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Wounded WW1 soldiers return to military hospitals

As the enormous number of casualties were brought back from the war, they were placed for recovery in a number of military hospitals set up across the country. This page is about one of them which is probably fairly typical of them all. It includes how children lined the streets to welcome their heros, the hospital buildings, the clothes for the patients, the wards, the nurses and much more.

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Extracted from the memoirs of the webmaster's mother (1906-2002) and edited by the webmaster with further research

The arrival of the wounded soldiers

We children were always excited when a convoy of wounded soldiers was expected. They had been brought back to England by ship, then by train to a London Station where ambulances met the convoys. My father was one of the ambulance drivers.

Convoy of ambulances leaving a London station transporting wounded WW1 soldiers to the military hospitals

The ambulances moved only at a slow walking pace to try to prevent unnecessary jarring, as many of the soldiers were extremely badly wounded. When we children saw them coming along Silver Street, we would run along beside them and cheer.

The public were also quick to care for the new arrivals when necessary as clear from the recollection in the following box.

Military Hospitals in WW1

There were several hospitals in England given over to the care of wounded soldiers during the First World War. They were similar in how they were run except that each had its own specialisation. I knew Edmonton Military Hospital as it was close to where I lived. It was a special surgical hospital for orthopaedic cases.

The Military Hospital was a great centre of interest to local people with its two large red crosses on the front gates.

Edmonton Military Hospital, during World War One*. Note the cross on the left-hand gate.

The Military Hospital in Edmonton must have been fairly typical of other military hospitals in England. It was in Silver Street, Edmonton and is now the North Middlesex Hospital. My father's uncle, E. G. Cole, was very much involved in setting up the hospital for military use, for which he was awarded an MBE.

There seem to have been several large buildings within the hospital site because, although all the photos on this page were taken and labelled either during WW1 or shortly afterwards, they do not appear to show the same building.

The wards and the nurses

The following photo is an example of the wards and the nurses. It shows the size and nature of a typical ward, its bed and the nurses. There more photos of the nurses and their uniforms below. As they will show, the nurses took part in the social life of the men, and look happy to do it.

Alexandra West Ward**.

The hospital uniforms for the recovering soldiers

When the men were well enough to get out of bed, they were given hospital uniforms.

When the wounded soldiers were well enough to go out, they were very noticeable in the street as they were dressed in sax blue suits made of what looked like a type of lightweight flannel material, and they wore bright red ties.

It seems that all the country's main military hospitals had the same uniform, as shown by the photo of Caenshill Military Hospital.

Entertainment and social life for the recovering men

I have collected a number of photos of nurses joining in with the social life of the recuperating men. The following photographs show the uniforms of the various grades of nurse, as well as the suits worn by those patients who were well enough get dressed.