Bristol 2014 The City And Conflict From The First World War To The Present Day

Bristol 2014 is part of the First World War Centenary Partnership

First World War Centenary Partnership Programme

Bristol 2014 is supported by:

Heritage Lottery Fund Arts Council England Bristol City Council Business West Society of Merchant Venturers University of the West of England

It is coordinated by Bristol Cultural Development Partnership.

Beaufort War Hospital in the First World War

Stella Man
08 Oct 2014

Glenside Hospital was a purpose-built Victorian Asylum, but in 1915, as more and more wounded soldiers came into Bristol Temple Meads Station, the Asylum was requisitioned by the War Office. The mentally ill patients were dispatched to asylums across the South West and the building transformed into Beaufort War Hospital.

The first convoy of wounded was received on May 24 1915. The greatest number of soldiers sleeping under the roof of the Hospital on one night was 1,487. Over the four years, 29,433 patients were admitted and 164 deaths recorded, of which 30 were civilian emergencies from the influenza epidemic of 1918. In February 1919 the Hospital returned to be a hospital for the mentally ill.

With the support of Esmee Fairbairn Collections Fund, Glenside Hospital Museum is researching and collecting individual stories to shed light on what it must have been like.

The Museum is in the Beaufort War Hospital chapel, a grade 2 listed building. Using First World War postcards the new exhibition - Postcards from a War Hospital -  tells the story of the staff and soldiers. Postcards played an important role in the First World War. They were used as we now use ‘text’ messages to keep in touch with family and friends.

Chapel

The postcards show soldiers in wards, in the grounds, with friends and medical staff, individual portraits, summer fetes, plays, musicals. Immediately you want to know, who they were, what had happened to them, and where they came from.  Although all the photographs are black and white, you can imagine the pink grey stone building, with its majestic clock tower surrounded by green and pleasant land. You can see men on the expansive lawns and some are wearing the special blue flannel uniforms.

Postcard of patients

Our exhibition is designed to inspire others to collect information and delve into their history. 

We have been lent an autograph book by Judy Cording, collected by a laundress working at the hospital which has drawings and poems done by wounded soldiers.

 Drawing of car from autograph book from Judy Cording

One of the postcards shows an orderly who was to become famous for his paintings; once Sir Stanley Spencer scrubbed the floor of the Museum chapel. In 1915 Stanley Spencer wrote ‘I had to scrub out the Asylum Church. It was a splendid test of my feelings about this war. But I still feel the necessity of this war, and I have seen some sights, but not what one might expect. The lunatics are good workers and one persists in saluting us and always with the wrong hand. Another one thinks he is an electric battery... ‘

He painted a series of extraordinary scenes from his time at Beaufort War Hospital, at Sandham Memorial Chapel in Hampshire.

Another selection of postcards were collected by an orderly and found 100 years later by his grandchildren. They were brought in to the museum to be scanned. Many of the 17 postcards were portraits of him and his friends. 

Richard Towells RAMC in the centre and two orderly friends

If you have a story about Beaufort War Hospital please get in touch.

Come and see our recreation of the colourful blue convalescent uniform. Read about some of the staff and patients, write a postcard home and follow the alphabet of Tommie’s ABC, printed to raise funds for Bristol’s Red Cross, starting with A is for Ambulance.    

Note

The Museum is open Wednesday and Saturday morning 10.00am until 12.30pm or for larger groups by appointment. Entry to the exhibition is free.

Author

Stella Man

Stella Man is a freelance project manager and facilitator employed since 1997 by Involving Residents In Solutions (IRIS).  IRIS’s core aim is to engage, support and gain an audience for communities whose voice is rarely heard.  Stella has an MA in Marketing and is a qualified small business and social enterprise counsellor. As a consultant she has supported many organisations from advice on governance to developing their business potential. In addition, Stella is a trained artist, designer, curator and oral historian. She has a degree from Camberwell School of Art and an MA in Writing for Young People.  She has managed, designed and delivered six heritage projects including Greenbank Chocolate Factory: www.chocolatememories.org. Currently Stella is the Project Manager at Glenside Hospital Museum, and is also working on an oral history project and exhibition for Merlin Housing Society. She is an Assessor for UNICEF on their Rights Respecting Programme.

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