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Tidworth Military HospitalHistory of the Tidworth Military Hospital with shared memories from former staff and patients of BMH Tidworth Tidworth Military Hospital was built in 1907. It had between 200 to 300 beds. Tidworth Military Hospital was conveniently located by the army training grounds of Salisbury Plains in South East Wiltshire. Famous people born in the maternity wing of Tidworth Military Hospital include the former Life Guards Captain and now singer James Blunt. His father, Colonel Charles Blount, was an officer in the Army Air Corps. James Blunt's birth name was James Hillier Blount. Tidworth Military Hospital closed on the 31 March 1977 even though the Maternity Unit had recently been refurbished (cited in the book Sub Cruce Candida: A Celebration of One Hundred Years of Army Nursing  ).
Parts of the hospital remained open as MRS Tidworth (Medical Reception Station). A QARANC wall plaque and shield is available to buy through Amazon. The QA shield is hand made and ready to hang on the wall. . Buy Now. 
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Memories of Tidworth Military Hospital Below are memories of Tidworth Military Hospital. If you would like to send your recollections of this former army hospital for other Qaranc.co.uk readers to enjoy then please contact me. My stay at Tidworth Military Hospital was in the family ward, and the adult ladies who were patients got a bottle of stout every night provided their health permitted. Of course I didn't since I was not old enough. I do remember the Matron, although not her name, and the round of the ward she did every morning. I had been given auromycin during my last few days at BMH Tidworth because I was not progressing as fast as I should. It had the unfortunate affect of making me sick about 10 minutes after I had taken it. The Matron came round the ward, and I shall never forget her words: "I hear you have been having morning sickness!" There were a lot of titters at that, but one look silenced everyone. It all seems so long ago now. British Military Hospital Tidworth occupied the Delhi barrack block, and had some wonderful nurses - I know this personally because being an army "brat" I was a patient there in March 1955 for 2 weeks suffering from pneumonia. I was treated very well, and can still remember how kind the nurses were. I was 15 and was very ill and scared, but they certainly helped to put my fears to rest. I do not remember any names, but one of the nurses had the most glorious red hair, underneath her cap of course! In the summer of 1959 my late Mother was a patient there for a hysterectomy, and was treated with kindness and compassion. The barracks in Tidworth are all behind barbed and razor wire so I do not know if the hospital still exists in any form at all. Diane Tidworth Drummer I trained at Tidworth Hospital in 1965 and left for BMH Iserlohn in 66 – 67 and back to Tidworth in 1968. Colonel Gahan was our Commandant (Matron) and Captain Green was our Nurse tutor. I worked on Gynae & Families Medical and Gynae clinic. I also did casevac duties and we had regular training sessions on setting up a Field hospital for 2000 casualties. It was a great place to train – with our own ghost ‘The Tidworth Drummer’. In those days when you finished nights you could draw rations from the cookhouse to make your own breakfast in the Nurses home. I remember the long walk up to Nightingale House (Nurses home) after a hectic night duty clutching eggs and bacon! Happy Days and sorry the hospital has been closed down. The Tidworth drummer was supposed to walk the corridors at certain times of the year - the corridors at Tidworth Hospital were concrete walkways under cover which ran past every ward and it was quite a spooky experience to be on nights because the wards were on the first floor and you had to come up darkly lit wooden stairs from the ground floor. Many times I have heard footsteps outside in the corridor and gone out and no-one was there or have heard footsteps coming up the stairs and thinking it was Night Sister have gone out to find no-one there. The Tidworth drummer was, I think, a drummer boy who was killed whilst walking the ramparts (which I imagine were the said concrete walkways) and it was reputed you could hear him drumming sometimes - I never heard him drumming but am sure I heard him walking on many occasions. I also had another spooky experience at Tidworth in the Nurses home - Nightingale house. I woke up one night to find a women dressed in a long grey dress down to the floor, she had frizzy hair and was sitting on the end of my bed, when I screamed she got up and walked into my wardrobe!! When my friend Gerry from Liverpool, ran in to see what the fuss was about she said I looked as though I had seen a ghost and next morning when we went down to breakfast I was telling the Corporal about it - she said 'Oh I see you met our ghost then'. Apparently my room was where the Matron had nursed a little boy who died from smallpox - that building was an isolation hospital at some point in its history so I can only agree that I had seen the ghost. Annie Hilda Joan Ellis ***** Grey Lady I to was at Tidworth military hospital from early April 1969 to March 1970, I left to marry a serving soldier but I remember the hospital with fond memories and they were probably the best years of my life. I worked on the children's ward under the wing of a marvellous ward sister called Sister Birkett, I also worked on the male ward under a Major Mahoney who was so strict that most of us were afraid of her. I remember doing my stint of nights on the Children's ward and I agree with the person who said it was spooky; it most certainly was but I never saw the ghost thank goodness. I remember though that Nightingale house was haunted by the said Grey Lady though again I never saw the ghost, although my friend Jenny claimed to have seen something one night when we were nights off and she came screaming into my room babbling about seeing something in the bathroom. I loved my time at Tidworth and made a lot of lovely friends and can remember so many details like the covered concrete walkways which connected all the wards, the wooden stair case, the NAAFI, the cookhouse and much more with really fond memories. Bernice Blakeley (Nee Blake) ***** I served at Tidworth Military Hospital in 1976, straight out of basic training. I was allocated to the Children's Ward which was an allocation that I was not looking forward to. However under the guidance of a staunch ward sister and fatherly paediatrician I can say that I enjoyed my ward experience. I remember the story of the little drummer boy, it was said that he had died in the room next to the children's ward. We used to nurse the children who had their tonsils and adenoids out next to the said room. It was often talked about that the night nurses had heard him drumming whilst they were caring for the children on night duty. My husband and I were fortunate to have a final tour of the grounds of Tidworth Military Hospital before it closed. We had to sit in our car with a military guard and sadly were not allowed to take pictures. Jane Blainey (nee Goodwin) Sadly none of the QARANC.co.uk team served at Tidworth Military Hospital and would love to expand this page with more details about this former army hospital and include a photograph. If you are a former or serving member of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps we would love your help. If you would like to contribute any info, photographs or share your memories of Tidworth Military Hospital then please contact me. The Real Tenko The latest book about British Army nurses and nursing describes a dark chapter in the history of the QAs. The Real Tenko: Extraordinary True Stories of Women Prisoners of the Japanese  by Mark Felton is an account of the fall of the Far East to Japan. It comprehensively covers war atrocities performed by the Japanese troops to women stationed in places such as Singapore and Hong Kong. This included Sisters of the QAs who were stationed in hospitals such as
BMH Bowen Road Hong Kong and
BMH Singapore. Read the Qaranc.co.uk review or
Buy Now
with free delivery available.
View more British Army Nursing Books - with free delivery available. 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. For the official Army QARANC webpage please go to www.army.mod.uk/home.aspx For the QARANC Association website please go to www.army.mod.uk/army-medical-services/qaranc/9884.aspx *********************************************** Help Needed A reader of Qaranc.co.uk is researching the exhumation of Heinrich Himmler in Luneberg, Germany circa 1945-46. He thinks that two nurses from the QAIMNS attended the exhumation due to the poor state of health of Walter Schellenberg. He would like to learn if any of the nurses kept a diary of the events leading up to the exhumation or sent any personal letters home to friends or family that may have provided an insight into Walter Schellenberg and the exhumation. Please contact Qaranc.co.uk if you have any information. Qaranc.co.uk have recently learnt about two former Military Hospitals that we would like to write about. These are the British Military Hospital at Wuppertal in Germany and BMH Benghazi. If you know any information, would like to share your memories or have photographs that we can use on the site then please contact Qaranc.co.uk A reader is writing an article about the demise of the Military Hospital for the RAMC Magazine and seeks some help. There was, in Kuala Lumpur, a hospital called BMH Kinrara. He would like to know when it opened and closed, what happened to the buildings and the staff. He thinks that Kinrara closed as Terendak opened and that the staff were transferred across to 34 Company RAMC? He would also like any information about the Military Maternity Hospital, Penang. If you can help then please contact Qaranc.co.uk There is a lovely photo of three QA Midwives from the 1960s about half way down on the Royal Herbert Hospital page. If you can help with information about the Maternity Unit in Woolwich or identify the QA Officers then please contact Qaranc.co.uk The BMH Dhekelia has new photos which includes a stunning picture of the demolition of the original building and some staff photos. The contributor would like some help with the date it was demolished and would love to hear from anyone who worked with her relative. |
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