Friends of North Walsham War Memorial Hospital

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Snapshots of North Walsham’s Great War Hospitals – and the people who worked in them

25th June 2018 by Richard Batson

The Friends’ recent involvement with replica flags for North Walsham’s Red Cross Hospitals from the First World War has prompted a lot of interest.

Many people did not know about the vital wartime role played by those temporary hospitals – and has sent some folk delving back into history to find out what those

They include Friends supporter Mary Seward whose ancestry research has given us a few brief snapshots into the people who worked there.

FACTS

There were 3000 Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) hospitals – temporary units set up in locations varying from town halls and schools to private houses.

North Walsham had two on the Mundesley Road at Wellingtonia (still a residence) and Lower House (now redeveloped as Greenway Close).

 

Soldiers and staff outside the Red Cross hospital in Mundesley Road. Credit North Walsham Community Archive.

 

The government paid £1 4 shillings and sixpence a week, or £63 a year, to cover hospital treatment, food and other costs.

The auxiliary hospitals were manned by a mix of volunteers and paid staff headed by a commandant  (a kind of chief executive), a matron directing nursing staff, quartermaster dealing with provision and local VAD members trained in first aid and home nursing.

Recovering – patients and staff at the Red Cross hospital in Mundesley Road. Credit North Walsham Community Archive.

 

Local members of the medical profession did a large amount of voluntary work in these hospitals. In 1917 the War Office decided that some payment should be given to doctors providing help.

Local women from the neighbourhood volunteered part-time, although it was often necessary to supplement voluntary work with some paid roles, such as cooks.

Auxiliary hospitals also drew on members who were too old or young for work in a military hospital. Many were unable to leave home for six months due to family commitments, but were willing to sign a three-month hospital contract.

They also attracted members who found work in a military hospital too strenuous and others who ‘preferred to be head cook in a small auxiliary hospital to assistant cook in a large military hospital’.

Famous volunteers included superstar singer Clara Butt and author Agatha Christie – who has other links with North Walsham, staying at what is now the Beechwood Hotel. Agatha helped at the VAD Hospital in Torquay.

Among those listed as working at North Walsham were:

Edith Wilkinson Carter – Acting commandant at Wellingtonia in January 1915. A note says it had 15 beds and handled 475 patients before it closed on January 21 1919. She was awarded the Royal Red Cross in 1918, which was presented by the King. Edith was born in May 1865, and died aged 90 in 1996. Husband Cecil was a doctor.

Christiane Maud Davies – a cook at the hospital in 1915-16 as a Red Cross Volunteer. Born March 1883 in Wakefield and died 1963 in North Walsham. Her sister Madeline was also in general service at the hospital.

Constance Empson – born in North Walsham in 1872, the daughter of local solicitor William Empson. Records show she clocked up 2360 hours of service. She was a member of the well- known Walker family who co-ran Ebridge Mill with the Cubitts. Constance died in December 1928 aged 57. Her granddaughter Celia Scott recently made a donation to the hospital friends in recognition of her connections – and the family still has the treasured heirloom of an engraved topaz brooch thanking her for her hospital work.

Constance Empson (Walker) who worked at the North Walsham VAD hospital. Pic supplied by family.

Ellen May Howes – who worked in a “general surgical, eyes and mess” and earned £20 a year for her labours. Born 1891 and died 1983. She lived in Dublin, France and The Rookery at North Walsham.

Mary Wiles – a head teacher an elementary school who did general nursing duties between April and September 1917. She lived in Lime Tree Road.

Mildred Emmeline Wool – a Lancashire lass, who was a nurse at the hospital from 1918-19 and died in the town’s cottage hospital in July 1950.

Other Red Cross volunteers lived in town but worked elsewhere. They included:

Florence Wilkinson – who lived at The Oaks and is listed as quartermaster at the Palace in Peterborough, and Institute in Lyghe in Kent. Her duties included “nursing, secretarial and quartermaster” tasks including meeting ambulance trains at Peterborough station.

  • If you have any stories and photographs about family members who worked at the Red Cross hospitals – or the War Memorial “Cottage” unit – please contact the Friends as we would love to have them for our archive, to share with others interested in the town’s nursing heritage.
  • But remember the Friends main role is all about the present and future – funding improvements for the benefit of patients, families and staff to make their stay at our wonderful hospital as comfortable as possible.
  • To support our work see the contacts pages on our website.

 

 

Filed Under: Fundraising, history Tagged With: First World War, North Walsham Hospital, North Walsham Hospital Friends, Red Cross

Hospital flags to fly again thanks to donation

27th January 2018 by Richard Batson

Faded flags that flew over wartime hospitals are set to “fly” again thanks to a friend of the current care complex.

They once marked the location of two temporary First World War hospitals in North Walsham where the Red Cross nursed injured troops.

 

North Walsham Hospital, Friends, Rev Paul Cubitt, Keith Jarvis
The Rev Paul Cubitt and Keith Jarvis with the old North Walsham hospital flags. Credit Richard Batson

Today the white and red pennants have turned grey with age, and languish in the parish church where they have been stored for years.

But a joint initiative between the vicar and the Friends of North Walsham War Memorial Hospital is providing replicas to remind people of the town’s nursing heritage.

And it has been made possible by a donation from a well-known local shopkeeper and musician with connections to both organisations.

A collection in memory of musician Denis Payne, who died in November 2016 aged 86, is being used to provide two £300 replicas for the church where he used to play keyboards at funerals, and where he gave visitors tours of its history.

Denis Payne
Denis Payne

And the Friends organisation is buying one to put in the hospital which cared for Mr Payne, who ran the family sweet shop in town for many years, when he was ill in later life.

The church flags will go in the war memorial chapel which honours the 99 men who served their country but did not return home.

The Rev Paul Cubitt said it was fitting to get the flags revived for 2018, the centenary of the end of the Great War.

“We are really grateful for the Payne family for donating the money in memory of Denis to make this happen,” he added.

Both Red Cross auxiliary hospitals were on Mundesley Road. One, Wellingtonia, is now a private house. The other, Lower House, was demolished and is now Greenway Close.

Wellingtonia, North Walsham Hospital, Mundesley Road, Red Cross
Soldiers outside Wellingtonia when it was a Red Cross Hospital (credit North Walsham and District Community Archive)

 

Red Cross Hospital Mundesley Road North Walsham
Lower House which was also a Red Cross auxiliary hospital – now demolished and the site of Greenway Close (credit North Walsham and District Community Archive)

 

The modern complex was opened in 2012, on the site of the former 1924 hospital which was built in memory of the 1914-18 war victims.

Mr Jarvis said: “When Mr Payne’s widow heard ab

out the old flags she was pleased to donate Denis’s collection to get two of them restored in his memory, and the Friends were happy to provide one for the hospital to highlight the town’s connections with wartime nursing.”

If you would like to help the Friends with a donation call chairman Keith Jarvis on 07788 889853.

The church is fundraising to restore its main east window over the high altar which is also a Great War memorial. To help with the church window appeal contact the vicar on revpcubitt@btinternet.com.

 

 

Filed Under: Fundraising Tagged With: Keith Jarvis, North Walsham Hospital, North Walsham Hospital Friends, Red Cross, Rev Paul Cubitt

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Chairman

Keith Jarvis
15 Primrose Close
Trunch NR28 0QH

Tel: 07788 889853

Secretary

Angela Batson
30 Beechlands Park
Southrepps NR11 8NT

Tel: 07775 557381

Treasurer

Carol Willgress
28 Beechlands Park
Southrepps NR11 8NT

Tel: 01263 833733

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© 2021 · Friends of North Walsham War Memorial Hospital, Yarmouth Road, North Walsham, Norfolk NR28 9AP. Tel: 01692 408000
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