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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

A visit to LC Victor N. House, 1st Hants, Netley Hospital


Canadawwi

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We are now in the Christmas season, and I'd like to share some images from a scrapbook compiled by a visitor to a wounded soldier convalescing at Netley (Royal Victoria) Hospital, near Southampton, Hampshire, England. This scrapbook included images of the 1916 Christmas wards at Netley Hospital, Red Cross huts, and events surrounding this visit in February 1917.

A Visitor's Pass is included that gives us the name of the soldier: Lance Corporal V. House, 22511, 1st Hants, a patient in the 11A ward. The visitors were Miss M. House, and Miss L. Shrimpton, described as sister and friend. The address 42 Hyde St., Winchester, is written on this pass - this may be a clue to their home address. The scrapbook may have been compiled by Miss M. House.

It is possible that he is the man shown in a group photo of convalescent soldiers - see photographs. This is the only marked photo in the scrapbook. There is an arrow in ink pointing to his face.

A check with the Medal cards indicates that he is Pte. Victor N. House, Hampshire Regt. - Medal card

Many of the items in her scrapbook are men at work on the embroidery projects, or views of decorated Christmas wards. These embroidery projects were organized by local volunteers as a way to help keep the men entertained, and the scrapbook also includes information about a display and sale of these embroidered samplers.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Marika

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Netley_Whist_Entertainment_soldier_detail.jpg

Netley_Whist_Entertainment_red_size.jpg

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The images of soldiers with their embroidery were included in an article entitled "Netley Hospital" Crippled Soldiers as Skilled Embroiderers", published November 22nd, 1916. The name of the publication was not included, but it may have been a local paper. The article from December 1916 accompanied a number of photographs of the hospital wards at Christmas.

The articles surrounding the embroidery project mention that the men also produced black and white sketches, etchings, and watercolours. A man on the Netley staff named Captain Ham, created models of the Bairnsfather sketches: "Captain Ham is the only person authorised to make these models, and Captain Bairnsfather himself was so pleased with them that he asked for one to keep." (Nov. 22, 1916).

According to this article, the embroidery sale was to raise funds for the Netley handicrafts projects for soldiers. The sale was to be held at the home of Mrs. Cazalet in London at 19 Grosvenor Square. "As a rule the first thing a man wants to work is his regimental crest."

Soldiers shown with Embroidery:

Pte. W. Manning, South Wales Borderers

Corporal Kent, Sussex Regt.

Pte. H. Robinson, Sherwood Foresters

Other soldiers photographed or mentioned by name in this scrapbook were:

Pte. Garrett, South Wales Borderers, missing one arm, only 3 fingers on his remaining hand. He embroidered a cushion cover "...reminiscent of an Aubrey Beardsley drawing".

Netley_Visit_Dec_30_1916.jpg

Netley_embroidery_montage_Nov_22_1916.jp

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I believe that the article is taken from the Southampton Pictorial.

22511 L/Cpl Victor N. House did indeed reside at 42, Hyde Street, Winchester (see Winchester War Service Register). He was wounded (G.S.W. left knee) on 23rd October 1916 during the attack by 1st Hants on Boritska Trench. He ended up also seeing service in the Labour Corps and R.D.C.

Also listed at 42, Hyde Street, Winchester are Pte Cyril J. House (Hants Yeomanry) and M2/176660 Sgt Cecil J. House (ASC), most likely brothers.

Marc

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Marc,

Thank you for this detailed information. It is greatly appreciated. It help so much to build upon the story of this scrapbook album.

- Marika

I'm attaching three more images from the House scrapbook. The group photo is one of the better examples that was included in the December 1916 article about Christmas at Netley hospital. The snapshot of recovering men in front of the huts was probably taken in the Red Cross Hospital. a temporary hospital of aluminum huts behind the main building.

Netley_Scrapbook_Photo_1.jpg

Scrapbook_Men_at_Huts_v1.jpg

Netley_Hospital_Article_Embr_Nov22.16.jp

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The letter to the soldier was in the scrapbook and may have been given to Lance Corp. House. One of the newspaper articles mentions that children were visiting the hospital. The stickers and snapshots were pasted into another page in the scrapbook.

The Christmas 1915 post card is from my own collection.

NetleyAlbumPagewithStickers.jpg

NetleylettertoSoldier.jpg

NetleyRedCrossHospitalXmas1915pcFRONT2.j

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  • 1 year later...

Hi!

Just bringing this to the top again (now it is Christmas 2008), hoping there might be some new insights to add to the others that were kindly posted here.

Thanks in advance.

Marika

P.S. If there is any interest, I can try to post a few more pictures.

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All the previous pics have been of great interest

Please post more!

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Hi!

Just bringing this to the top again (now it is Christmas 2008), hoping there might be some new insights to add to the others that were kindly posted here.

Thanks in advance.

Marika

P.S. If there is any interest, I can try to post a few more pictures.

Hi Marika

This is really interesting, I live fairly near to Netley

I took my children to see Netley Castle Hospital when they were young, one of them pleaded with me to let him go inside and look at the exhibition

He was fascinated, bearing in mind, he was only about 8 at the time

This puts it all into context more than the exhibition did for me ...

Dianne

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One element to consider when studying patients at Netley during the war years was that many of them were housed in the temporary Red Cross hospital towards the back of the hospital. You can see it in the original photo below. The hospital was composed of aluminum huts with various names such as the Herefordshire Huts (see the photo from my collection). It had a gate entry, and was planted with gardens.

After the war, the Red Cross hospital was gradually taken apart and re-purposed in buildings in the community. Many elements of the hospital building were recycled including costly fittings. Stone from the demolished hospital was made into gravel for road construction.

The scan from the pamphlet that is handed out on the site today shows the layout. Only the central chapel stands and this houses a museum with information about the hospital. The scan doesn't show the Red Cross huts, but you can get an idea from the photo.

The photo of the amputees is from my own Netley collection and doesn't relate to the House collection.

Finally, I started looking into this because my great uncle died on July 1st, 1915 at Netley. More about him later, but I will post now two obituaries of fellow Canadians who died at Netley.

Another interesting point is that Philip Hoare's book Spike Island about Netley states that the patient records were destroyed. This may be true about Netley's long history dating back to the 1860s, however, the hospital records for Canadians convalescing at Netley during the first World War were all carefully preserved in the soldier files which are now part of the National Archives of Canada. Copies may ordered. I will link to a sample page of my great uncle's Netley hospital charts.

Netley_Red_Cross_Hospital_Huts_cWWI.jpg

Netley_Orange_Pamphlet_pg2.jpg

Netley_Red_Cross_Hospital_Herfordshire_H

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The following pictures include two from the V. House file showing Christmas events at Netley Hospital, and more of the embroidery program. The last photo is from Netley Military Cemetery. It was taken by forum member Alan Lines. It shows the breakdown of casualties in the cemetery by nationality.

Netley_Embroidery_Projects__3_.jpg

Netley_Xmas_pictures_no5.jpg

Netley_Cemetery_Nationality_Figures.jpg

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Marika - thanks so much for bumping this (and adding to it) I must have missed it last Christmas - it's really fascinating - I love this sort of social history aspect. Is the album a family item - or something you acquired? I looked into this family briefly when looking for my husband's paternal grandmother - also a House - on Ancestry - but finally found them mis-transcribed.

With reference to Mark's post (No 4) - the family were obviously fairly long term residents at 42 Hyde Street - as they were there in the 1901 census

Eldest son - at home - was Edgar who was then 18, Cecil was 16 and Cyril was 15 - then came Victor - 10 - and Mabel - also 10 - presumably the sister who visited so looks like they were twins. Youngest at that time was another sister Lelia - 6

Mum and Dad were John (53) a domestic gardener born in Piddletrenthide, Dorset and Mary Ann (48) born Stockbridge, Somerset. All the offspring listed were shown as born in Reading, Berkshire - except the youngest- Chieveley - also Berkshire

The 1891 census shows Victor and Mabel as both being 11 months - so twins it was.

With best wishes

Sue K

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The following two pieces relate to my great uncle buried at Netley. In 2002 P. Moorehead, a fellow researcher kindly offered to visit Netley and look for info for me at the cemetery. He spoke with the curator of the museum, P. Kirkby, who tracked down pages from the burial register. You can see the names of many heroes from important English regiments as well as Canadians and Australians. Last year and again just recently, Alan Lines photographed my great uncle's grave as well as numerous shots of the cemetery and the remaining Netley buildings.

On the handwritten burial report, you can see that my great uncle (Pirie) and Niddery (his obituary is in an earlier post) were both buried on the same day.

The third picture is one more from the V. House collection showing the local ladies involved in the embroidery/handicrafts project for wounded soldiers at Netley.

Grave_Register_Netley_Cemetery.jpg

Netley_burials.jpg

Handicraft_Scheme_Ladies.jpg

Edited by Canadawwi
Image inserted via insert link option
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  • 1 month later...

Thank you Esskay for your detailed post on LC Victor House. It is greatly appreciated.

Here are four more photos to add to my thread. These were not in the House scrapbook, but come from my own collection.

When looking at any these photos note that some of the scenes may have been taken inside the main hospital building, while others were taken in the 1914-18 era Red Cross Hospital which was a temporary structure of aluminum huts to the back of the hospital. It may take some time to determine which ward photos belong to the main hospital, and which were taken in the temporary huts. One complaint about the 1860s era hospital was a lack of ventilation, although some photos I have from the interior show a well-ventilated long corridor, but this may not extend to every ward.

Image #1 This ward photo shows some sort of table game (what is it?). An example of embroidery of regimental insignia is hung on the wall. This may have been a soldier's handiwork. A patient's medical chart is set at the back of the bed. Military caps are hung at the back of the beds.

Image #2 The Garrison theatre is in the main hospital. There is a nice stage set visible in this photograph.

Image #3 Group photo of nurses. This dates to World War One. It is set in the Red Cross Hospital area. Here we can see the outside of the windows of the huts. The huts seem to have long windows and are well ventilated.

Netley_Ward_w_nurses_frnt.jpg

Netley_Garrison_Theatre_FRNT.jpg

Netley_Nurses_frnt.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

Marika

Inexplicably, I've only just stumbled upon this thread. What fascinating information.

One of my Chailey nurses, Frances Blencowe, nursed at Netley in 1914 and I have some photos from her album showing a Sussex Hut (she was from Sussex and I was interested to see your photo of the Herefordshire Hut) and also Japanese nurses. There's a Netley slide show on her page here: Frances Isabel Blencowe which you will probably be interested in.

Paul

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Paul, thank you for your post. I highly recommend Paul's website which is incredibly detailed. The slide show from the photo album of Frances Isabel Blencowe, a Nurse at Netley, is fascinating. There is also an explanation on Paul's site regarding the difference between a V.A.D. and a Nursing Sister.

The following photo is from my own collection. It was labelled as taken at Netley in January 1917. The view seems to be from a Red Cross hut vs. an interior ward in the hospital. I will post the full view and then details.

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Netley_Jan_1917_MIP_coll_detail5_r.jpg

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Additional details from the January 1917 photograph.

(1) The temporary Red Cross huts (and I think this image shows the interior of a hut) seemed to be identified by names of British regiments. This photo has a Shamrock - perhaps it was an Irish Regiment? Any ideas as to the Cap Badge?

(2) The second image shows a Nurse wearing a badge on her uniform. It seems to be the Netley badge as shown in my colour photo. The other V.A.D. in the photo (see above postings) is wearing the same badge.

Netley_Jan_1917_MIP_coll_detail3_r.jpg

Netley_Jan_1917_MIP_coll_detail4_r.jpg

Netley_Enamel_pin.jpg

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(1) The temporary Red Cross huts (and I think this image shows the interior of a hut) seemed to be identified by names of British regiments. This photo has a Shamrock - perhaps it was an Irish Regiment? Any ideas as to the Cap Badge?

Or simply counties? There were also other names as I've realised from the few Netley photos that I have. One photo shows "David Bingham Hut" and I have absolutely no idea who David Bingham was. There is also a Sussex No 1 Hut in the photos I have, which suggests to me that there was probably a Sussex No 2 Hut (at least) as well.

Marika, please do drop me a PM with your e-mail address and I'll send you the Netley photos that I have.

Paul

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  • 7 months later...

Thanks to all for the helpful feedback to date. Once again, I bring up this thread for the Christmas season. This is another picture from the war era scrapbook assembled by a visitor to Netley Hospital. It was clipped out from a newspaper report including photos of the Christmas festivities at Netley:

post-3697-1261847717.jpg

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The Hampshire Heritage image database now includes 11 images of Netley. Images include: the Sister's mess room, patients in the wards and the Red Cross huts, and others:

Netley photos - Hampshire Image database

One nice image is a group photo of the patients from May 1915:

Convalescents at Netley Hospital

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Paul Nixon's post (#17) mentions the Japanese nurses who worked at Netley. His website on Frances Blencowe includes a couple of interesting photos of Japanese nurses.

A group photo of these Japanese nurses appears to have been made into a souvenir "real photo" postcard that was for sale at Netley. This image has appeared in post card collector books, and occasionally turns up on online auctions.

Some of the "real photo" postcards from Netley, especially those showing interiors of the Red Cross huts were private photographs that were printed onto postcard paper. Other images were mass produced for sale as souvenirs. According to the book Spike Island, there were a number of services available across the Netley hospital grounds making it almost a self-contained town. One of these was a shop that sold souvenir postcards of Netley. Many of these images appear regularly for sale at postcard shows.

Here's a newspaper clipping explaining the presence of the Japanese nurses (Toronto Star - January 13th, 1915), with the original postcard image.

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