In December 1916, the 50 bed Denby Dale and Cumberworth, Skelmanthorpe and Clayton West Joint Convalescent Hospital was opened in the Victoria Hall at Denby Dale. In September 1916, the first Lepton hospital was opened with just 12 beds but closed in late 1917 following the decision to close all hospitals with under 25 beds. In May 1916 an 18-bed auxiliary hospital was opened at Shepley and the accommodation was later increased to 30 beds. The Kirkburton Hospital, housed in the Drill Hall at Shelley Lane, was opened on 29 th November 1915 with initially 20 beds. Durker Roods was closed as soon as the Huddersfield War Hospital opened, but beds at Honley and Holmfirth were increased. It was a testament to all the people of Huddersfield worked tirelessly to raise the necessary funds to build the hospital and provide all the equipment and accessories.Īlthough the number of beds in Huddersfield had been increased, the War Office still needed more accommodation across the area.
The hospital was named the Huddersfield War Hospital and was opened by the Mayoress of Huddersfield. The hospital was ready within 3 months from the start of the appeal and was handed over to the military as a fully functional hospital on 4 th October 1915. The additional wards were built in the grounds of Royds Hall and were constructed from asbestos and timber – one side of each ward had canvas shutters to let in the fresh air. The National Archives calculator suggests that £30,000 in 1914 would equate to £1,769,766 in 2017. At the initial meeting £12,000 was pledged and within five weeks £21,000 had been raised. In 1915, the Huddersfield Borough Council set up an appeal to raise £30,000, an extremely large amount in those days, to convert some of the buildings and build new wards. The pressure for beds continued to increase in Huddersfield and Charles Sykes joined with the Mayor of Huddersfield in a campaign to set-up a large War Hospital at Royds Hall, Paddock to accommodate 600 patients.
However, Lightridge house was closed in November 1917 following the decision to close all hospitals with less than 25 beds. In November 1914 a wealthy textile manufacturer, Charles Sykes, helped to equip Lightridge House, at Fixby, as a 12-bed hospital.īeds at Honley were later increased to 50, beds at the Holmfirth Hospital rose to 70 and another 5 were added at Lightridge House. Very soon, a small number of beds were created at Honley and Holmfirth and these later became larger auxiliary hospitals. The Red Cross and St John's Ambulance set up a joint operation to treat the wounded both at home and overseas and established Voluntary Aid Detachments.When the casualties started to arrive in Huddersfield on 30 October 1914, they were initially taken to the Royal Infirmary, the newly established 30 bed hospital at Durker Roods, Meltham and to smaller nursing homes at Trinity Street, Huddersfield and Bradley Lane. Click on the name to learn more of their activities in WW1 They moved men from the Front Line, to Field and Base Hospitals overseas and then back to the UK. The Royal Army Medical Corps were responsible for dealing with the wounded. In addition vital parts of the network were:. Royal Berkshire Hospital (Reading Military Hospital) We are grateful to the Red Cross for making available their War Service Record, compiled by Vice Admiral Henry Fleet in 1919 and to the Reading Standard who recorded many hospitals in their publication 'Berkshire and the War' In a few cases the hospital changed use or location. Sometimes you find the VAD, sometimes the street name and sometimes the house name. A problem is that the name of the hospital tends to vary depending upon who is referring to it. They are arranged in alphabetical order and we include only those situated within the Borough of Reading. In the list below we provide a link to a page where you can find out more about the hospital and what it did in the Great War. Two of the sections were operated by the Royal Berkshire Hospital. The main and the Section hospitals were mostly run by the RAMC but the auxiliary hospitals were mainly operated by the Red Cross. Its hub was at what became Battle Hospital but it embraced five Section and 38 Auxiliary hospitals. Reading was home to the Reading War Hospital - one of the biggest and best equipped of all the war hospitals in the Country. There were a great variety of hospitals ranging from The Royal Berkshire Hospital to a modest private house converted for war use. They provided both medical and surgical care for the wounded as well as convalescent facilities before a man returned to duty. Reading Hospitals made a significant contribution to the War.
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