British Military Hospital

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Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot was opened in 1878 to serve the expanding garrison.

British Military Hospitals were established and operated by the British Army, both at home and overseas during the 19th and 20th centuries, to treat

service personnel
(and others in certain circumstances). They varied in size, purpose and permanence.

Until the latter part of the 20th century the term 'Military Hospital' in British usage always signified a hospital run by the Army, whereas those run by the Navy were designated

Ministry of Defence Hospital Units
provided as part of their establishment).

History

Prior to 1873, medical services in the British Army were for the most part provided on a regimental basis.

unit.[2] In addition, the Board of Ordnance (whose military branch included the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers) maintained its own independent medical facilities until 1853.[3]

18th-century wards blocks of the former Stoke Military Hospital, Plymouth, linked by a colonnade.

The first example of more integrated facilities being set up in Britain was during the

Royal Hospital, Chelsea) and a new hospital in Chatham.[4] (The latter was intended to serve as the national Army Depôt Hospital for invalids; but when the Invalid Depôt moved away from Chatham to the Isle of Wight, in 1801, the hospital moved with it to Parkhurst.) Other General Hospitals were planned or opened during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, but all were short-lived and the concept as a whole was criticised both for high running costs and for high rates of infection and mortality. By the end of the war the only remaining General Hospitals were York Hospital in Chelsea and the Depôt Hospital in Parkhurst. When the Invalid Depôt moved back to Chatham in 1819 a Military Hospital was re-established in Fort Pitt (whereupon the General Hospital at Chelsea was discontinued). From then until after the Crimean War, the Depôt Hospital at Fort Pitt, Chatham was the only General Military Hospital in England; Ireland (which had a separate Medical Department until 1833) had two: one in Dublin and one in Cork.[5]

Hounslow and elsewhere).[2]

In 1873 the regiment-based provision of medical services was abolished and regimental hospitals ceased to exist.[6] Thenceforward the British Army had three main classes of hospital:[2] General Hospitals ('for the reception of invalids, local sick of corps, and all others entitles or specially authorized to be admitted into military hospitals'),[7] Station Hospitals ('for the reception and treatment of sick from all corps in garrison, including those of the Auxiliary Forces')[7] and Field Hospitals. In some stations separate Family Hospitals were provided in addition, for the wives and children of soldiers. All would be staffed by officers of the Army Medical Department, assisted by the other ranks of the Medical Staff Corps (who would later combine to form the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1898). Hospitals were provided both at home and overseas; and, although they were staffed by army personnel and placed under army discipline and command, they provided a service locally 'for all soldiers, seamen of the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, and others duly authorized to be admitted therein'.[7] For smaller detachments (of less than a hundred men) hospital provision could be placed under a civilian medical practitioner.[2]

Provision of hospitals in the field of battle, as envisaged in the late 19th century, depended on medical officers being attached to front-line regiments and corps, with regimental bearer companies under their command who would convey the injured personnel back to the hospitals. The Field Hospitals (those closest to the front line) were lightly-equipped to enable them to move forward with the troops; further back were Stationary Hospitals, which were more heavily equipped, located on the lines of communication; and further back still there would be a fully-equipped General Hospital at the base of operations.[7]

Large-scale military hospitals were built in the late Victorian period to serve the expanding garrison towns of Aldershot (the Cambridge Military Hospital, 1875-79 and the Connaught Military Hospital, 1895-98) and Colchester (the Colchester Military Hospital, 1893-98).[8] Hospitals on a similar scale were built in the Edwardian period, in London (Queen Alexandra Military Hospital, Millbank, 1903-5) and Portsmouth (Queen Alexandra Military Hospital, Portsdown Hill, 1904-7); these were the last new general military hospitals to be built on the pavilion plan.[9]

In 1922, as part of a process of rationalisation, the Military Hospitals in

Haslar and Stonehouse). At the same time the opposite process took place in Gibraltar, where the RN Hospital closed down, and naval personnel were transferred to the local Military Hospital.[10]

Later in the century, during the two

world wars several civilian hospitals and county mental asylums were commandeered (or part-commandeered) to serve as military hospitals, as were a number of large houses and other buildings.[11]

In 1993, following on from the

Wroughton for the RAF.[12] The following year, as part of Front Line First, it was announced that the latter two would also close (leaving only Haslar, which would be reconstituted as a tri-service hospital); Aldershot and Wroughton duly closed in 1996.[12] Two years later, as part of the 1998 Strategic Defence Review, it was announced that Haslar too would close; subsequently, provision of a specialised military hospital service would be limited to a number of small MOD units established within (civilian) NHS hospitals.[12]

List of British Military Hospitals

During the 19th and 20th centuries the British Army operated a large variety of permanent and temporary military hospitals, both at home and overseas, some of which are listed here.

At home

X-ray department at Queen Alexandra Military Hospital, Millbank, 1941 (by Frances Macdonald).
Basement ward in the Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich (by Edward Ardizzone)

Overseas

Permanent hospital facilities established by the army overseas were often designated 'BMH' (signifying 'British Military Hospital'). The following is an incomplete list:

References

  1. ^ a b c Lane, Joan (2001). A Social History of Medicine: Health, Healing and Disease in England, 1750-1950. London: Routledge. p. 173.
  2. ^ a b c d e Burdett, Sir Henry C. (1893). Hospitals and Asylums of the World: Hospitals. London: J. & A. Churchill. pp. 722–725.
  3. ^ Roper, Michael (1998). The Records of the War Office and Related Departments, 1660-1964. Kew, Surrey: Public Record Office.
  4. ^ Ackroyd, Marcus; Brockliss, Laurence; Moss, Michael; Retford, Kate; Stevenson, John (2006). Advancing with the Army: Medicine, the Professions and Social Mobility in the British Isles 1790-1850. Oxford University Press. p. 27.
  5. ^ "The Ambassador Hotel, Cork, County Cork, Ireland". The Telegraph. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  6. ^ Longmore, Sir Thomas (1895). Gunshot Injuries: Their History, Characteristic Features, Complications, and General Treatment (2nd ed.). London: Longmans, Green & co. p. 539.
  7. ^ a b c d "Hospitals". The Queen's Regulations and Orders for the Army.: 317–328. 1 October 1885.
  8. ^ Childs, John (1998). The Military Use of Land: A History of the Defence Estate. Berne: Peter Lang AG. p. 133.
  9. ^ Richardson, Harriet, ed. (1998). English Hospitals, 1660-1948: A Survey of Their Architecture and Design. Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments in England. pp. 95–97.
  10. ^ "Fighting Forces (Hospitals) Fighting Forces (Hospitals): Volume 214: debated on Tuesday 28 February 1928". Hansard. UK Parliament.
  11. ^ Chambers, Veronika & Fred; Higgins, Rob (2014). Hospitals of London. Stroud, Gloucs.: Amberley Publishing Ltd.
  12. ^ a b c "The Strategic Defence Review: Defence Medical Services". UK Parliament. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  13. ^ Vickers, Paul H. "The Connaught Military Hospital". Friends of the Aldershot Military Museum. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  14. ^ Davies, Catriona (3 October 2006). "The military hospitals that have closed". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  15. ^ "The military hospitals that have closed". The Daily Telegraph. 3 October 2006.
  16. ^ "BMH Alexandria". www.qaranc.co.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  17. ^ "BMH Dhekelia". www.qaranc.co.uk/.
  18. ^ "BMH Nicosia". www.qaranc.co.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  19. ^ "BMH Nepal". www.qaranc.co.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  20. ^ "BMH Hannover - British Military Hospital Germany". qaranc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  21. ^ "BMH Rinteln - British Military Hospital Germany". qaranc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  22. ^ "British Military Hospital BMH Iserlohn". qaranc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  23. ^ Moore, Simon. "BMH Hostert". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  24. ^ "BMH Kaduna". www.qaranc.co.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  25. ^ "BMH Nairobi". www.qaranc.co.uk.
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