Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Station hospital


mbriscoe

Recommended Posts

Was "Station Hospital" the normal name for the hospital at a barracks.

 

I came across a reference in the newspaper archive to Inverness Station Hospital.  It caught my eye because there is a research project on the history of hospitals in the Highlands so I always pass on any new ones to them.  We have come to the conclusion it was the hospital at Cameron Barracks and I see the term appearing on this forum at various places.

 

Was it just a general term?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Personally, I read that as a hospital being near Inverness Railway Station and hence being given that name because of its location.  The Army does not name its locations as Stations in the main, they use either Garrison or Barracks or possibly Flying Stations.  The RAF called their camps Stations, and I have forgotten what the Navy call theirs.

 

Julian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was no hospital near the railway station and other references to it in the newspaper archive all seem to be associated with Cameron Barracks.  Also lots of references in posts here which mention Station Hospitals at various miliutary locations.

 

Not mentioned in here either

 

http://www.historyofhighlandhospitals.com/index.asp?pageid=667430

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking at the LLT list of Military Hospitals, there is an Inverness Military Hospital and two others in the town.  I am sure that Chris Baker will acknowledge his list is not complete.   Is this just sloppy journalism, i.e. someone thought that they knew the right name.   Looking through that list I cannot see any hospitals with the name station in them.  I do not think that Sation Hospital was a normal usage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, JulianR said:

The RAF called their camps Stations, and I have forgotten what the Navy call theirs.

Camps :).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, CountryJohn said:

 

 

Looking through WWI newspapers, it seemed to be still very common to refer to the Station Hospital at army bases in India in particular.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.scarletfinders.co.uk/175.html

 

The link gives Army Hospitals in 1899, I could only see 2 or 3 that were definitively called Station in their name.   My problem is relying on newspaper reports which may not be accurate in the first place, or the journalist wrote what he thought was right from many years before without realising that the Army had changed the terminology.  I think your best bet is to see if you can find an official letter/form from the hospital and see what they called themselves.  Unfortunately home units did not have to keep War Diaries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Army Medical Department Report for the year 1903  often uses the term station and stations  meaning military base, or in India, cantonment. 

https://archive.org/stream/reportforyeargr01unkngoog#page/n6/mode/2up/search/"station+hospital"

There are many references to  "station hospital",  meaning army base hospital.

 

You may be able to access through your local or county library the subscription website UK Parliamentary Papers which I believe contains the Army Department Medical Report for the war years. (Some libraries subscribe for certain date ranges only, so if you think you have access, you need to check the war years are included)

 

Cheers

Maureen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And probably right up to WWI, many army personnel would have served in India so would have got used to calling the military bases "stations".

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are frequent newspaper references to the Station Hospital at Inverness around the turn of the century and it is often mentioned alongside Cameron Barracks. With the phrase "Army Stations" or "Stations of the Army" being a term used by the Army & Navy Gazette of that era when listing the locations of units, personally I would not draw the inference that it related to a railway station.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...