With the Red Cross hospital in 1914 at Woodlawn in Didsbury

Wood Lawn

I am back with the story of the Voluntary Red Cross Hospitals during the Great War.

In 1917 the Wesleyan College on Wilmslow Road was turned over to a Red Cross Hospital along with part of the Hartley Primitive Methodist College on Alexandra Road South, and plans were in place to use both the Lancashire Independent College at Whalley Range  and the Baptist College in Rusholme.

Along with these were smaller institutions in what had been private residences. In Whalley Ranges these included Lancaster House, Sunnyside on Upper Chorlton Road, and 1 & 3, Burford Road.

Now most of these came in to operation during the last stages of the war when the casualtiy rates continued to climb.

But some were started up almost at the beginning of the war.  One of these  was Woodlawn
which was a large 15 roomed house on Mersey Road in Didsbury.

At the outbreak of the Great War its owner Mrs Laura Churchill had offered it to the Red Cross as a hospital.

Staff in 1915

According to the Manchester Guardian for November 1914 “twenty wounded soldiers were transferred from Whitworth Military Hospital [to this] large and pleasantly situated house which has been admirably equipped by the East Lancashire branch of the British Red Cross.” *

By 1916 there were six wards and the same newspaper reported that “Christmas at Woodlawn was well celebrated.”**

Sadly the history of these hospitals has all but been forgotten along with the records and staffing details.

At best what we have is fragmentary so while the names of those who served at the Baptist hospital in Chorlton have survived along with some information on the men who recovered there is nothing from the Methodist Hospital on Manchester Road save an engraved silver cup from some of the men and a letter of thank you to St Clements Church.

As for those in Whalley Range to date all I have is an address.

But with Woodlawn we have been a little luckier.  The Manchester Guardian reported fully on the opening of the hospital and its Christmas party in 1917 which included presents for the patients, and a series of entertainments spread over two days.

Mrs Churchill

The names of some of the staff have been preserved along with an advert from May 1919, placed by Mrs Churchil asking for anyone who had a claim “against the hospital for articles lent goods supplied & kindly furnished” to contact her.**

It is a salutary lesson in how these things worked that with the end of the war and the closure of the hospitals nothing could be left.  So not only were people able to recover items they had sent but everything from the beds, the blankets and even the typewriters were auctioned off.

All of which would have left Mrs Churchill much to do.  As for what she did afterwards has yet to be discovered.  She was awarded the OBE and courtesy of her family I have come across a press clipping with her photograph.

Pictures; Woodlawn from the collection press cutting of Mrs Laura Churchill courtesy of her family

* Manchester Guardian November 28th 1914
**Manchester Guardian December 30th 1916
**Manchester Guardian May 12th 1919

Back with the Red Cross nurses in Didsbury at Woodlawn

Now of all the Red Cross Hospitals I have written about I do seem to keep coming back to Woodlawn.

It had been a private house which was donated to the Red Cross during the Great War and was later a school.

During its first nine months of operation it cared for 118 men who had been admitted for a number of reasons ranging from bullet and shrapnel wounds to the effects of being gassed and contracting frostbite and rheumatism.

It regularly featured in the Manchester Guardian and after the war its owner a Mrs Churchill was awarded an OBE for work at the hospital.

Along with two photographs of the building there is an embroidered sheet carrying the names of both nurses, and wounded soldiers.

And today my friend David received this one which like the other photographs is a picture postcard, showing some of the staff and patients.

I don’t have a date but what I like is the detail of the temporary buildings which I guess may push the date of this picture to later in the war.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; Woodlawn, date unknown from the collection of David Harrop.

*Woodlawn; https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=woodlawn

Woodlawn that Red Cross hospital in Didsbury reveals more of its story

Now it is fitting that I should be returning to the story of the Woodlawn Red Cross Hospital in Didsbury in the month that we remember the end of the Great War.*

It is a place that I do keep coming back to because for most of us these volunteer Red Cross hospitals which were in the heart of our community have largely been forgotten.**

Most were established in large private homes, Sunday schools or other public buildings, were funded largely with voluntary contributions and were staffed by local people who cared for the sick and wounded soldiers, worked in the canteen, washed the bedding and carried out the many administrative duties.

And when the war came to an end all the equipment from the hospital beds, and blankets to the typewriters and bedpans were auctioned off, the buildings returned to other uses and within a few generations these hospitals were all but forgotten.

A few like the college at Didsbury were pressed back into service in 1939 but most settled back into a more mundane existence.

All of which brings me back to Woodlawn’s because a few days ago I was offered some exciting information on the place including a short description of the work undertaken during its first full year of operation, the names of the staff and details of the number of hospitals and the men who were cared for there.

In time it will be possible to track staff members who came from Didsbury, but I think the first port of call will be the Red Cross data base of volunteers.***

I first came across it about a year ago and while it is not yet complete it will provide researchers, local historians and genealogists with a wealth of information.

It has helped me track down individuals who served in hospitals as far apart as Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Woolwich and Cheltenham and will do so again with Woodlawn’s.

But I also have the entry for the place from an account of the work of the East Lancashire Branch - An illustrated account of the work of the Branch during the first year of the war, 1916, published by the Red Cross.

I had already found information for one of the two hospitals in Chorlton in the book and now courtesy of the Red Cross archives I will be able to extend the story of Woodlawn’s.

As ever it is being able to put names and stories to this little bit of history and in that I am indebted again to the archivist for sharing this sheet with the names of many who went through Woodlawn’s made more poignant as each has been personally signed.

We will of course never know all the stories of the men and women who served at Woodlawn’s or of those who recovered from their wounds and illnesses but this is a start.

And is also a fitting point to remember that work of the Red Cross is still a vital part of the care of sick displaced peoples across the world.****

Pictures; of Wood Lawn courtesy of Rob Mellor, the embroidered sheet, courtesy of the Archives, British Red Cross 

*Woodlawn, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Woodlawn

*Red Cross Hospitals, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Red%20Cross%20Hospitals

***First World War volunteers, The Red Cross, http://www.redcross.org.uk/About-us/Who-we-are/History-and-origin/First-World-War

****British Red Cross, http://www.redcross.org.uk/