The Blue i used was quite dark but showed up rather light on the photo.

[Peter Doyle]

The blue varied in intensity, nut was most often darker, a Royal Blue, with white collar facings. Their shirts would be white, and the ties bright red...

Peter

[truthergw]

Distant memory of 'The Stobbie' in Dundee ? Stobswell? Was there a hospital in Dundee? Somewhere near Albert Street?

David

Maryfield in Mains Loan

[huytonhoofer]

Just for interest here's a photo from Ascot Hospital. Amongst them is my grandfather who took a large piece of shrapnel to the back of his right knee. He recovered and went back in the line.

[DMannus]

truthergw

Tom

Thanks

mind it now - sandstone buildings

Maryfield was my first station.

thanks

David