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| Patients and staff, Cyne House, 1917 |
All I had to go on was this picture postcard dated Christmas 1917 and the caption “Clyne House, Military Hospital.”
It appears in a list of wartime hospitals offering no address but somewhere along the way I picked up a reference to the Royal School for the Deaf and Dumb which had been relocated from Salford in 1825 to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Old Trafford.
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| The school in the Royal Botanical Gardens, 1893 |
And like many other large buildings it was offered up as a Red Cross Hospital caring for men recovering from wounds and diseases.
In time I think I will go looking for more information on the hospital but I fear it will be an uphill struggle.
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| Patients and staff, 1917 |
Most were established in schools, church halls and other public buildings with quite a few converted from private residences.
Once the war was over, all the equipment was auctioned off and most of the buildings were returned to their pre war use.
All of which meant that with in a generation they were all but forgotten.
But the clues are there, sometimes in the form of a newspaper report or a letter from a grateful soldier and if you are really lucky there will be a detailed account.
The work of one Red Cross Hospital in Didsbury appeared regularly in the Manchester Guardian while another on Edge Lane in Chorlton was included in a detailed report by the Red Cross of their hospital in south Lancashire and another on Manchester Road in Chorlton was the subject of a letter to the local parish magazine.**
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| Patients and staff Clyne House, 1917 |
But for now I will just finish with a special thank you to David Harrop who has a vast collection of memorabilia from both word wars.
They cover everything from letters and postcards home to medals and souvenirs, all of which bring a wonderful insight in to the lives of people caught up in these huge conflicts.
And some of them form part of a permanent exhibition at the Remembrance Lodge in Southern Cemetery.
Picture; of Clyne House, Military Hospital Xmas 1917 from the collection of David Harrop and detail of the Edge Lane Bowling and Tennis Club, from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1893, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/
*Trafford Lifetimes, http://legacy.trafford.gov.uk/content/tca/search_results.asp?fTown=3&fDecade=*&fKeyword=Clyne+House
**Red Cross Hospitals, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Red%20Cross%20Hospitals
***David Harrop, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/David%20Harrop
I lived in Clyne House as a child from 1954 until 1961. My mother was matron of the school for the deaf.
ReplyDeleteI lived at Clyne House as a child from 1954 to 1961. My mother was Matron of the school for the Deaf.
ReplyDeleteI met a lady recently October 2021 who used to work there when it was Deaf and dumb school
ReplyDeleteGeorge Benton (d 1887) and wife Elizabeth (d 1900) of Clyne House are buried under a large monument in Old section of Sale cemetery
ReplyDeleteMy mum, Dawn Kerby, was a international student from New Zealand from 1951 to 1953. She taught at the Royal Institute for the Deaf and lived at Clyne House. I am currently visiting my daughter in Prestwich and would like to visit my mother's old haunts. She is currently in good health at 93, in NZ.
ReplyDeleteI also have a bundle of handwritten letters that Dawn wrote to her Mum during her 2 year stay. Fascinating. She missed her boat home due to jaundice and spent Christmas 1951 in hospital. Boat passages were at a premium and she was unable to rebook for a year!
ReplyDelete