7.  The Home Front 3: Hospitals

        I’ve mentioned the pre-war Red Cross exercises to set up field hospitals. Well, in 1915, as the casualties mounted, the Red Cross detachments were called into action. Two Shelford householders gave their houses over to the military for use as hospitals.

Mount Blow

         The first was Mount Blow, a large house off Hinton Way, between Shelford and Stapleford (it is a Lutyens house, now called Middlefield). It was lent by W J Mirrlees, a wealthy industialist who had settled in Shelford. His own son was an officer in the Royal Artillery, and would be awarded the Military Cross. On May 20th 1915, Mount Blow opened as the Shelford Red Cross Auxiliary Hospital. It was designed to accommodate 40 patients. Later it would be expanded to 50.

         On the top of a hill, with large, sunny, south-facing rooms, in what was invariably described (by auctioneers selling development land) as the most healthy part of Cambridgeshire, it was very well-suited to the purpose. There was a stone-flagged terrace along the front of the house, and from it you could see for miles. The large garden included a tennis court, a field and a small chalk pit which was adapted for use as a small rifle range where shooting competitions took place between Mount Blow patients and those from convalescent homes. Building work had to be done to accommodate its new role: an extra dining room and a billiard room were built.

         Dr Magoris, the local GP, was the Medical Officer. The Commandant was Miss M Carter Jonas; the Quartermaster, initially, was Gladys Jones (though she subsequently served abroad and would die in 1917 in Salonika). The secretary and treasurer was Walter Devereux, who was also responsible for the Shelford men’s VAD detachment who served as orderlies there. (Devereux himself lost two sons to the war – one in the RNAS, one in the army, and would go on to drive an ambulance at the Front). The Red Cross report for 1915 tells us that by the end of the year 194 patients had passed through the hospital. Shelford women were much involved. The quartermaster for a time was Miss Unwin, who in later years would write her recollections down as part of a Shelford WI memoir of the village. She also covered for Devereux during his period in France. Gladys Jones was succeeded by Mrs Gee. In January 1917 Miss Carter Jonas was replaced by Mrs Bidwell, with Mrs Charles Taylor as quartermaster.

         Rose Macaulay volunteered initially as a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) nurse, and came to work at Mount Blow. Unfortunately she was very, very squeamish – she was not cut out for the work, couldn’t stand the sights or the smells. Her work, in any case, was not so much nursing, but scrubbing floors – she was a “scrubber” and not a very successful one. It was heavy domestic work, usually done by servants and working-class women, not ladies like Rose, and Rose had no experience to help her. She lasted 6 months, then gave it up to work on the land.

         The Red Cross had initially visualized these hospitals as receiving stations for the wounded, who would remain a few days, then move on to the Base Hospital. This was a large military hospital, where Cambridge University Library now is, called the First Eastern General Hospital. In practice things were slightly different: once the wounded had been treated, they were sent back to the auxiliary hospitals to be nursed. There were a good number of these hospitals: at Histon, Shepreth, Fulbourn, Willingham, Swavesey, Whittlesford, and, of course, in Cambridge.

The Chestnuts

         In August 1917 the hospital transferred to Tunwells Lane, to The Chestnuts (now Browning House), which was loaned by George Foster. I’ve no idea why. A new ward was built so that it could accommodate the same number of patients as Mount Blow had done. It provided 50 beds. Temporary buildings provided extra accommodation. For recreation, patients would go for walks, and in the evenings the Quartermaster, Miss Hilda Bagnall, provided music and community singing in the recreation room.

         “Shopping for the home was mostly done at the Shelford Supply Stores opposite the Post Office, but, for the weekly need of 14lb of butter, a journey to Cambridge was necessary. The Quartermaster went by train from Great Shelford Station to Sayle’s and then on foot to the Maypole in Petty Cury. For this large order a grille was opened outside the shop on the pavement and a 14lb block of butter appeared, ready for the return journey”. (Great Shelford WI).

         The hospital’s final closing ceremony took place in May 1919. The ladies who had served it so well were thanked, and presentations were made. Over the life of the hospital (at Mount Blow and The Chestnuts respectively), it had received 1,981 patients (CIP 16 May 1919). The house was put on the market almost immediately. Obviously Foster didn’t propose to live there again.

Sources

Report of the Red Cross Auxiliary Hospitals, Cambs, 1915, Cambridgeshire Collection.

“Some Memories of Great Shelford, Chiefly Between 1909 and 1939”, by Great Shelford WI, 1969, Cambs Collection, also Cambs Archives.

Newspapers, Cambridge Chronicle (CC), Cambridge Independent Press (CIP).

Particular thanks to the Cambridgeshire Collection for permission to use the photographs.

v1 © Helen Harwood, uploaded February 2025