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Patients and Staff
Dr's Brown Taylor and Rigby
Mrs Nicholls Lady Superintendent
In 1920 Certificates and Medals were awarded to the following staff members for their service during the Great War 1914-1919
Mary Nichols Kate Sutcliffe Elizabeth Rushton Emily Thompson Sarah Elizabeth Howorth Laura Blythe Annie Howorth Lily Howorth Clara Hoyle Ethel Foster Betsy Colbert Nellie Ashworth Ann Taylor Martha Jane Whittaker Bertha Ayres Mary Shepherd Alice Shepherd Annie Pickup Mary Lord Hannah Graham Bertha Tattersall Ada Townsend, Annie Howorth, Emma Jackson Sarah E Fielding Dorothy Beeby Maria Baldwin Betsy Hanson Nellie Pilling Ruth Hitchen Doris Shepherd Edith Barnes Alice Earnshaw Margaret Annie Law Agnes Jane Ormerod Emma Flack Hannah Hargreaves Mary Alice Stevenson Gerti Hallam Rose Hardacre Hilda Abbott Mary Hannah Turner Annie Bentley Alice Hoyle Florence Hardman Maria Netherwood Ethel Holt Norah Riley Jeanie Simpson Susannah Crawshaw Mary Horrocks Hannah Jane Johnston.
Miss M Simpson, Lady Superintendent of the Bacup Nursing Division of
In reply to
the
official circular about how many trained nurses they had (each hospital
was
supposed to have a minimum of two), ' Our Hospital is only a
Convalescent Home, not a Military Hospital, which we offered with 10 beds. Our staff consists of one fully trained nurse who has offered her services voluntary (sic), myself in charge of the House and my First Officer who is responsible for cooking.. 5 of our members come on every Sunday for a week to act as maids and all work is voluntary. We have had 3 batches of Wounded English soldiers from the Western Hospital, Manchester, none of whom have been bed cases.' and in an accompanying letter to Mrs Beryl Oliver ' I trust the information enclosed is satisfactory as two trained nurses here for 10 men who are not in bed would be quite unnecessary, then again it is a convalescent Hospital not a Military Hospital and has been accepted as such.'
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Nurses of Fernhill 1915 Back Row Fourth from Left Annie Pickup.
During a meeting of the Bacup Hospital Charities Committee on August 15 1914 it was suggested by Mr J.H.Lord ( Treasurer ) that Bacup might follow the lead of some other towns in offering a suitable place to the Military Authorities for use as a hospital for the treatment of the sick and wounded in the war. He said
" He understood that the ambulance services were offering help with sheets and beds and he thought that they as a Hospital Charities Association might suggest to the corporation the availability of possibly offering Stubylee Hall".
After some further discussion however the matter was dropped. Fourteen days later however the matter of a Rest Station or Convalescent home was brought once again to the attention of the local officials of the Nursing Division when a Mrs Tweedale organizing secretary of the Red Cross Association for Lancashire visited the Ambulance drill hall at Bacup. Mrs Tweedale felt that Bacup was a ideal place for the setting of a Convalescent Home where the injured soldiers could recuperate and take advantage of the bracing air. Fernhill House the private residence of Mr and Mrs Mitchell J.P, with grounds was eventually deemed suitable and the necessary alterations were made.
Fernhill opened it's doors to it's
first patients from the 2nd Western Hospital Manchester on Sunday November 16th
1914. Patients being transported there using private cars loaned to the
hospital by many of the local gentry. The soldiers arrived at Fernhill
just after noon and where met by the Mayor and
Mayoress, the doctors and Mrs Sutcliffe the Matron, Lady Superintendent
Simpson and first officer Rushton with other members of staff also
present. The patients consisted of: Corporal Sdyney Moss -
3rd Rifle Brigade. Private McVitty - Irish Guards, Private D Garratt -
3rd Worcester, Private Browns - 10th Hussars, Private Macentie - Royal
Field Artillery, Private Fitzpatrick - Irish Guards, Private Burgoyne -
1st Devon, Private Moss - 2nd Manchester's.
Another four soldiers arriving a
few days later their names being : Pte. Tomlinson - Cheshire
Regiment, Pte Fitzpatrick - 2nd Kings Own Scottish Borderers, Pte. Coles
- 1st Devon's, and Pte .Whiting - 1st Royal Berkshire Regiment.
Back Row:
Pte. Tomlinson, Pte. W McVitty, Pte. J Fitzpatrick, Pte. P Fitzpatrick,
Pte. D Burgoyne, Pte. J Moss, Pte. R Bowns and Henry Shepherd (
Secretary ).
Front Row:
Pte. J Whiting, Lady Superintendent Simpson, Pte. J Garratt, Mrs
Sutcliffe (Matron) Corporal S Moss, First Nursing Officer Miss
Rushton, Pte. Coles, Pte. D McEtee.
During the following week some of
the soldiers gave interviews to the Bacup Times regarding their war
experiences and injuries. Below is a copy of the Bacup Times write ups
on these soldiers.
Private
Fitzpatrick is a
typical Irishman with a rich native brogue, and the merry impulse of his
race. Standing well over six feet tall he is a fine specimen of humanity
and appears every inch a soldier. He told how he received a shot wound
in the right forearm at Ypres on November 1st. It was a fierce
engagement, and the Germans made strenuous efforts to break through the
equally stubborn line of resistance.
Amongst the enemy who were
mustered in great force was a large contingent of the Prussian Guards,
the flower of the German army. Private Fitzgerald related how it was
said that the Kaiser had been there a few days before with orders that
they ( the Germans ) must break through the " yellow d---" at all costs.
But they didn't the stout British hearts and unflinching demeanour were
too much for the,, and they were repulsed. Following his incapacitation
Private Fitzgerald received treatment at the base, and was afterwards
sent on to Rouen , and subsequently to Manchester. He displayed a
piece of shell which he carried away as a memento of his injury and the
Germans.
Private
McVitty recounted his duties as one of a party in charge of
an ammunition wagon. He also, was wounded at Ypres sustaining a rather
nasty wound in the his left shoulder. He related that the British had
just come out of a wood, and were proceeding towards a farm house. They
had almost got alongside when a " Jack Johnson" hurtled through the air
and burst amongst them. Two of his comrades were killed and several
besides him were injured. He was taken to Mons and after attention
at the field hospital and subsequently to Havre, from whence he was
drafted to Manchester.
Private McVitty described the war
as a horrible slaughter, and displayed the cardigan jacket pierced with
holes caused by pieces of the flying shell.
Corporal
Sydney Moss a cheerful young fellow with his arm in a sling,
said he received his congd so long ago as the Battle of Aine, when he
received a serious shrapnel wound in the left hand. That was on the 22nd
September, and the first finger and knuckle have since had to be
amputated. Corporal Moss described in graphic terms the horrors and
excitement of the campaign, remarking that it was thrilling to lay in
the trenches and hear the bullets and shells of the enemy whistling over
you. During one engagement, the British trenches were assaulted for
three hours at the rate off six shells a minute., but fortunately the
range of the Germans was imperfect and the British sustained no
casualties. Alluding to his own injury, he said the Germans had been
quiet all the night, but abut four o'clock in the morning attempted to
re-capture the trenches. Corporal Moss was asleep in his trench when a
large shell buried itself in the ground near to him and burst into
fragments. Roused by the great noise, Moss rushed to see what was the
matter, and was struck on the hand and the thigh, whilst his rifle was
split into three parts. He laid in the trenches twenty three hours
before he could be moved and after being attended to at the field
hospital at Braines and handed over to the Red Cross Corps. He had been
at Baron Rothschild's chateaux at Laverzime since then. He was there six
weeks, and later spent a short period at Paris and Rouen, and was then
removed to Havre, and subsequently to Manchester. Corporal Moss related
how a second shell completely took the top of the trench, and
transformed his headgear into a veritable "figure eight". He was
thankful he was no worse, had it not been for the good fortune of
reclining in sleep at the moment of attack he would probably not have
been alive to "tell the tale".
Private
Garrett was another who carried his arm in a sling. He too,
has had the misfortune to loose a finger. He said the 3rd Worcester's
were engaged at Ypres on November 6th, during and encounter on that date
he was put out of action by a bullet wound in the hand. He was taken
down to the hospital at Havre, and then removed ot Manchester.
Private
Moss of the 2nd Manchester's is the only representative
Lancashire soldier at present at Fern Hill. He intimated that it had not
been his misfortune to be
by the missiles of war, but he had
contracted a troublesome illness to the scalp caused through a bump on
the head. He had been a month out, and in consequence of his mishap
developing was invalided home.
During the following eight months up to July 1915 a further 60
patients passed through the doors of Fernhill. These included 30
soldiers suffering bullet or shrapnel wounds, 6 Rheumatism and 7
Frostbites, 4 Cardiac illness and 1 case of Dysentery. A case of
Pleurodenis and Tonsillitis, 1 loss of voice, 3 Bronchitis and 1 case of
Kidney trouble. 1 case of Gas poisoning and Variocile and 1 case of
Neurasthenia and 2 contused ankles. Many of the soldiers were discharged
after treatment and sent back to the front only to be wounded for a
second time.
The 1916 accounts sheet for Fernhill shows that there were 22 beds available in the hospital and that during the year 137 patients were admitted, in 1918 the hospital had 50 beds available and during that year a total of 365 patients had been admitted and treated. By the end of the war a total of 738 men had passed through Fernhill and though it was noted that some of these men were very badly injured no deaths were reported from the hospital during the war years.
Nurses and Soldier patients of Fernhill
This poem was placed in The Bacup Times of 1915.
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Written In Appreciation Of Local
Nurses
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Patients and Staff
Nurses and Patients 1917
One of the Fernhill Nurse Miss Emma Jackson nee Bracewell
Nurses with Wounded Soldiers.
Patients and Staff enjoying a game of Croquet at Fernhill 1915, patients and staff also had use of the house tennis courts.
Fund Raising Various parades, Bazaars and fund raising events were held throughout the war years to raise funds for the hospital these funds often went towards providing treats and outings for the injured soldiers.
1915
Connie Simpson Amy Lord A Collection Day in Bacup
Rochdale Road
St James Street.
Just some of the Wounded War Heroes During Bacup's Peace Parade 1919.
A Patients Tale Of Gallipoli
Part1
Part2
Part3
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