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 Royal Naval Hospitals and those run by the Royal Air Force RAF Hospitals. In the UK the last of these Military Hospitals were closed in the 1990s, replaced by a single tri-service hospital (which was itself closed in 2007); since then, service personnel (except when deployed on active service) have usually been treated in civilian (NHS) hospitals (some of which have had integrated 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.[1] Each regiment had its own regimental surgeon, whose duties (from 1796) included provision of suitable equipment, staff and premises for the regimental hospital. The hospital moved with the regiment: when the regiment was in barracks, the barrack hospital block would be used; otherwise another suitable location would have to be found and prepared. Some larger garrisons, with several different corps and regiments based on the same site, had garrison hospitals in which patients would be accommodated together; but individuals would still be treated by the medical staff of their own regiment or 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 War of American Independence, when (by 1781) three hospitals had been put in place to receive returning wounded servicemen (one in Portsmouth, on in Chatham and one in Carisbrooke on the Isle of Wight); but these were only temporary provisions.[1] A more permanent establishment of General (as opposed to regimental) Hospitals was envisaged by the Army Medical Board (formed in 1793), which opened new purpose-built General Hospitals in Plymouth (1795), Gosport (1796) and Walmer (1797), as well as establishing York Hospital in London (based around the Infirmary of 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]
Pavilion layout of the Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich.
After Crimea, the recommendations of Florence Nightingale, Douglas Galton, Sidney Herbert, John Sutherland and others led to the formation of a Barracks and Hospitals Commission (1858) and the building of new Army General Hospitals in accordance with the latest design principles for improving health and hygiene.[2] The thousand-bed Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley (1863) was one of the most prominent new military hospitals of this time (albeit its design, finalised before the recommendations were published, was heavily criticised by members of the Commission).[1] The Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich (1865) was celebrated as an exemplary 'pavilion plan' hospital. Barrack hospitals were also rebuilt at this time according to the same principles (as happened at Hilsea, 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]
In 1922, as part of a process of rationalisation, the Military Hospitals in Chatham, Cosham and Devonport were closed, with military patients in these districts instead being treated at the nearby naval hospitals (at Gillingham, 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 Options for Change review at the end of the Cold War, a decision was taken to cut the number of Defence Services hospitals in the UK from seven to three (one for each Service): Haslar for the Navy, Aldershot for the Army and 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)
Permanent hospital facilities established by the army overseas were often designated 'BMH' (signifying 'British Military Hospital'). The following is an incomplete list:
I Corps was an army corps in existence as an active formation in the British Army for most of the 80 years from its creation in the First World War until the end of the Cold War, longer than any other corps. It had a short-lived precursor during the Waterloo Campaign. It served as the operational component of the British Army of the Rhine during the Cold War, and was tasked with defending West Germany.
The Royal Corps of Signals is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications and information systems essential to all operations. Royal Signals units provide the full telecommunications infrastructure for the Army wherever they operate in the world. The Corps has its own engineers, logistics experts and systems operators to run radio and area networks in the field. It is responsible for installing, maintaining and operating all types of telecommunications equipment and information systems, providing command support to commanders and their headquarters, and conducting electronic warfare against enemy communications.
The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps and Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps form the Army Medical Services.
Fort Pitt is a Napoleonic era fort on the high ground of the boundary between Chatham and Rochester, Kent.
The Hong Kong Military Service Corps (HKMSC) was a British army unit and part of the British garrison in Hong Kong. Throughout the history of Hong Kong, it has been the only regular British army unit raised in the territory made up almost entirely of Locally Enlisted Personnel (LEP).
Woolwich Garrison is a garrison or station of the British Army. Geographically it is in Woolwich, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. In terms of command, it is within the Army's London District.
The Royal Army Veterinary Corps (RAVC), known as the Army Veterinary Corps (AVC) until it gained the royal prefix on 27 November 1918, is an administrative and operational branch of the British Army responsible for the provision, training and care of animals. They are also responsible for explosives and drug search dogs. It is a small corps, forming part of the Army Medical Services.
Aldershot Garrison, also known as Aldershot Military Town, is a major garrison in South East England, between Aldershot and Farnborough in Hampshire. The garrison was established when the War Department bought a large area of land near the village of Aldershot, with the objective of establishing a permanent training camp for the Army. Over time, this camp grew into a military town and continues to be used by the Army to the present day. It is home to the headquarters of the Army's Regional Command, and it is also the administrative base for the 101st Logistic Brigade. The garrison plays host to around 70 military units and organisations.
A Royal Naval Hospital (RNH) was a hospital operated by the British Royal Navy for the care and treatment of sick and injured naval personnel. A network of these establishments were situated across the globe to suit British interests. They were part of the Royal Naval Medical Service. The British Army equivalent was a Military Hospital, and in the 20th century a number of RAF Hospitals were also established.
The regimental depot of a regiment is its home base for recruiting and training. It is also where soldiers and officers awaiting discharge or postings are based and where injured soldiers return to full fitness after discharge from hospital before returning to full duty. Normally, a variety of regimental stores will also be kept at the depot. The regimental depot is not the same as the regimental headquarters, though in practice the two will often be co-located in the same place.
The Royal Naval Hospital Gibraltar (RNH Gibraltar), formerly the British Military Hospital Gibraltar (BMH Gibraltar), was a military hospital founded c. 1903 to provide healthcare for British military personnel and local sailors. The facility, located on Europa Road in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar's South District, comprised three buildings. The hospital was transferred to the Royal Navy in 1963. It closed in 2008, and underwent residential conversion that began prior to the hospital's closure.
Tidworth Camp is a military installation at Tidworth in Wiltshire, England. It forms part of the Tidworth, Netheravon and Bulford (TidNBul) Garrison.
The 1st Military Police Brigade is a policing formation of the British Army, which is the only one-star command of the Royal Military Police. The brigade was formed in 2014 and is commanded by a brigader, but is due to be re-structured and reduced to a colonel's command.
The page contains the current structure of the British Army. The British Army is currently being reorganised to the Future Soldier structure.
The Louise Margaret Hospital was opened in 1898 to cater for British Army soldiers' wives and children in the military town of Aldershot Garrison. It started with fifty-three beds and about half of its cases were maternity patients. In 1958 it became the Louise Margaret Maternity Hospital, and closed in 1995. The old hospital is part of a group of historic buildings with legal protection and, as of 2016, is expected to be used in a redevelopment project.
The Royal Pavilion, also known as the Queen's Pavilion, was a royal residence located at Aldershot in Hampshire. The most unpretentious of all royal residences, it was built by George Myers as a wooden structure in 1855 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert for use by members of the Royal Family when in Aldershot to attend military reviews and other occasions. Located off the Farnborough Road opposite the former West Cavalry Barracks, nearby are the Royal Garrison Church and the Wellington Statue. It was dismantled in the early 1960s. Today the site is the location of the Royal Pavilion Office Park.
Malta Command was an independent command of the British Army. It commanded all army units involved in the defence of Malta. Once mobilised the Command deployed its headquarters to underground hardened shelters and its combat units were deployed to fixed points in the Maltese countryside, from where they operated. This mobilised, but largely static, army garrison would be tested by aerial bombardment and naval blockade during the Second World War. Whilst Malta Command was already a functioning command structure before 1939, the Second World War would see the Command operate as a genuine war-fighting headquarters, albeit in a static defensive role.
The following is a hierarchical outline for the structure of the British Army in 1989. The most authoritative source for this type of information available is Ministry of Defence, Master Order of Battle, and United Kingdom Land Forces, HQ UKLF, UKLF ORBAT Review Action Plan, HQ UKLF, 1990.
Future Soldier is a reform of the British Army resulting from the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy published in March 2021. The aim of the reform is to create a more lethal, agile and expeditionary force, able to fight and win wars and to operate in the grey-zone between peace and war. Future Soldier was published on 25 November 2021 and deals with the organizational changes of the British Army, with changes to personnel and equipment were set out in the Defence in a Competitive Age paper published on 22 March 2021.
Aldershot Command was a formation of the British Army at the start of the Second World War in September 1939. It had been re-formed in 1905, when the army established a series of geographical military districts, known as "commands", to replace six army corps that had existed for a short period. The purpose of the commands was to administer all units and formations located within their geographical borders, and if needed could be further subdivided into "areas". In 1939, it was one of the army's six regional commands, which existed within the British Isles, on the outbreak of the Second World War. Its geographical area encompassed parts of the following four counties: Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, and Sussex.
References
1 2 3 Lane, Joan (2001). A Social History of Medicine: Health, Healing and Disease in England, 1750-1950. London: Routledge. p.173.
1 2 3 4 5 Burdett, Sir Henry C. (1893). Hospitals and Asylums of the World: Hospitals. London: J. & A. Churchill. pp.722–725.
↑ Roper, Michael (1998). The Records of the War Office and Related Departments, 1660-1964. Kew, Surrey: Public Record Office.
↑ 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.
↑ Longmore, Sir Thomas (1895). Gunshot Injuries: Their History, Characteristic Features, Complications, and General Treatment (2nded.). London: Longmans, Green & co. p.539.
1 2 3 4 "Hospitals". The Queen's Regulations and Orders for the Army.: 317–328. 1 October 1885.
↑ Childs, John (1998). The Military Use of Land: A History of the Defence Estate. Berne: Peter Lang AG. p.133.
↑ 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.
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