Due to the likelihood of war and the possibility of invasion of Britain by Germany, the Territorial Army was created in 1908 by the Secretary of State for War, Richard Haldane. Its original purpose was home defence. In 1909 it was decided to form Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) to provide medical assistance. These were raised by the County Territorial Associations. By the summer of 1914 there were over 2,500 Voluntary Aid Detachments in Britain. Of the 74,000 VAD personnel in 1914, two-thirds were women and girls. They also were originally intended to serve at Home.
The first weekend of August 1914, VADs were practising their skills, often now derided due to lack of understanding of the importance of being able to care for the wounded in all weathers and conditions. Basic skills, such as rolling bandages, were vital if the wounded were to be treated without delay. There were no antibiotics and sepsis was an ever-present danger. Cleanliness, skill and speed were the essential ingredients of nursing care.
On Wednesday, 5 August 1914, war was declared. Men and women on manoeuvres quickly returned to base.
Plans were effected to use schools as temporary Red Cross hospitals and the authorities planned to use the Harold Street Schools for any sick or wounded men landed at Grimsby. On Tuesday, 11 August, hearing rumours of a battle at sea, there was great excitement at the news that Grimsby and Hull had been ordered to prepare beds for the expected wounded. Women began scrubbing clean these schools, ready to turn them into a hospital. But it was just a rumour – no naval battle had taken place.
Mrs E.J. Brockway of Cleethorpes, Vice President of the local Red Cross branch, called for garments and other necessities. Appeals were displayed in Post Offices. A long list of wanted items, including sheets and pillow cases, knives, forks and spoons, brushes, pans for washing up, mackintosh sheets, brandy and money was published. Many items would be borrowed, and when they were no longer needed their owners were asked to collect them. On 11 August, a cartload of articles from Tealby and Walesby arrived for Mrs Thomas (Maggie) Wintringham. She was a member of the National Union of Women Workers and helped administer the Prince of Wales Fund for the relief of industrial distress. She and her M.P. husband also lodged some refugees in their Tealby home and she became the first British-born woman to take her seat in the House of Commons. By 13 August arrangements were complete and the schools ready to be utilised as the chief nautical hospital. However, their efforts were completely wasted. On 22 August the Grimsby Evening Telegraph announced that the Admiralty had decided to close the Harold-Street Temporary Naval hospital, despite the fact it had provision for 300 wounded soldiers and sailors, because most wounded were to be brought ashore at Southampton, the most seriously wounded being taken on to the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley.
Despite the closure of the Harold Street Temporary Hospital there were other hospitals for the wounded in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes area, but information about them is very limited. Even records of the NetleyHospital were destroyed when it was pulled down in 1966.
Nevertheless, in Grimsby many women worked for the Red Cross, some as VADs in the two local hospitals. Others worked at the Church of St Aidan’s, Cleethorpes, which was used as a Red Cross Hospital, staffed by the VAD Lincs/30, assisted by the St John’s Men’s VAD Lincs/21. BrighowgateMilitaryHospital in Grimsby, built by the War Office in West Marsh in the northern part of the town, is believed to have opened in March, 1916, closing in 1919. It had accommodation for 120 men, and a large number of patients passed through it including submariners.
In March 1916, Air Raid warnings were given in Grimsby and Cleethorpes every night. At about 1.30 a.m. on 1 April, Zeppelin L22 commanded by Kapitanleutnant Martin Dietrich was seen approaching from the south-east. He had intended to attack London and East Anglia but due to engine problems decided to attack Grimsby docks where the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, the Manchester Regiment was guarding the Humber Defences. Seventy men of ‘E’ Company, who had arrived the day before, called up under the Derby Scheme, were billeted in the Cleethorpes Baptist Chapel. Three bombs were dropped in the town and one hit the Chapel, completely destroying it. Doctors, VADs and ambulances were quickly on the scene and by 4.30 a.m. the area was cleared of casualties. The Town Hall and Yarra House were used as dressing stations. Thirty-one people were killed or died of wounds and fifty-one were injured or wounded, those with severe injuries being taken to Brighowgate and St Aidan’s. Men were also taken to Brocklesby Hall which had been turned into a hospital.
After periods of recovery men were discharged back to Brighowgate. The twenty-four who died in the Chapel were given an impressive Military Funeral in Cleethorpes on 4 April 1916 with Brighowgate Hospital Sisters present and on 13 October 1918, a Commemorative Brass Tablet was unveiled in St Michael’s Parish Church, Ashton-under-Lyne, by Lieutenant-Colonel H. Kendall Oram. He recounted the story of the raid and in thanking those who had helped in various ways gave special thanks to ‘Mrs Ellis and the VAD Nurses of the St Aidan’s Hospital, not only for their quick and indispensable help on the night of the raid, but for their untiring work on behalf of the soldiers stationed in this district’. Mrs T.W. Ellis, one of the Commandants, was awarded the MBE.
The praise heaped upon the VADs shows how much nursing had improved but also indicates men’s low expectations of women’s abilities; they were expected to scream and faint, rather than prove efficient and stalwart under such conditions.
‘It would be impossible to give too much praise to the members of the VAD. Here were a number of women who had made themselves proficient in first-aid during their spare time, but who probably had never had to bandage a bad case, suddenly called upon to deal with the most horrible wounds imaginable. Yet never for a moment did even the youngest of them falter, but went straight to the case nearest her hand with a coolness and thoroughness that might have been expected of an Army Nurse of many years standing. It was indeed a fine example of pluck and grit that was shown by these women.’
St Aidan’s closed on 27 April, 1919; its colours were placed in the church and a brass tablet recording the work of the two detachments was positioned beneath the flags.
Katherine Storr (C) November 2013
Dr Katherine Storr is a social and cultural historian specialising in women’s history, especially in connection with the First World War and the inter-war period. Her publications include Excluded from the Record: Women, Refugees and Relief, 1914 – 1929 (Peter Lang, 2009) and Belgian Refugees in Lincolnshire and Hull, 1914 – 1919 (Yourpod, 2010), and she contributed a chapter to Women, Education and Agency, 1600-2000, eds Aiston, Spence & Meikle (Routledge, 2009). Taking early retirement from her post of Head of Business Studies at Horley Comprehensive School in 1986, since living in Lincolnshire Dr Storr has been researching the impact of the Great War on civilians in the eastern counties of England as well as giving talks to local groups.
During her teaching career, Dr Storr taught children in primary and secondary schools and worked in adult education. She began studying at the University of Sussex in January 1994, and in May 2004 gained her D.Phil in Contemporary History.
