Mr Walter Mather, hospital orderly and his fascinating vesta case

This is a vesta case which was used for carrying matches.

They date from the 1830s and became particularly popular at the end of the 19th century and the early 20th, which fits perfectly with this one, which belonged to Mr Walter Mather.

The inscription records that he was awarded the case “in recognition of services at Woodlawn Hospital, 1914-19”.

Woodlawn was a Red Cross Hospital for men from the armed services recovering from wounds and illnesses.

It is a place I have written about quite extensively. *

It had been a private residence before the Great War and was handed over by its owner to the Red Cross for the duration of the conflict.

It was still there in Didsbury until relatively recently and there are those who have told me they knew the building when it was a private school.

That part of its history has yet to be revealed, and along with it, I hope we will discover more about Mr Mather.

According to the Red Cross records he joined the organisation in August 1916 and was living at 7 Clifton Avenue Fallowfield.

I have yet to find him in a census but the street directories for the early 1900s list numbers 5 to 11 Clifton Avenue as the Fallowfield Nurseries with a Walter Mather the proprietor and a Miss Elizabeth Cookson at number 5.

So the clues are there, and in time we should know more about him, his service at Woodlawn and perhaps about Miss Cookson.

We shall see.

In the meantime I remain fascinated by vesta cases, which were designed as a safety measure given that vesta matches when left together had a worrying and dangerous tendency to rub together and self ignite.

Pictures; the vesta case from the collection of David Harrop and the photograph of  Woodlawn courtesy of Rob Mellor

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

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

Working in a Red Cross Hospital in the Great War .................. Woodlawn in Didsbury

Woodlawn circa 1915

I am back again at Woodlawn which was a Red Cross hospital in Didsbury during the Great War.*

I first came across it by accident when researching a book and in the course of peeling back its history I came to learn a lot more about the role of the Red Cross during that war.**

Much of that story was unknown to me including the sheer number of hospitals run and staffed by the Red Cross here in south Manchester.

Most were set up in the early months of the war in large private homes, Sunday schools and other public buildings.

Staff and patients, circa 1915

They were generously supported by the local communities who raised funds and staffed the hospitals.

And when the war ended the buildings were turned to other uses, the equipment auctioned off and within two generations their presence was all but forgotten.

But the East Lancashire branch of the Red Cross left a record of the hospitals which includes a short general description, the names of the staff and their contributions as well as some statistics covering the first year and a bit of the war.***

Woodlawn had been a large residential property belonging  J.Broome, Esq., and was lent by his executors to the British Red Cross Society for use as an Auxiliary Hospital.

Woodlawn, 1894

According to the book it was
“situated in one of the healthiest residential suburbs of Manchester and surrounded by extensive grounds, Woodlawn is admirably suited for hospital purposes.”

It opened on November 25, 1914 with “very generous support, both financially and in kind.

For the equipment all the furniture, beds, bedding etc., were lent or given, and the expenditure necessitated an outlay of only £50.”

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.

And it is the degree of detail about the men, including their nationality their length of stay and where they received their primary wounds and illnesses which makes the story of Woodlawn so fascinating.

All too often you can get lost in the big picture which concentrates on the movements of armies, the advances and retreats and the sheer scale of the fatalities, but here is the very human detail.

Of the 118, the majority were British with a handful of Canadians and Australians and Belgians.  Most were wounded or fell ill in France and Belguim with a few from Gallipoli.

The average admittance per month was 13 and the average stay was 42 days with 80% being transferred to sick furlough and 17% remaining longer in the hospital.

Some of them left their names and units on a souvenir piece of linen and with a bit of research it may be possible to find out more about these young men.

More promising might be the stories of the 67 Red Cross Volunteers, along with the permanent medical staff and the committee many of who will have been locals.

Nurses & soldiers, cura 1915

As ever the starting point will be the census returns, and street directories and the excellent data base currently being compiled by the Red Cross of those who volunteered for service with the society.****

They after all were how Woodlawn was maintained and without them the recovery of those 118 men might well have been harder.

So it is fitting that I shall conclude with one more extract from the entry on Woodlawn,
 “Numerous entertainments have been held, and the large grounds attached provide facilities for all kinds of outdoor recreations.  

The large gardens and orchards have been a source of interest and profit, and to the patients so inclined a means of indulging in a favourite occupation.”

Pictures; of Woodlawn courtesy of Rob Mellor, and detail of Wood Lawn and gardens from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1888-94 courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

Additional material courtesy of the archivist of the Red Cross Society http://www.redcross.org.uk/

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

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

***East Lancashire Branch - An illustrated account of the work of the Branch during the first year of the war, 1916

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

Woodlawn in Didsbury in the summer of 1914 and again in the winter of 1950

Woodlawn was one of those very big houses that Didsbury used to excel at.

It stood on what was Fielden Park and is now Mersey Road which runs from Palatine Road up to Barlow Moor Road.

It had fifteen rooms, was set in extensive grounds which ran down towards the Mersey and was flanked by the even more impressive houses of Brockhurst to the north and Mersey Bank to the south, both of which commanded even bigger gardens and both of which had their own fountains.

Now I can’t be sure exactly when it was built but it was there by 1891 when it was the home of James and Rosamund Halliday.

He was an accountant and partner in a number of firms including Deloitte and Halliday with offices at Queen Elms on High Street and on Oxford Street and later described himself as a banker.

Born in Scotland he was here in Manchester by 1861.  We can track him from Chorlton on Medlock to Broome House in Didsbury where the family were living in 1881.  And like so many of the other residents of Broome House they went on to bigger and better homes which in the case of the Halliday’s was Woodlawn.

There is no doubting that this was an impressive property.

You reached it by a tree lined drive with paths off across the gardens down towards the river and past a series of large greenhouses.

The house was built on a raised bank which meant the entrance up to the front door was by way of a set of stone steps.

Looking at the pictures of the place you have to admit that it was a solid and magnificent place which befitted a banker.

He died in 1913 and this will have been when Mrs Laura Churchill bought the property and a year later offered it to the Red Cross as a hospital at the start of the Great War.

But that is a story for another time.*

The house was demolished I think in the 1990s and may have been a convent school which pretty much means there is more to find out about the place and that also will be for later.

And soon after I posted the story Marion added a postscript which took the story of the building forward into the middle decades of the last century.

"Woodlawn was part of the new Hollies convent and school when they moved from Oak Drive in Fallowfield. I was there from 1949 to 1958, my sister and daughter followed. 

I loved every moment, the buildings fed my love of grand houses even though they took a bit of a battering from us girls. 

Wonderful memories include the maid from Oak house hotel bringing a tray with drinks and biscuits across at playtime for the owners daughter to enjoy at the prep school gate. Have a look at the book Against the Odds where there are some pictures of Woodlawn. A vanished world.

All of which opens a whole new area of research, not to mention stories pictures and memories.

Wood Lawn features in our book on the history of Didsbury, Didsbury Through Time

Pictures; of Woodlawn courtesy of Rob Mellor, and detail of Wood Lawn and gardens from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1888-94 courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

*With the Red Cross hospital in 1914 at Wood Lawn in Didsbury posted on the blog on October 11th

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/