Royal Herbert Hospital Shooters Hill Woolwich

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Sidney Herbert was responsible for sending Florence Nightingale to the Crimea and led the War Office reforms after this campaign. He was particularly interested in health care and reducing military mortality rates from diseases and ill treated war wounds. There is a statue of him at Waterloo Place in London. The building work of the hospital cost £209,139 and the land purchase was £6,394. 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. Buy Now. 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. Captain Douglas Galton The architect of The Royal Herbert Hospital was Captain Douglas Galton and the hospital was planned in the pavilion style much approved of by Florence Nightingale. This style aired and gave natural light to hospitals and was thought to sweep out bacteria. The book Sub Cruce Candida: A Celebration of One Hundred Years of Army Nursing has photos of the Royal Herbert Hospital which includes wards, nursing staff and the operating rooms. Colonel Shaw The hospital was called The Herbert Hospital for its first few years of opening. It had opened in 1865. The first Governor of the Herbert Hospital was Colonel Shaw who took up his appointment on the 1 November 1865. The first patients were transferred from the nearby Royal Artillery Garrison Hospital at Woolwich. Mrs Jane Shaw Stewart The first Superintendent General of Female Nurses was Mrs Jane Shaw Stewart who also held the same post at the same time at the newly built Royal Victoria Military Hospital Netley. Mrs Shaw Stewart had served with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea. She was joined by eight attendant lady nurses who worked on day duty and lived at the nearby quarters in the Female Infirmary in Woolwich (cited in the book Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (Famous Regts. S) by Juliet Piggott). This was at a time when military patients were not used to females attending to them and were mostly against their presence. Even one year later there was only one nurse allocated to each ward at the Herbert Hospital and none were permitted to work on the venereal ward or the convalescent wards. Queen Victoria Her Majesty Queen Victoria visited the hospital in March 1900 and was so impressed with the care and treatments of soldiers that she honoured the hospital with royal status and patronage. However Juliet Piggott in her book Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (Famous Regts. S) considers that the Royal prefix may have been bestowed on Herbert Hospital some years later because an invitation card from the visit of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra on the 16 February 1903 does not mention the Royal Herbert Hospital but just the Herbert Hospital. The name is also written as this on the Court Circular that was issued by Buckingham Palace. Queen Victoria was in a wheelchair at the time of her 1900 visit and gave patients on the surgical wards that she visited posies from Frogmore. The drawing by S Begg of Queen Victoria giving a bed bound military patient a posy of flowers at Herbert Hospital in Woolwich in March 1900 when she visited two surgical wards can be seen as an illustration in the book Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (Famous Regts. S) by Juliet Piggott. The Royal Herbert Hospital became the main orthopaedic centre for the British Army. There were also general surgical and medical wards for army personnel and their families. At its peak the hospital had 15 wards which accommodated 650 beds. This included a guardroom and prison ward for 28 army prisoners. Though in the first two years of opening the Herbert Hospital had no more than 300 patients at any time. Second World War At the outbreak of the Second World War six of the empty wards at the Royal Herbert Hospital were re-opened to help cope with victims of air raids and the evacuated war wounded. In the book Sub Cruce Candida: A Celebration of One Hundred Years of Army Nursing the authors cite Sister Furze of the QAIMNS(R) describing events during air raids in Woolwich, London. The staff of the Royal Herbert Hospital would seek refuge in the basement with their patients. German Prisoners During World War Two the Royal Herbert Military Hospital admitted civilian patients when the Woolwich Arsenal was bombed by the German Luftwaffe. Any downed pilots and navigators were taken as a Prisoner of War (POW) and treated for their injuries at the Royal Herbert. A separate Luftwaffe officers ward and NCOs ward were set up. Most of the German airman settled into hospital and prison life whilst a small majority were determined to still die for Germany and the Fuehrer. They would pull out their intravenous drips in an effort to bleed to death from the opened vein. Nurses had to be watchful for these suicide attempts and sadly some of the German airman did die. An advantage of having Luftwaffe as patients is that their comrades stopped bombing the area of the Royal Herbert hospital for fear of injuring or killing their captured comrades. In his book Wartime Nurse Eric Taylor describes how some nurses like Margaret Mulvenna and Winnie Cunnane fell in love with the POWs and were dismissed for fraternization with the prisoner of war patients. In another of his books, Combat Nurse, Eric Taylor cites 800 marriages taking place between British women and German prisoners of war. As the Second World War progressed the Royal Herbert Hospital surgeons operated on civilians in conjunction with The Brook Hospital which was located adjacent to The Royal Herbert. Post War Years The hospital admitted civilian patients under the emergency bed service list from the nearby community to help the NHS during the severe winter of 1962 and 1963. The centenary celebrations of the Royal Herbert Military Hospital took place on 12 November 1965. Wounded soldiers from Northern Ireland were flow to the Royal Herbert Hospital and transferred to the care of QAs on the helicopter pad (cited in the book Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (Famous Regts. S) by Juliet Piggott). The Royal Herbert Hospital closed in 1977 when the new military hospital the Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital was opened in nearby Stadium Road. The book Sub Cruce Candida: A Celebration of One Hundred Years of Army Nursing cites the date of the closure of The Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich as being the 25 June 1977. Notable Nurses Of Royal Herbert Notable members of staff at the Royal Herbert Hospital include Superintendent of Nurses Miss A.E. Caulfield (some sources spell her surname as Caulfeild) who was on the 1883 Board of Inquiry that examined the medical care of troops during the 1882 Egyptian Campaign. From her recommendations and that of Nurse Miss C. Lloyd and Matron Mrs Deeble of Royal Victoria Military Hospital Netley the Army Hospital Services Committee recommended that the Army Nursing Service be expanded. Miss A.E Caulfield retired in 1894. Upon the retirement of Miss Caulfeild the position of Lady Superintendent at Woolwich was withdrawn (cited in the book Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (Famous Regts. S) by Juliet Piggott). Royal Herbert Pavilions The Royal Herbert remained boarded up and not used for many years. In 1990 the site was purchased by a property developer and developed into 228 luxurious flats and apartments called the Royal Herbert Pavilions. Many of the original features of the Royal Herbert Hospital were retained because of the Grade II Listing status. The historic building offers a blend of history with modern luxury which includes a lounge bar, a heated swimming pool with spa, sauna and steam room. Ghost of Royal Herbert Military Hospital Over the years there have been sightings of the ghost of the Royal Herbert Military Hospital by nurses and patients. Here is one account that was e-mailed to www.qaranc.co.uk: Re ghostly goings on!! In early 1965, I was a private in the QARANC, working at the Royal Herbert Military Hospital in Woolwich. I had already completed civilian training as an orthopaedic Student Nurse, and so, felt that "I`d seen and heard it all....!" horror stories and hospital ghosts notwithstanding....so with the arrogance of youth, I felt quite smug towards my colleagues, as they told of feeling "spooked "doing Night Duty in most wards of the hospital. For most of our 12 hour duty we worked alone, with hourly visits from the Nursing Officers.... At about 3 am ,as I was quietly reassuring a young soldier recovering from a collapsed lung ,we both heard soft footsteps approaching the ward. I promised him a cup of tea once the visit from the expected Captain was over, and left his bedside to greet her. As I reached the ward door, I saw that it was closed, but the measured tread seemed to pass me and continue into the ward itself. I`d love to claim that I bravely followed , but I stood rooted with terror to the spot. The spell was broken by the young soldier's strangled yelp, and I ran to his bedside (disobeying, of course, every rule about running , except in Fire or Haemorrhage! ) The unfortunate young man, gasping for breath told me that "The Sister" had come to his bed, but was "now vanishing"...His distress was acute, and I feared for his condition. The noise awoke the patient in the next bed, who put his light on, and my young soldier was able to draw long, if rasping breaths. The atmosphere relaxed a little and whilst we did our best to reassure the poor soul, we were all very shaken. I stayed with the two (fortunately the rest of the ward remained asleep.) My soldier was convinced that he was dying , and that the event had been a forewarning. The minutes dragged by as I desperately tried to find the courage to go to the office to call for help and at the same time try to leave the soldier's bedside since he was clutching my hand and begging not be left alone!! It was with mixed feelings that we three heard the approaching footsteps, of what we all prayed were those of the Duty Officer (incarnate! ) My abiding memories of the Commissioned Qaranc were of their total dedication to the high principles of good nursing and the genuine care and concern with which they treated we Students. This officer was no exception, listening to each of us, accepting our distress and most importantly told of many others who had experienced the same thing in this ward and telling my young patient that all who had "been visited" by the spectral nurse recovered well and did not die. As false dawn approached the Sister rang round the other wards to advise she was needed in ward four for some time yet and then went to make us all a cup of tea. She worked with me throughout, washing, changing bedpans and serving breakfast and she cheerily checked on the soldier, his neighbour and myself from time to time. I was offered a new ward to transfer to in the morning, but felt that I didn't want to leave my young man again to face any further "visitations!" on his own. So said I`d stay if allowed in ward Four until posted elsewhere. After the story spread like wildfire around the hospital, I learned of so many others who had differing experiences (and severe shock!) whilst working in many departments and wards. The Officers and Children's wards one floor up seemed to be particularly lively at night, I heard. Guess where my next duty was? That spooky cavern like huge building had many "cold spots" and I was to sense several presences, rather than see, over a few more months on nights. Still, the R.H.M.H. has a place in my affections of happy times and I am proud to have been a member of the Corps, if only briefly. Incidentally, I have memories of ghostly goings on whilst at PTS in Stanhope Lines, Aldershot, in 1964 but these seemed of a rather more sinister nature... Does the ghost still haunt the Royal Herbert Pavilion flats at SE18 4PE? I you have a ghost story to tell qaranc.co.uk or have any photos then please contact us. One ghost sighting at the Royal Herbert Pavilions was reported to Qaranc.co.uk by a mother whose nine year old son has seen a nurse wearing a white bonnet type of hat on her head. The ghost always appears in their hallway holding a candle. She and her husband have not seen the nurse ghost but both have sensed that someone or something is in their hallway since they moved to the building in September 2007. Their son has spoken to the lady and the ghost acknowledged him and spoke with him. She said her name was either Elaine, Ellen or Helen. The hallway would have been situated in the Royal Herbert Hospital Pavilion F, Ward 32, now the Panbro House. The nurse ghost at the Royal Herbert has not been seen or felt anywhere else in the flat, just the hallway. The family have spoken to other residents of the Royal Herbert Pavilions and some have described that there have been previous ghost sightings and supernatural feelings. If you can help with any further information then please contact us. Below are a collection of memories from former staff of the Royal Herbert Military Hospital, Woolwich: At the Royal Herbert I recall that the female accommodation blocks had dense thorn bushes planted around them - it was rumoured that this was to make life painful for anyone jumping out of the window to escape a snap inspection of female quarters. I, of course, have no knowledge of whether this was effective or not! (Ken RAMC) Read more about the history and development of the building with photographs and historic pictures at the Royal Herbert Pavilions website at www.royalherbert.co.uk 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. Buy Now! 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. 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