Aberystwyth Connections with The Welsh Hospital, Netley, Southampton

The Welsh Hospital based at Netley near Southampton was a gift of the Welsh nation to the War Office. The offer was made by the Prince of Wales on behalf of the people of Wales on 12th August 1914  - just days after war had been declared. It was originally planned as a support for the British Expeditionary Force and the original promise was to provide funds for a hospital of 100 beds together with trained staff for six months. The idea was that it would be a temporary hospital which could be dismantled and moved over to France if needed.

Reproduced by kind permission of Julie Green   www.netley-military-cemetery.co.uk

The Welsh Hospital was built on grounds very close to the Royal Victoria Hospital, a long established military hospital, and stood side by side with a large Red Cross Hospital. The location was very suitable for receiving casualties of war as they could be brought easily from France by boat and right up the river to the landing stage at the Victoria Park. Although the building was designed to be moved  abroad the military authorities decided it was best for the hospital to remain in Netley. 

The first appeal to raise money to provide the hospital begun in the autumn of 1914 raised a remarkable £28,000 – far more than had been expected. The project progressed rapidly and amazingly by November 3rd it was ready to receive its first patients in four wards. The hospital was fully equipped with the most advanced medical and surgical equipment available at the time, including, for example, X-ray machines which enabled doctors to see more clearly the position of bullets and shrapnel splinters in wounds and assess the damage that had been caused.

Doctors at the hospital entrance April 1915Reproduced by kind permission of Julie Green  

In  1915 Aberystwyth churches, as other churches in Wales, received a special request from the Welsh Hospital  Committee to hold  a collection for the hospital at  their services on October 17th   called Welsh Hospital Sunday. This money was to help continue the work of the hospital until peace was declared as the number of beds provided had been increased to 200 earlier in the year. In its first year over 2000 patients had been treated, many of them  casualties from  the Gallipoli campaign.

The Welsh Hospital  Ward C

Reproduced by kind permission of Julie Green  

One imaginative way in which money was raised was by getting towns or groups to fundraise for the annual cost of providing a bed. This amounted to about £70. There seems to have been an Aberystwyth bed though not much information is available about it. However, the Liverpool Echo in June 1917 reported that the committee of the previous year’s National Eisteddfod had decided to allocate £70 for the Aberystwyth bed at Netley. There is also mention in local papers of a Barmouth bed and a Vale of Teify bed, as well as a Welsh Dog bed and a Welsh Horse bed. The last two of these beds involved animals themselves having taken part in events to raised the necessary money. The dogs had been dressed up and  collected in the streets whilst the horses had taken part in a pageant.

Much of the money raised locally was through flag days
Reproduced by kind permission of Julie Green  

In the picture below men who were themselves patients at the Red Cross Hospital in Aberystwyth are shown collecting money on the beach in the town for the Welsh Hospital.

Reproduced with kind permission of The National Library of Wales

An important particular connection with Aberystwyth was that the Matron of the Aberystwyth Infirmary was appointed as Matron of the Welsh Hospital. Her name was Emilie Evans. She belonged to an old and well known Aberystwyth family and had had long and varied experience in nursing both at home and abroad, being awarded the Queen Victoria and King Edward medals for services in the Boer War. In South Africa she had experienced conditions of war that were similar in many respects to those facing soldiers in the First World War. In a letter to the Aberystwyth Observer in May 1900 she recounted heart rending stories of trench warfare.  She  had been appointed Matron of Aberystwyth Infirmary in 1907 after working in London and Birmingham and she volunteered  and was accepted for war work in  late September 1914. 

Reproduced with kind permission
of The National Library of Wale

Emilie Evans kept in good contact with people in the town who were offering help, particularly the Penparke Sewing Circle. In a letter of 6th October 1915 she wrote to Miss Powell Evans  of Trinity Road with requests for certain items – Turkish towels, slippers sizes 8,9,10, draw sheets, pyjamas and stockings. The Penparcau group had already sent items to the hospital and  Emilie complimented Miss Powell Evans on her organisation of the sewing circle “ to the highest point of perfection” and said that her band of workers were to be congratulated on the number of high quality garments already sent. The garments requested were duly sent with thank you letters written by Emilie Evans herself on October 25th and December 2nd 1915. In the second letter in which she warmly  thanked the Penparcau Sewing Circle she commented that “They would be amply repaid could they but only see how happy and contented these men are with us here.”

Part of Emilie Evans’ duties as Matron was to escort special visitors around the hospital. The Cambrian News of 25 July 1915 reported that Matron Emilie Evans was involved in the royal visit of  Princess Beatrice  of Battenberg (who was the youngest daughters of Queen Victoria)  and also the visit a month or so later of Mrs Lloyd George . 

Towards the end of the war there was some controversy among officials in Aberystwyth about Emilie Evans' return to her post in the town. She had understood that she would return to her old job in Aberystwyth Infirmary but after her applying to do so in June 1918 the military authorities refused to release her, thus creating staffing problems for the Aberystwyth Infirmary. Seeing an advertisement for her old job, Emilie was upset that she might not be able to return to her post at Aberystwyth and angry that she should be penalised because of service to her country However, after several  awkward meetings in Aberystwyth a compromise was reached  on 22nd June 1918 to appoint an acting matron so allowing her to return to the Aberystwyth Infirmary when she was free to do so. 

 Almost 6000 patients went through the Welsh Hospital in its time and Emilie Evans was presented with the Royal Red Cross Decoration by the King for her self -sacrificing and valuable service to her country.

Blog by one of our project volunteers

More information on the hospital can be found on:
www.ncbi.nlm.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5228773
www.netley-military-cemetery.co.uk/wwi/welsh hospital/

Aberystwyth hospitals during the Great War - Part 2

Back in April, we posted the first part of an illuminating and informative blog on the wartime hospitals in Aberystwyth, particularly the Red Cross hospital on the Promenade, which is now the Cambria. This month - a little belatedly due to the project event blogs of May and June - we are continuing this story, diligently and enthusiastically researched by one of our project volunteers.  

In July 1916, the first edition of the Red Cross Hospital magazine appeared, price three pence. Its editor was D. Howard Tripp of the London Irish - a member of the group of the first six patients to arrive when the hospital first opened.

Reproduced by kind permission of The National Library of Wales

The magazine contained articles by patients and nurses and included poems, jokes as well as items about war work, for example the experience of a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment)  nurse, M. Williams, about her daily work.. The magazine contained a vote of thanks to Mr Terry Hunt, a hairdresser of the Castle Shaving Saloon, St James Square who was offering to shave and cut patients hair for free. The hospital patients were referred to in the magazine as “Distinguished Visitors”. In general the tone of the magazine was quite cheerful and upbeat.  From the beginning it was limited in size by the shortages of paper but it must have been well received as the first edition was reprinted. It continued to be published until the end of 1917 when production costs were felt to be too high.

Staff and patients outside the Red Cross Hospital entrance

By early August the hospital was full and the local community had raised the magnificent sum of £1657. Frequent fund raising events continued to be held, the most popular being whist drives and concerts.  As far as the whist drives were concerned the prizes seem to have been weighted in favour of the patients. On one occasion there were twenty six prizes of which twenty were reserved for patients! Nurses and patients often contributed to the concert acts which included humorous sketches, recitations and singing. 

Further groups of recovering patients continued to arrive from Neath Hospital, one of whom arriving in October was Horace Blair of Aberystwyth who is thought to have been wounded at Mametz Wood in France in July 1916. This was an early fierce confrontation in the First Battle of the Somme  involving  the 38th (Welsh) Division of the British Army. The battle had been predicted to last for a few hours but in fact proved to be five days of horrific bloodshed during which there were 4,000 Welsh casualties.

In the autumn of 1916 The Cambrian News praised two patients at the hospital who had received  medals for bravery. The first was Private F.J. Senior of the Bedfordshire Regiment who was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for bravery in the field when he found six soldiers who had lost their way during a bombing raid and led them back to British lines whilst under heavy fire. He suffered three bullets in his left arm.  The second award was the Military Medal given to Private Hughie Jones of High Street, Penmaenmawr for conspicuous bravery in taking a machine gun single handedly. 

Aberystwyth Hospital Heroes

Reproduced by kind permission of  The National Library of Wales

Christmas 1916 was celebrated with generously donated items of food and patients were given  presents, each bought from money raised at Borth over the summer for that specific purpose.

By January 1917 the Hospital was running very smoothly and the regular entertainments continued In addition there were a variety of classes  for patients, for example in French and shorthand, and lectures on local history given by the Reverend George Eyre Evans. A popular comedy act during this time was provided by two patients – Drummer Wagner and Private Basson - whose stage names were Monty and Carlo They performed comedy acts to the delight of audiences in the town until they were discharged in January 1918 to the great disappointment,  it seems, of both patients and townspeople.

Monty and Carlo

In the summer of 1917 a group of patients decided to raise some money themselves to buy a rowing boat to help pass the time. Their fund raising efforts succeeded and they enjoyed the use of the boat until the cold weather arrived. 

As more patients continued to be admitted, those who had recovered were returned to their units.

As well as the entertainments, Christmas in 1917 at the hospital included a message from the king and a toast to the boys at the front. There was also a special celebration on Boxing Day when one of the patients married a local girl from Trefechan.

In late autumn 1918 an epidemic of Spanish flu broke out in the town and visits of patients to private homes were stopped to help prevent it spreading. Many businesses in the town were forced to close temporarily as they had insufficient staff. It seems that the hospital itself was unaffected.

Christmas of 1918 was a quiet one for the hospital as most of the patients had gone home on leave with only twenty patients remaining. They were treated to a traditional meal and there was a whist drive, dancing and games as well as an army versus navy football match.

The hospital finally closed its doors closed on 3 February 1919 after an evening of dancing.  Advertisements were placed in newspapers asking people to come to collect items they had lent to the hospital.   The matron was given an attaché case as a farewell present from the VAD nurses and she was later awarded the Order of the Royal Red Cross second class for her work.