canadians in cliveden

[beersheba]

I'm doing a event at a national trust site,Cliveden in Bucks. in 2 weeks.I am told the canadians used it during the war .Anyone know what they where doing there.??Hospital i guess, great site..any answers or better still a pic would be great..

Thanks Guys.

Andy

[Le_Treport]

Have a search on this very forum for 'Cliveden'....

Also, a quick Google found the following, which confirms a hospital was nearby:

*”Stand Easy” (Chronicles of Cliveden)

We possess one bound volume of this journal of the Canadian Hospital, Taplow, Berks, covering May-November 1918 (it commences at issue 23). That the hospital inmates were encouraged to visit Taplow village (which lies adjacent to the great house of Cliveden, previously owned by the Astor family) is evident from the large number of local advertisements. The hospital later evolved into the Canadian Red Cross Hospital, famous as the birthplace of paediatric rheumatology under Dr Barbara Ansell.

[Greenwoodman]

My sons were born there in 1977, now long gone I believe.

[SiegeGunner]

Andy,

There is a War Cemetery at Cliveden and - unless it has been demolished recently - the mouldering remains of the Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital, built in 1940, later handed over to the NHS, and closed in 1986. If you Google 'Cliveden' and 'Canadian', you will find several websites campaigning against the redevelopment of the hospital site for upmarket housing - as the hospital site is part of the estate gifted to the NT by Lord Astor. Some of these sites also cover the history of the WW1 hospital at Cliveden (dismantled at the end of the war) and the Canadian Red Cross Hospital during WW2.

Hopefully there is a Forum member who lives in that area and can tell us more.

Mick

[GrandsonMichael]

You might like to have a look at the Canadian War Diaries for the Hospital at Cliveden.

They can be found here.

Hit Medical Units and scroll way down, that's where they are.

Cheers,

Michael

[beersheba]

thank you everyone who has helped on this one...will be at this event next weekend doing my 19th Alberta dragoon show...cheers Andy

[Canadawwi]

From the - Toronto Star - February 11, 1915

HOSPITAL FOR CANADIANS HAS ALL THE COMFORTS

Even a Baseball Park Has Been Provided - Astor Fixes House and Grounds With Many Modern Conveniences - Red Cross to Keep it Going.

Special Cable to The Star by F. A. McKenzie.

London, Feb. 11.-- The Cliveden base hospital opens Monday with 125 beds, which will be subsequently enlarged to 1,000 beds. No more splendidly placed and equipped military hospital exists anywhere. "you can tell the people of Canada," said Colonel Gorell, when showing me over the buildings, "that this is the finest military war hospital in the world. There is nothing it beat it as a temporary hospital anywhere."

The transformation of Astor's palatial country home into a hospital proceeded with record speed. The large building, formerly used for winter games, was first prepared, Astor meeting all the expenses of the alterations. Wards were partitioned off, operating rooms, dispensary, and nurses' quarters provided. From the windows of this find building the sick and wounded will have before their eyes some of the most beautiful an healthiest rural, wooded, and river scenery.

Even a Baseball Park.

The Canadian Red Cross provided equipment costing already $10,000, and it will be responsible for the upkeep. Col. Hodgetts appeals for necessary funds, saying: "The hospital is the only one of its kind existing. It is not purely voluntary; not purely military, but half and half."

The immediate staff under Gorell numbers 83 picked men from the 1st and 2nd contintents and will subsequently be increased to 200. Nursing Sister Campbell is matron, with twenty nurses. The staff includes Captain Stayner Ellis, Captain Noff, Sgt.-Major Gadbraith, Sgts. Down, Saunders, J. R. Smith, and J. H. Reppen.

Mr. and Mrs. Astor spared no trouble and expense or personal service, and have done magnificently to promote the comfort of all. A clubhouse has been opened in the grounds and a baseball park will be provided.