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Hospital BargesHistory of the First World War Hospital Barges used by the British Army on the River Seine and canals in France and Belgium to evacuate casualties: During World War One casualties were evacuated by train, boat and barge. The hospital barges were much slower, but did make for a smoother and more gentle journey. Though the journey took longer it did allow for the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service nurses to tend to the injuries of the wounded soldiers and perform daily dressings and for the troops to recuperate from their wounds and the effects of war. The book Sub Cruce Candida: A Celebration of One Hundred Years of Army Nursing  has photos of QAs, patients and the hospital barges used by the British Army.
The hospital barges were not specifically built or designed for troop evacuation or as a hospital until a few years into the Great War. Instead they were converted from a range of general use barges such as coal or cargo barges. Access hatches would be cut into the roofs and hand operated lifts built so that stretcher cases could be lowered to the hold. The lift would be operated by the cook when additional help was needed. The holds would be converted into 30 bedded hospital wards and QAIMNS nurses accommodation. These sleeping and living quarters were heated by two stoves and electric lighting was fitted to the barges and electric fans could be run in the French and Belgian heat of summer or the hatches lifted off areas of the roofs. The book It's a Long Way to Tipperary: British and Irish Nurses in the Great War  by Yvonne McEwen has extracts from the war diaries of QA's who served aboard hospital barges.
The electric lights would be turned off at night to avoid being an easy target for German fighter pilots. Nurses would have to make their rounds in the pitch dark using a small torch. The nights could be long but did provide some rest for the other staff because the hospital barges would only travel during the daylight hours because they had to pass through narrow under bridges which often only had inches to spare. Negotiating these tight under bridges was much easier in the light of day. From the outside the hospital barges were painted grey with a large red cross on each side to signify that they were non combatant and carrying wounded soldiers. The interior of each hospital barge was painted white. Ventilation was provided by ventilators in the side of the roofs and as the war progressed sky lights were built into the barges. The sailing skipper of each hospital barge was usually a Royal Engineer (RE) sergeant and the barges would be towed by steam tugs. Help Needed: Qaranc.co.uk would like to add a page about the QA lanyard but need some help. Can anyone please help with a photo of the lanyard on the uniform and a photo of just the lanyard? It would also be helpful if anyone can give some tips on how to site and fit the lanyard. Please use the e-mail address on the contact page. Thank you! Sisters In Arms: British Army Nurses Tell Their Story Sisters In Arms: British Army Nurses Tell Their Story  by Nicola Tyrer is an account of the QAs during the two World Wars. It includes first hand accounts of the Queen Alexandra nurses who were in the dressing stations, casualty clearing stations and field hospitals of Dunkirk, D Day, the fall of Singapore and many more locations where the QAIMNS served.
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Sisters In Arms: British Army Nurses Tell Their Story is also available as a talking book read by the actress Barbara Flynn and Sian Thomas. Buy Now. 
View More British Army Nursing Books - with free delivery available. The wooden deck of the barge could be slippery when wet and it was common for a QA to end up in the canal water! This was usually in the winter with the rain and ice and the awaiting canals freezing water. Many nurses and orderlies would solve the problem of the slippery decks by overcoming their embarrassment and crawling along on all fours. Though there were happy times aboard hospital barges such as sing a longs when the gramophone was played or in finer weather when the soldiers and nursing staff would sit on the decks and the roofs with fishing rods in the hope of catching some fish for supper. Many QAs would enjoy the sunshine on the roof, still dressed in their ankle length ward dresses, stockings, capes and veils with only their faces and hands exposed to the French sun! During periods of rain the roofs would leak and the nurses and orderlies would have to keep moving the patients beds to avoid the larger drips of rain water. Some hospital barges kept pets to help keep up the morale of patients, nurses and staff. Cats were a common pet or mascot and It's a Long Way to Tipperary: British and Irish Nurses in the Great War by Yvonne McEwen tells of a magpie that had been injured and was taken aboard a hospital barge and kept as a pet. It became tame and would wander about. The skipper looked after it and the magpie would wake him up each morning by pulling his hair or ear! Even the magpie fell overboard on several occasions and had to be rescued!
The hospital barges usually travelled in pairs down the River Seine and the French canals in the British controlled zones to the evacuation ports or to casualty clearing stations and base hospitals. There would usually be at least one QA Sister, staff nurse and Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) orderly per hospital barge. At the height of World War One there were five flotillas of hospital barges. Each flotilla had six hospital barges which would travel in pairs. Each pair of travelling hospital barges would be commanded by an RAMC Medical Officer, usually of Captain rank. The barges that sailed with a full load of patients would have a staff compliment of one QA nursing officer, a staff nurse, an RAMC sergeant, corporal, three nursing assistants, two general orderlies, a cook and a cook's assistant. Staff would be stationed to the hospital barge and had accommodation on the barge. When the patients were offloaded from the barge there was no time to rest. The barge had to be thoroughly cleaned, especially since as the war progressed many soldiers were evacuated straight to a hospital barge rather than a field hospital or dressing station. These soldiers were often ridden with lice and were filthy coming straight from the trenches and battlefield. There was often problems with the gas attacked patients. The smell of gas would remain on their clothing and breath and even in their wounds, especially when blisters burst. The lack of ventilation meant that nurses, other patients and staff would suffer a mild gas attack that caused problems such as sickness, watery or sore eyes and breathing problems. The rations, general stores, medicines, dressing etc had to be restocked and when the opportunity arose staff would be sent to a nearby town to buy fresh food such as fruit and vegetables. A British Army Nurse In the Korean War A newly published book about the QARANC is 
A British Army Nurse In the Korean War
by Elizabeth Jilly McNair. QA Sister McNair saw active service in Korea and Japan and this book is based on her letters home and photographs she took during her 18 months
spent nursing at the British Commonwealth General Hospital in Kure, Japan and the British Commonwealth Zone Medical Unit in Seoul, Korea.
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If you would like to contribute to this page, suggest changes or inclusions to this website or would like to send me a photograph then please e-mail me. The photos and pictures on this page have been kindly sent to us for inclusion on this page. If you would like to contribute photographs then please contact us. Findextrawork 
Since leaving the QA's we have done an assortment of self employed work and jobs, some which only take an hour a week, others have been full time. We
have written about these at our other website Findextrawork at
www.findextrawork.co.uk
where we share the information for free to help others with information and resources about earning more money.
Visit Findextrawork for more information.
For the official Army QARANC webpage please go to www.army.mod.uk/qaranc/index.html For the QARANC Association website please go to http://www.army.mod.uk/qaranc/qaranc_assn/index.htm |
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