Sunday 31 May 2009

13 Stationary Hospital Boulogne


The two previous entries mention a lot about No.13 Stationary Hospital, Boulogne, and how it was opened in the autumn of 1914 in some very unpromising sugar sheds on the quay. By the greatest good fortune I've recently been sent copies of some photographs of the hospital taken soon after it opened, and one of which I attach here. The images were sent by Sheila Brownlee, whose grandmother Ruby Cockburn worked as a trained nurse with the British Red Cross Society throughout the war, and was employed at the sugar sheds from October to December 1914 while the staff was still a mixed one of QAIMNS and BRCS staff. The photo gives a wonderful view of the size and nature of the sheds, and highlights some of the difficulties that must have been encountered there - I can imagine the cold being all-consuming during the winter of 1914-15. Many thanks to Sheila for this, and the many other images she has shared with me, and also to Ruby for the prolific and varied photographs that she brought back from France.

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