Primary Documents

Hospital

Chosen Sources

Floor Plan

Shell Shock “Letter in Mail”

ward & train photo

(An account by an Australian officer who was severely wounded in the head. He was eventually repatriated via Holland but experienced varying medical

treatment during his two years imprisonment. Three days after capture he was transported in a German train, lying on wood shavings to Caudry where he

was hospitalised. His interrogation by the Germans, even though recently wounded, was presumably because he was an officer.)

http://www.vlib.us/medical/pow/pozieres.htm

“Eventually we arrived at Caudry, where we were placed in hospital, all

our clothing having been taken away from us. We were put to bed in a

German ward. Here we were fairly well attended to. A German nursing

sister wrote letters for a couple of English prisoners of war whose wounds

would not permit them to write their own home letters. But, after about

four days in this ward, we were moved into a ward that was "all British."

Here beds were hard, the food was curtailed, and the medical attention

became slacker than had been the case in the ward we had just left. So

negligent was the medical attention that the wounds of some of the

prisoners of war in this ward were crawling with maggots, which also

overran the bedding. To insure your wounds being dressed at all, it was

necessary to pull the bandages wholly off your wounds. Several wounded

prisoners of war died while I was here, but I do not think any of these

were Australians. There were fully 100 Australian prisoners of war in this

hospital, nearly all, of them in this ward. . . .”Proposal:

This quote is a portion of a full account by an Australian Officer being captured and transported to a German

hospital for treatment. This account given by the Officer provides a new perspective of non-British hospitals

during the first world war. It shows us a first hand perspective of the treatment given by German hospitals to

the “enemy” soldiers during the war. The above picture provides an image of the inside of a medical train that

carried wounded soldiers to hospital locations.

https://comestepbackintime.wordpress.com/tag/military-hospitals-brockenhurst-ww1/

Floor Plan of Herbet Hospital, Woolwich

Proposal:

A floor plan of the Herbet Hospital in Woolwich that Bagnold

volunteered at; this is the hospital in which much of her diary

takes place. It is very helpful in the visualization of the

environment in which Bagnold worked in. This is a basic

single floor plan of how the wards were set up inside the

Herbet hospital. The diagram shows the various rooms and

wards that were set up during wartime (prison ward, library,

pharmacy, pavilions, administrative block etc.)

Bottom pic shows a full scale image of the Herbet Hospital

pavilion.

The Herbert Hospital, Woolwich - Ground Floor Plan "The Builder" 14 April 1866

Ward ‘C’ Lower South of Royal Herbert Hospital WWI

Proposal:

This photo provides an

idea of what the inside set up of a

ward in the hospital. The open

space was brightly lit due to the

large windows. In the center a table

is filled with plants meant to keep

the spirits of the wounded soldiers

up; also may have helped with the

covering up of medical smells.

Although it is a staged photo of the

soldiers the it also provides us with

details on the uniform provided to

soldiers admitted to the hospital

ward. In this specific ward ‘c’ the

soldiers appear to be regular

tommies.

Manual for the Medical Department, United States Army, 1916

Proposal: Issued by the United States government, the

Manual for the Medical Department outlined the strict rules

and regulations for medical officers and hospital personnel.

The document provides a look into how fixed hospital

regulations were and how such regulations benefitted

hospital care.

Excerpt from “Qualifications” section: Physical qualifications: The applicant’s physical fitness for service will be

ascertained by a careful physical examination...the applicant must be not less

than 60 inches nor more than 70 inches in height; and must weigh not less

than 100 pounds, nor more than 195 pounds...

Moral, professional, and mental qualifications: -- An applicant will not be

eligible for appointment in the Nurse Corps unless she shall have graduated

from a training school for nurses giving a thorough professional education,

both theoretical and practical, and requiring a residence of at least two years

in an acceptable general hospital of 100 beds or more...the superintendent of

the Nurse Corps will request a certificate from the superintendent of the

school from which the applicant graduated, showing: 1) The date of the

applicant’s graduation; and (2) her moral character and professional

qualifications during her period of training...No applicant will be appointed

unless she shall agree to serve for three years.”

Link to source: https://archive.org/stream/m00anualformedicalunitrich#page/n5/mode/2up

Excerpt from Article II -- Education and Training:

“The education duties of the Medical Department are of a

twofold nature -- to the public, and to the military services,

regular, volunteer, and militia... The professional training of

the military services is carried out chiefly by the regular

courses of instruction given medical officers at the Army

Medical School in Washington, D.C. and at the Army

service Schools, Fort Leavenworth, by the courses given

the Hospital Corps in field hospitals, ambulance companies,

and detachments.”

Excerpt from Admission and Distribution

of Patients:

“Upon his admission to hospital a patient

will first be taken to the receiving ward, if

there is one, or to the office, where his

register card will be filled in so far as the

data are available at the time, the

treatment ward to which he is assigned

being noted on the back thereof. There

will also be entered on a clinical record

brief (Form 55a) the patient’s name,

rank, organization, etc., the diagnosis on

the transfer card, if one has been

received, and the designation of the

ward to which he is assigned [...] each

ward surgeon will every morning,

immediately after his morning round of

the ward, forward to the office a morning

report of the ward on Form 72, which will

be accompanied by diagnosis slips for

new admissions...”

Peter Jackson, Cigar Merchant ; Romance of Married Life

By: Gilbert Frankau

“”Peter,” began Heron Baynet, “is suffering from acute neurasthenia brought on partly by actual shell-shock and partly by the general strain of war. In a weaker character the symptoms would be perfectly plain-- shaky hand, general jumpiness, irritability, forgetfulness. Peter is controlling all these symptoms-- and heaven knows what impulses--with the result that, sooner or later, unless we can find some means to save him, his mind will give way altogether.”.... “Nothing of the sort,” said her father angrily. “Neurasthenia isn’t madness, any more than a sprained ankle is madness. Neurasthenia is a mind-sprain; and like all sprains its primary treatment must be rest.” (Pg 334)

Link to source: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t9z030x9j;view=1up;seq=1

Proposal: This fictional book, published in 1919, follows a soldier (Peter) from the front line to the homefront and highlights his mental deterioration through the eyes of his wife. The wife’s visit to the hospital also reveals new ideas about how a hospital functions, how rank is incorporated into hospital life, and provides an outsider’s perspective. We also thought the novel format would offer more diversity for our sources.

Peter Jackson cont.

“...informed Patricia that visitors were allowed only between two and four p.m. She asked to see the Matron, and was conducted down a cold stone corridor to an unfriendly waiting room. After ten minutes appeared a forbidding women of uncertain age, dressed in regulation Red Cross uniform, who said: “She knew of no patient named Jackson in the ‘Officers Ward’; but would make inquiries.” (Pg 324)

“He led her up stone staircases, down endless miles of corridors where blue-clad patients shuffled and limped on noiseless slippers, till they came to a white-painted doorway marked, ‘Officers Only’; up yet another staircase to a bare half-landing. Here a capped nurse met them.” (Pg 324)

Homes for Shell-Shock Cases

“An ordinary hospital in my opinion is not

the proper place for the case and

treatment of these cases, but it more

likely to retard the progress toward

recovery by reason of the mental

impressions from environment.”

Proposal: In 1916, Dr. Arthur Hatdon wrote this letter to the Daily

Mail to offer up his home for victims of shell shock. His

commentary on the “mental impressions” of the hospital and how

they might impede the recovery of patients reveals how hospitals,

especially for patients with neurological disorders, could affect a

soldier’s (and the public’s) perception of his situation. The

passage also illustrates emergence of “alternative hospitals.”