St. John's VA hospital Cheltenham |
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| St. John's, in Gloucester Road, was one of two Cheltenham schools taken over as Red Cross hospitals in 1915. It returned to use as a school after the war, eventually becoming the Christchurch Annexe of the Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology. Shamefully it was sold off to a development company and demolished in 2003. Being just outside the town's conservation area the council was powerless to prevent this despite a local campaign to save it. It has now been replaced by a small housing estate. | Gloucestershire Red Cross Hospitals 1914-1919 |
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ST. JOHN'S V.A. HOSPITAL GLOS. 108 final report from The Red Cross in Gloucestershire 1914-19 |
Date of opening—June 30th 1915 No. of beds Admissions since opening to Jan 31st 1919 Deaths
Average number of days each patient was resident |
170 2995 15 1915 48 |
1916 51 |
1917 59 |
1918 50 |
OFFICERS Commandant: Miss Woodward Medical Officers: Dr G. A. Cardew, Dr Hebblethwaite, Dr Hutton, Dr H. Powell, M.B.E. Lady Superintendent: Miss N. K. Grounds Quartermaster: Miss Winterbotham Hon. Secretary: Mr W. W. Whittard Hon. Treasurer: Miss L. Keeling |
St. John Hospital opened on June 30th 1915, in Gloucester Road Council Schools, equipped for receiving 160 patients, the number of beds being increased to 180. The building was exceptionally well adapted for a hospital, having no stairs; its proximity to both railway stations was very convenient for transport, and on several occasions individual cases on ambulance trains, too desperately ill to proceed to the North, were detrained in Cheltenham, and brought to St. John, most of these cases being almost in extremis. Of the V.A. helpers who began work at the opening of the hospital 52 worked faithfully to its close on January 31st 1919. Two V.A. nurses have been awarded the Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class, and the names of several of the staff have been brought to the notice of the Secretary of State for War for valuable services. The men of the St. John Ambulance Brigade have rendered continuous and invaluable help as voluntary relief orderlies, by night and by day, in addition to their transport and other duties. Miss Bowle Evans was Commandant when the hospital opened and served in that capacity till June 1917, when she resigned to take up other war work. She was succeeded by Miss Woodward who had till then been Quartermaster. |
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| Gloucestershire Red Cross Hospitals 1914-1919 |
