VAD Hospital, Naunton Park School, Cheltenham


   LEAVING CHELTENHAM …………..and all that was dear

 

 

VAD Hospital, Naunton Park Council School,

Naunton Lane, Cheltenham

Location:  Naunton Lane, Cheltenham

Grid Reference:   SO 951205

Opened:   12th June 1915

Closed:   29th December 1918

Beds:   170

Average Resident Patients in 1918:   150

Total Casualties Treated:   2751

IWMWM Ref:   In due course

Inscriptions on the Memorial Plaque:   This building was used as a hospital for sick and wounded soldiers during the Great War.   It was manned by Gloucestershire Voluntary Aid Detachment No 106 and was open from 12 June 1915 to 29 Dec 1918 during which period 2751 cases were treated.

 

The hospital was staffed by No 106 Gloucestershire Voluntary Aid Detachment and its officers were:

Commandant:   Miss MB Holland

Assistant Commandant:   Mrs McLeod

Medical Officers:   Dr E J Tatham, Dr A G Foljambe Forster, Dr S T Pruen, Dr R Kirkland

Lady Superintendent:   Miss K Pearce Jackson, ARRC

Quartermaster:   Miss Leighton, MBE

Assistant Quartermaster:   Miss Weir

Hon Secretary:   Mr G Blathwayt

Hon Treasurer:   Mr W F Newman

Masseuses:   Miss Morgan, Miss Rose

 

Notes by the Commandant (on closure in 1918)

Naunton Park Schools were placed at the disposal of the Red Cross by the Cheltenham Education Authorities.   All the local detachments were already at work when the new hospital was opened, but a few members were taken from each and formed into a detachment under Miss Geddes as Commandant, together with a number of members from all parts of the country.

A special message centre was established and the hospital also specialised in Carrel Dakin treatment and pathological and bacteriological work.   The hospital was inspected on various occasions by the Commander-In-Chief, Southern Command, and also by Lord French.

Miss Geddes was obliged for private reasons to resign her appointment as Commandant in February 1918, and was succeeded by Miss Holland, who continued till the end.

 

 

The two photos above show the Naunton Park School VAD Hospital Sports Day on 12th June 1918.   In the top picture are the competitors ready to take part in the wheelchair race watched by, in the lower picture, patients in their beds brought out to watch the sports.

(Photo by kind permission of Mr David Hanks).

 

 

 

Photos by kind permission of Mr David Hanks.

 

The building is still in use as a school today.

Further reading: 

1.   “Cheltenham in the Great War” by Neela Mann (ISBN 978 0 7509 6415 9) published in 2016, describes the considerable contribution to the war effort made by the Cheltenham Branch of the British Red Cross Society during 1914 – 1919.

2.   “VAD Hospitals in Cheltenham” from The Wilson Collection and Archives at the Cheltenham Museum can be viewed here and here.

3.   “Gloucestershire Red Cross Hospitals” can be seen here.

 

 

 

Page last updated: 31st December 2016

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