ISBN: 1 84115 293 5 HB 417 pp Published by Fourth Estate ( A division of Harper Collins).
The Great War , with armies using modern weapon technology , brought about vast numbers of casualties to all participants .No country I suspect foresaw how many however and the treatment of wounded was of paramount importance , making great demands on the medical services of all nations during the conflict .
All over Great Britain emergency hospitals sprang up in schools, church halls and in great houses.
There were of course military hospitals but they could not possibly cope with the massive influx of wounded. Philip Hoare has written about one such hospital, The Royal Victoria Hospital Netley and he gives and fascinating account of its being built in spite of much controversy after the Crimean War and its importance during the First and Second World Wars. It was the largest military hospital ever built, so much so that Americans used to drive jeeps down its huge corridors in World War 2.
The author had an early interest in the hospital having been born and brought up in a district of Southampton and deftly weaves his families association with the Great War and nursing within the narrative .The first two parts of the book gives the history of the site and then tells of the development of the hospital from its planning to Queen Victoria laying its foundation stone in 1856 and its opening in 1863.
It cost a staggering £350,000 (£24 million plus today) and was to cause bitter rancour between Florence Nightingale and the male authorities concerning the employment of her nurses. Its size was staggering; at one quarter of a mile in length it was the largest building of its kind ever to be built and could accommodate in its 138 wards, 1000 men. The author however makes the point - to accommodate but not cheer, as it became known as the Workhouse or the Spike to its inmates. No one would want to stay there longer than necessary. It was not a happy place. The Lancet reported that to each ward is attached a water closet , urinal and a bath which was never used as hot water cracked its sides and an order was issued that the baths were not to be used . The hospital was however set in an idyllic setting and was considered a town in its own right. It had its own artesian wells and reservoir, Hydraulic lifts, gas works and later an electricity generating station. It had its own post office and railway, a laundry, school, fire station and bakery. Shops, stables, storehouses and brickworks. It even had a swimming pool. Patients could arrive by a pier in Southampton Water, by rail or road. It should have been perfect but wasn’t ., its design causing much discontent between opposing sides upon its inception .The result of these flaws were to cause much trouble and discomfort to its later occupants .
The Great War saw the urgent need for even this huge hospital to be enlarged and huts were built to accommodate the great influx of wounded. From August 1914 to December 1918, twelve hundred ambulance trains arrived at Netley. In the weeks after the Somme, 151 trains brought a staggering 30,000 patients to its wards .This expansion and the treatment of the wounded at Netley during the war makes very interesting reading. The Queen visited the hospital in 1917 and the press reported the visit and stated that the conduct of the patients strove to exemplify “the spirit that had built Empires”. The author takes a different viewpoint, commenting that the man from the Times could leave without the aid of crutches, a great many of it the patients could not. Netley Hospital in the Great War is faithfully documented however and I found it fascinating reading.
D Block was built to care for patients suffering from mental illness, its history and treatment throughout the wars of the 20th century. The subject is dealt in some detail and charts the progress of treatment from its beginning to the end of both wars of the 20th century. Wilfred Owen came to the hospital for a week before being transferred to Craig Lockhart War Hospital where he was to meet Sassoon .The author makes a very sobering judgement upon how these men were perceived by the Army during and after treatment.
D Block closed after the war but patients continued to be treated and the author conjures up the images of young men maimed by the conflict making embroidered panels for sale. There were tailors shops and basket weaving classes: some patients made model tanks, all sold for the Red Cross. I found this part of the book particularly harrowing and the author brings home the reality of war.
The hospital came into use again during WW2, after Dunkirk it became full to capacity, the Staff working in wards still using Victorian beds and tables, now looking very outdated. In January 1944 the hospital was taken over by the Americans, designated the 28th US General Hospital. They were as unimpressed with the buildings as their British counterpart’s .After the war the buildings decayed. In the mid fifties its railway had ground to a halt, carriages languished in its sidings and fireweed and sorrel took over the track bed. Paint peeled in the hospital wards and corridors and although there was much debate about the fate of the hospital and its grounds, the hospital was closed, in December 1966, incredibly with little documentation of the thousands of patients who passed through its wards surviving. This part of the book makes very sad reading. The grounds and buildings had become a bureaucratic nightmare and no one seemed to know what to do with this huge building and its grounds .To sell or not to sell. D Block was finally developed for the Hampshire Constabulary. Eventually most of the hospital buildings were demolished. Some buildings remain however, the Chapel and tower being open to the public. The site has been sympathetically looked after, now a place of recreation and it is a pleasant place to visit on a summer’s afternoon with its views across Southampton Water. Philip Hoare has written a wonderful history of Netley, his family’s life during its use with many pictures of the buildings, the staff and its patients. Readers are advised to read Spike Island whether you can visit the site or not. The book is to be commended and is a valuable contribution to military histories.
Reviewer: Maurice Johnson
