the making of Maritime Hospital A short history of the hospital - the early days

Compiled by Vivien Bouttell

Originally a naval hospital, the site was taken under the aegis of the NHS in 1961 and was simply called Medway Hospital for many years. In the mid 1990s a large extension was added to the hospital, bringing more services onto the site, and staff were asked to contribute their ideas for a fresh name to begin a new era. The name chosen was Medway Maritime Hospital and a logo was designed to incorporate the former naval links, with compass points, rope and sails. Although the logo has now been replaced by a modern graphic based on the clock tower, the name has remained, although the hospital is usually referred to locally as “The Medway”. The story began over a century ago... King Edward Vll leaving the hospital after the official opening 1905 How it all began The town of Chatham, lying on threats of war and the hospital Metropolitan Asylums Board’s the banks of the river Medway was becoming increasingly hospitals, which were judged in was home to one of overcrowded. to be the best at the time². It the main Royal Dockyards for cost £800,000 to build and the centuries, with a large naval Plans were drawn up to main corridor, designed by ITC presence. There was also a replace the Melville with a Murray, was more than 900 substantial military presence, larger hospital and a plot of 39 feet long. The buildings, which said to be the largest in acres of farmland, on Windmill included six adjoining ward the country before the Hill, near the top of Chatham blocks and a church, were building of Aldershot. These Hill, was purchased in 1899. completed ready for the official establishments attracted a The location was described opening in 1905. high number of people to the as ‘isolated’ and it was felt town and surrounding area, that the hospital would be On 26 July 1905, allegedly a looking for work. The general far enough away from the very hot day, at approximately public had St Bartholmew’s smoke from the dockyard and 11am, King Edward Vll, in Hospital in Rochester and the the fumes from the cement an open landau, was driven military barracks had various works on the north bank of through the main gates. He hospitals of their own. The the river, which were declared attended a service in the also provided “very objectionable at the church, accompanied by the hospital care and in 1827 a present naval hospital” – the following dignitaries³: dedicated naval hospital, the Melville Hospital¹. The Lords Melville Hospital, was built just of the Admiralty inspected Rear Admiral Davis, Rear outside the dockyard gates. It it personally and declared Admiral Graham4 Inspector was an imposing structure with it to be “a site unsurpassed General Pollard5, Captain several wards, but by the end by any in the country”. The Kirby, Commander Stopford6, of the century the Royal Navy style of the buildings followed Deputy Inspector O’Grady, was expanding to meet the the examples used by the Reverend Chaplain

2 J. Moriarty7, Colonel Commandant Gordon8, Superintendent Civil Engineer Parr9, Civil Engineer Brinson, Head Sister Mackay10, Admiral Sir Hugo L. Pearson, KCB11.

The King was presented with a silver casket containing a specially made gold key¹² which he placed in the lock of the hospital front door, turning it and declaring Medway Hospital open. He then undertook a tour of the buildings, delighting the staff and patients. The original administrative front block of the hospital – presumably the door on the right was the one that the king unlocked.

Original ward block entrances The hospital buildings

The new hospital consisted The wards were laid out in the enamel paint; all corners and of six blocks or pavilions, Nightingale formation, with angles rounded; the floors of labelled from A to F, which 28 beds and there was also pitch pine with secret nailing contained a total of 14 wards. a ‘separation cabin’ on each are polished¹.” At the end of each block were ward with 2 beds and separate ‘sanitary towers’ housing toilets toilet facilities. Patients The administrative block, and washrooms, as well as had access to balconies or which ran across the front of fire escapes. The hospital verandahs at the end of each the hospital opened into a had accommodation for 680 ward if the weather was fine. large entrance hall. The rest patients – with capacity to A description in 1914 tells us: of the ground floor on either increase this to 900 in wartime. “The walls are covered with side contained outpatient and

3 admission rooms, offices, an ophthalmic room, X-ray room, telephone, the library and board room. Above them were the laboratory, research rooms and the pathological museum. Behind this block, there were small smoking shelters erected between ward blocks with access from the long hospital corridor.

Behind the main hospital buildings was an isolation or The hospital from the west showing the residences against the infection unit containing four perimeter wall wards, standing alone near the rear corner of the site main gate, the residences blocks housed store rooms for close to the junction of York were allocated as follows: supplies, both for the hospital Road and Marlborough Road. l. Butler’s Quarters, 2. and for use on ships afloat². This was an independent unit Engineers, 3. Store Foreman, A reserve was always kept in with its own staff, containing 4. and 5. Police Quarters, case of urgent need. These an operating theatre, kitchen, 6. Assistant Dispenser, 6a. were organised into supplies mortuary, etc., taking patients Head Wardmaster, 7. Store required for each class of ship. with infectious diseases. These Keeper, 7a. Cashier, 7b. There was also a barber’s included mumps, measles, Chaplain, 8. Inspector General, shop and a sterilising room in chicken pox and scarlet fever. 9. First Fleet Surgeon, l0, one of the basements. The unit was segregated from Second Fleet Surgeon, ll. In front of the hospital buildings the main hospital by a double Deputy Inspector General, 12. stood the church, dedicated fenced area approximately Surgeons Quarters, l3. Nursing to St Luke, the patron saint eight yards wide. Staff had to Sisters, l4. Dispenser, l5. of physicians. The foundation live in the unit whilst on duty Secretary, l6. Store Matron, l7. stone was laid on 1 May 1905 and were not allowed to go into Stables, 18. Sisters Quarters by Vice Admiral Sir Hugo the main hospital. Any patients (Infectious Division). Pearson³, C in C of the Nore. transferred to the main hospital It was in regular use until first had to be bathed and The last three were 1961, when the hospital was given fresh clothes. demolished at some point to handed over to the NHS, and make way for other facilities. It in 1933 was granted a licence Dotted around the perimeter of was unusual for staff in naval by the Bishop of Rochester for the site were the residences, hospitals at the time to have marriages to be performed. used by personnel involved accomodation other than on in the running of the hospital. the wards. A small cemetery lay in the At the main gate was the corner of the site near to A police station, which later At the back of the site were Block, which contained the became the Porter’s Lodge. the steam laundry and laundry graves of those who died in the This was originally occupied store rooms, the engine isolation wards. Headstones by the Metropolitan Police, and boiler house, the coal were removed during later who patrolled all areas of store, mortuary, dynamo expansion of the buildings and the hospital grounds around rooms, the water tower and no traces remain now. the clock. In later years they water softening plant, sheds would be replaced by Ministry for the motor and steam Standing guard above the of Defence police until the ambulances, a carpenter’s hospital is the clock tower, a handover to the NHS. shop and a blacksmith’s shop. local landmark 130 feet tall. It Starting from the left of the The basements of the ward mimics the style of the tower in

4 St Marks Square in Venice and this is echoed in the smaller water tower, a Grade 2 listed building standing 117 feet tall behind it. On the walls inside the clock tower are plaques commemorating some of those who died in the naval hospital.

On 11 June, 1911 three stained glass windows were dedicated to the church4. The first was presented by the widow of the late Paymaster General Cunnyngham Scales RN, the second was dedicated to the Virgin Mary by the Reverend Arthur G. Yates, late chaplain, and the third to St Luke by officer patients between 1905 and 1910, in gratitude.

Around the buildings were large areas of lawn and trees, including lime and horse chestnut. Pavilions were erected where patients could sit and there were dedicated smoking shelters easily reached from the main hospital corridor. There was also a ship’s figurehead who was christened Harriet.

5 Staff, patients and hosptial routine

When the new hospital Not all members of staff his ability was above average opened it was staffed by obeyed orders, however. In and he had performed his nine Medical Officers, one January 1914 Dr Edward duties satisfactorily, he “never Head Wardmaster, seventy Michael William Hearn³ was displayed any interest or sisters and seven sick berth appointed radiologist and energy, his one object being attendants. Unfortunately we anaesthetist at the hospital. to get away from the hospital do not know the names of the He had begun his career in the …..”. He was transferred a few surgeons in 1905, but in the Royal Navy 10 years earlier weeks later. 1911 census the head surgeon and had received many good was Fleet Surgeon Alexander reports from the commanders There was a separate ward Gascoine Wildley¹ and the and captains of his various for patients with tuberculosis. Head Nurse² was Katherine postings – apart from a The windows were kept open Mary Stickley. There appear to regrettable incident where around the clock “except in be 432 patients, but the census he had tried to cover up his case of gales”, and the ward totals are confused and it fellow officers’ overspending temperature was checked does not show the distribution their wine rations. He had three times daily. If it was between the wards. obtained good marks in his found to be below 50oF in spite examinations and was said of the radiators, the ward fire Discipline on the wards was to have a particular aptitude was lit and patients given extra strict, with patients who were for anaesthetics. On 17 clothing. Patients who were fit confined to bed being expected September 1914, however, enough were encouraged to sit to lie at attention during ward he was put on report for being in the hospital grounds if the rounds. Those who were out after 11pm and causing weather permitted, whilst those mobile were given mops and a disturbance in Rochester. who could not, had access to expected to polish the floors. He was informed that he the balcony or verandah at the The senior nursing staff would would be posted elsewhere, end of the ward. Seventy-four have outranked most of their but on 26 September he was cases of tuberculosis were patients and were well able to informed that his conduct was treated during 1913. keep order. unsatisfactory and although

6 In 1913 an article in the (Operating Surgeon): The nursing staff were as British Medical Journal on the In charge of Junior follows: treatment of syphilis4 over a 30 Surgical Section, Eye • Head Sister month period stated that upto and Ear Section, Surgical • Superintendent Sister 130 beds were set aside for Instruments for Hospital • Nursing Sisters (2 on patients with venereal disease. Services, Resident Families leave): 11 • Staff Surgeon 1: • Chief Sick Berth Stewards: During 1913 the numbers of Anaesthetist and 11 patients treated overall were: Radiographer, Massage • Sick Berth Stewards: 11 • Medical - 1,595 Department • Second Sick Berth • Surgical - 2,746 • Staff Surgeon 2: Acute Stewards: 37 • Infectious diseases - 164 Medical Wards, Tubercle • Sick Berth Attendants: 69 Department The most common surgical • Surgeon: General medical This was a total of 141 and procedures were for repair Wards, Zymotics there were also 26 Second of hernias, appendicectomy, • Surgeon: Minor Surgical Sick Berth Attendants available haemorrhoidectomy, Wards. Salvarsan7 and for mobilisation. varicocele, hydrocele and the Venereal plating of fractures5. • Surgeon: Minor Surgical The training of Sick Berth Wards and Venereal Attendants at the hospital On 14 July 1914, a party5 was • Surgeon: In charge of began in April 1912 and by July held at the hospital, hosted by Laboratory and Instructor 1914 100 had completed the the Medical Director General to Probationers’ Sick Berth training, which lasted a year8. Sir Arthur May6, formerly Attendants They were aged between 18 medical director at Medway, • Surgeon: Venereal Ward and 22 and had to pass a and Surgeon General J. physical and educational test. J. Johnson. The party was attended by the deans and heads of various medical schools and seems to have been an event to promote the hospital facilities, presumably to reassure the attendees of their readiness to cope with the coming war.

The following list of staff appears: • Surgeon-General: In sole charge • Deputy Surgeon-General: In charge of the Medical Division, Zymotic (Infectious Diseases) Hospital, Sick Officers Medical • Senior Fleet Surgeon (Operating Surgeon) : In charge of Senior Surgical Section, Sick Officers Surgical and Operating Theatres • Junior Fleet Surgeon

7 As well as caring for the sick same period 175 St John’s cleaning and other general the course included reading, Ambulance members were duties in their work. However, writing, arithmetic and general trained in short courses, going in 1911 it was agreed that dispensing of medication. on to join the Royal Naval Sick these should not be part of Cooking for the sick was also Berth Attendants Reserve. their role and civilian staff included and involved having The average rate of pay for a were brought in to allow the to pass a practical examination Sick Berth Attendant in 1911 Attendants to concentrate on and participants also had to was 6d per day9 and they were nursing. pass in swimming. During the expected to include cooking,

Christmas 1931

The Massage Department

Massage had been used since Mental health patients were anniversary celebrations in at least 1850, but training was treated at the hospital and in 1955 included a band, a ‘silly not standardised. The Naval 1937 one of only six mentally costume’ football match, and a Massage Service was formed trained naval nurses, John dance in the WRNS quarters in April 1917 and a Royal Greene, was transferred to the that saw the Surgeon Rear Naval School of Massage hospital. The first thing he did Admiral crowned with a Native was opened at the hospital. was to get rid of straitjackets American headdress. Students were trained in and during the Second World “massage, medical gymnastics War staff used the padded and medical electricity”10. cells to sleep in.

On 30 April 1917 Head There were good times in later Massage Sister Elspeth years. There was a hospital Kingdon¹¹ began work at football team and a hockey Chatham. She had trained team and a grass tennis at St Thomas’ Hospital in court opposite Residence 8, Swedish remedial massage presumably for the officers. exercises and had obtained an electricity certificate. Mrs The hospital’s Christmas The picture above shows a Kingdon remained at Chatham parties invited wards to medal presented for a slow until 1924, during which time outdo each other in themed bicycle race at the hospital in her annual reports described decorations and photographs 1955¹². Perhaps this was a her performance as either taken in 1952 show a concert patients’ race as part of the above average or exceptional. party. The hospital’s 50th rehabilitation process.

8 The King and Queen, accompanied by Prince George, far left, and Princess Mary, right, visit survivors of the Zeebrugge action 24th April 1918 The hospital at war In December 1914 an article on board only 16 were rescued could have been to blame. in the British Journal of and taken to the hospital, but Many of the dead were buried Nursing¹ describes the hospital seven of those later died. The in Woodlands Cemetery as the “newest and most explosion literally blew the ship in Gillingham, where the perfect of our naval hospitals” to pieces and the cause could Admiralty reserved an area and refers to “the perfectly not be definitely identified, but specifically for naval personnel. equipped kitchens where the the investigators concluded cooking is done entirely with that ammunition on board had Many casualties were treated electricity”. The head sister of detonated by some accidental at the hospital during both the Queen Alexandra’s Royal means. world wars and possibly the Naval Nursing Service was greatest test of the hospital’s stationed at the hospital at Six months after the loss of resources came on the night the time and the article, in the HMS Bulwark, the mortuary of 3 September 1917 when typically flowery prose of the facilities at the hospital were German bombers dropped two period, ends “There should called into use again when HM 50kg bombs onto the Drill Hall be comforts in plenty for the Auxiliary Ship Princess Irene³ at Chatham Dockyard4. The Fleet”. blew apart whilst undergoing Drill Hall had been brought into repairs at Dock. service as a dormitory because On 26 November 1914 the This time the casualties were there had been an outbreak of hospital was involved in fewer with 273 men lost meningitis at the barracks and tragedy when HMS Bulwark², and only one survivor. Once around 900 men were inside at anchor on the Medway west again there was no definite the building, most of them of Sheerness, was blown apart cause established, but it was asleep. The blast from the at 0750 hours. Of the 750 men felt that a faulty mine primer bombs not only killed outright

9 but also shattered the glass at the hospital rose steadily Chief Surgeon at the time of roof, bringing lethal shards throughout the First World the royal visit in 1917 was Sir raining down to sever limbs War. – 635 in 1915 to 1,390 in William Watson Cheyne6, who and heads. The total number of 19185. had been house surgeon to dead was officially given as “no Joseph Lister and continued to less than 130” with a further A stage was installed in the promote the use of antiseptics 88 wounded, but the actual recreation room in 1916, after Lister’s death. figures still remain unclear. The presented by the Shanghai Drill Hall Massacre, as it came branch of the Navy League. At the end of the war the to be known, was the worst Allegedly, at some point a influenza pandemic was bombing incident on UK soil tunnel was dug between the beginning to take hold and it during the First World War. naval barracks and the hospital is recorded that on 29 June It was noted that admissions church, to allow safe transfer 1918 a special ambulance for psychological disorders of patients during air raids. train left Chatham for Dover and returned some hours later bringing 104 patients7. On 10th July another train brought back 140 cases. One victim of the disease was Albert McKenzie VC8, who had been badly wounded on 23 April 1918 whilst leading a raid to recapture Zeebrugge. Later in the year he was recovering from his wounds in the hospital, despite suffering from a septic foot, when he caught the flu which turned into pneumonia. He died a week before the Armistice was Inside a hospital train in World War II signed, aged 19.

A ‘Boys Own’ hero

During the 57 years that the Royal Navy ran the hospital, many naval medical staff were transferred there for short periods – a few months or even weeks – until their next posting aboard ship. One such person was Surgeon General Edward Leicester Atkinson9, based in Medway for a few weeks in 1916 and later for a year in 1919.

Edward Leicester Atkinson in his laboratory on the Polar expedition

10 A surgeon and parasitologist, World War II between 1910 and 1913 he was a member of the Terra In August 1939, as war broke Nova expedition to the South out again, the number of Pole led by Captain Scott, and medical staff at the hospital it was Edward Atkinson who was as follows10; took over leadership after his • Surgeon Rear Admiral colleagues disappeared and Sheldon Francis Dudley¹¹. then found the tent containing • 2 Surgeon Captains – the bodies of Captain Scott John H Burdett (Medical) and two members of his party. Robert Francis Preston He was awarded the Polar Cory (Surgical) Medal at the conclusion of • 6 Surgeon Commanders the expedition and a four-mile 2 Surgeon Lieutenant stretch of cliffs on the north Commanders coast of Victoria Land was • 2 Surgeon Lieutenants named after him. • A Matron • 2 Superintending Sisters Edward Atkinson saw action • A Senior Sister Sir Sheldon F Dudley on several fronts during the • 18 Nursing Sisters war and was badly wounded in France by a shell in 1917, The list of medical staff in 1945 in the abortive raid on Dieppe, receiving the DSO for refusing reflects the number of patients known as Operation Jubilee. to leave his post. In 1918 he that the hospital received The men who were drafted in was awarded the Albert Medal during the war¹²: to take over the work as Sick (now the George Medal) for • Surgeon Rear Admiral C F Berth Attendants were often bringing two unconscious men O Sankey those who had some physical up onto the quarter deck of a • Temporary Surgeon Rear defect or were old or illiterate. burning ship in Dover harbour, Admiral Gordon Gordon- Many failed their training having been initially knocked Taylor¹³ examination and standards unconscious himself during • 3 Surgeon Captains, one of nursing were often poor, the first explosion. Whilst specialising in diseases of both at sea and in the naval attempting to rescue a third the chest hospitals. It was reported that injured man he was caught in a • 6 surgeon Commanders14 when staff at Chatham were second explosion which drove • 16 Lieutenant Surgeon instructed to give a patient with a piece of shrapnel through his Commanders (some of a hernia a blanket bath, they leg, immobilising him. Atkinson whom were seconded from attempted to lower him into a had to remove the shrapnel civilian hospitals) bath with a blanket, and did not himself and then brought a • 2 Surgeon Lieutenants notice when another patient 16 further two men onto the deck. • 1 Matron stopped breathing . He was temporarily blinded, • 2 Senior Sisters badly burned and severely • 48 Nursing Sisters Plans exist for a World War wounded as a result. In 1919 II operating theatre, built Atkinson was awarded the With high numbers of men underground at the front 17 Chadwick Medal (Gold). This joining the service during the of the hospital , with a was given every five years to war, those who were able- subterranean passage leading an officer of the Armed Forces bodied were sent to sea. to it from the corridor on Level who has, in the preceding Some staff members were 1 between A and B blocks. years, especially assisted transferred from Chatham into No trace of it remains, but it in promoting the health of theatres of war. Frank Baker15 is thought to have been sited personnel in the Navy, Army or for instance, a former Sick near the main roundabout Air Force. He died in 1929, at Berth Attendant at the hospital, towards the multi-storey car sea, aged 47. was killed on 19 August 1942 park and ended near the

11 structurally unsafe, but at a In 1945 Surgeon Captain later date it was converted to Thomas Latimer Cleave was offices. Quarters were built transferred to the hospital for a for WRENS at the side of A period of three years following Block, towards the eastern completion of his war service. wall. They were later converted He was a pioneer in nutrition into a Social Club, but this was and highlighted the dangers demolished in the rebuilding of of refined carbohydrates, but A Block in the 1980s. his work was not recognised until the 1970s. During the war A patient at the hospital in he acquired the nickname of 1943 was the author of Lord of “the bran man” because he the Flies, Lt William Golding19. insisted on having sacks of Engaged in the development of bran delivered on board ship to weapons at an establishment combat constipation amongst in Buckinghamshire, he had the sailors20. developed the habit of walking Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor around with detonators in Following the war, security was one pocket and a battery in tightened. Visitors had to ring perimeter road opposite the another, strictly against orders. the bell at the hospital gates entrance to Residence 6. The inevitable occurred and and tell the security staff at the Psychiatrists were based at he suffered a severe injury lodge which patient they had the hospital to treat sailors to his thigh. Treated initially come to see. The staff would who had been evacuated from in Buckinghamshire, after six then telephone the ward and, if warships18. weeks he was discharged entry was granted, a member to his home in Kent, only to of staff would be sent to escort In the early part of the war be admitted to the hospital them. a German bomber scored at Chatham for a further five a hit on A Block, making it days.

The original entrance to the site with the police guard

12 The closing ceremony in 1961 The handover

In 1958 a local MP, Mr Wells, In 1960 the MP for Gillingham, official ceremony of closure raised a question in the House Sir Frederick Burden, raised on 30 January 1961. Amongst of Commons¹ regarding a question about the plans those present were: complaints that had been for the hospital4 and was told made by the people of the that it would come under the Surgeon General Admiral V. Medway and Swale area that aegis of the National Health W. Beech: Chaplain of the there was a shortage of beds Service on 1 April 1961. He Fleet, Venerable Archdeacon for acutely ill patients. The was told that considerable J. Armstrong5: Admiral Sir Minister of Health responded work needed to be carried out Robin Durnford-Slater6: that the regional board was to enable it to fulfil its role and Medical Director and General examining the possibility of that it was likely that around Superintendent, Vice Admiral using the Royal Navy hospital 100 beds would be available W. R. S. Panckridge7. which would become available for “general acute work” within in 1961. He added that a two years and it was hoped to Then, with a full parade led number of civilian cases were find employment for the 200 or by a brass band, the Royal already being treated in the so civilian employees. In 1961 Navy marched out through the hospital. the hospital was transferred gates. to the care of the Medway In 1959 Lord Louis Health Authority. It closed for Mountbatten, the First Sea modernisation and reopened in Lord, paid a visit to the 1965. hospital² and was followed a year later by Princess The last service to be held Alexandra of Kent³. in St Luke’s Church was the

13 Sources and notes had a rather chequered career: she began at Haslar Hospital in 1884 and moving to the Melville Hospital in 1885, then back to Haslar, A few of the photographs were taken from the followed by Malta and Plymouth. In 1895 she collection in the hospital Post Graduate Library. was declared unfit for duty, but reprieved and

then incurred “grave displeasure” for refusing How it began to carry out an order. She was transferred back to the Melville Hospital in 1902 after giving Picture of King Edward Vll leaving the hospital - information to the press, and complained about www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk her accommodation there in 1904. After the move to the new hospital she was complaining New hospital site plan¹. BMJ 9th June 1900 about her colleagues and was warned about her unsatisfactory conduct. She was declared Style of buildings². The plan shown in the BMJ unfit for duty in 1909, retired and then moved to July 1914 of the finished hospital shows that the live in Windmill Road. The final comment in her design was followed faithfully. The only major record reads: “In completing her arrangements changes appear to be the addition of some for the future she may rest assured that she will buildings along the southern perimeter wall and not be recalled to service under the Admiralty”. the church. BMJ 9th June 1900/July 1914 (Census 1911, National Archives ADM 104 Nursing service register) Opening ceremony attendees³. Robin Estick (Hospital chaplaincy) 1983 Admiral Sir Hugo L. Pearson¹¹. He joined the Royal Navy in 1855 and served on several 4 Rear Admiral Graham . This was Walter H.B. vessels. He was Commander of the Royal Graham, Rear Admiral commanding Reserve Yacht Osborne and Naval ADC to Queen division at Sheerness and Chatham in 1905. Victoria for some years. He was Commander in (Navy List 1905) Chief of the Australia station from 1898 to 1901 and Commander in Chief at the Nore from 1904 5 Inspector General Pollard . This was Evelyn R. to 1907. He was knighted in 1904 and died in H. Pollard, appointed Inspector General of the 1912.(Colonist, Volume LIV, Issue 13445, 17 Royal Hospital at Chatham in 1905. (Navy List June 1912) 1905) Presentation of the key¹². 6 Commander Stopford . This was Frederick www.sussexhistoryforum.co.uk George Stopford. He was appointed Commodore 2nd class of the Royal Naval Barracks at Chatham in 1905. (www. The hospital buildings dreadnoughtproject.org) Description of the wards¹. Although the report in the BMJ of 1914 describes pitch pine floors, the Reverend Chaplain J. Moriarty7. This was BMJ (9 June 1900), described them as being of James H. Moriarty, appointed as Chaplain teak. and Naval Instructor in 1903. He was later transferred to Portsmouth. (Navy List 1905) Picture of 2 Blocks www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/ Colonel Commandant Gordon8. This was Cosmo G. Gordon, of the Light Marine Infantry. Picture of hospital showing the residences ( Gazette May 5th 1903) www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/ Superintendent Civil Engineer Parr9. L. Parr is Basement stores². BMJ July 1914 listed in this role in May 1905. (Navy List 1905) Sir Hugo Pearson³. Head Sister Mackay10. This was Grace Hamilton www.campus.medway.ac.uk Mackay, a head sister in Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Corps. Miss Mackay

14 Church windows4. Robin Estick (hospital Scott RN – BMJ November 22nd 1913. chaplaincy) 1983 Statistics for 19135. BMJ 18th July 1914 Reverend Arthur G. Yates5. Reverend Yates was chaplain for the Caledonia, the boys’ Garden Party5. BMJ 18th July 1914 training establishment. At Queensferry, Sheppey when the hospital opened. In 1906 Medical Director General Sir Arthur May, KCB6. he was in a similar role at Harwich and was He joined the Royal Naval Medical Service in transferred to become the Medway Hospital 1878 and took part in the Egyptian war of 1882, chaplain in 1907. His name appears in the Navy where he received the Khedive’s bronze star. List for 1911, but may have died in 1910. (Navy He was mentioned in dispatches for devotion Lists) to duty whilst part of the expedition to relieve General Gordon at the Siege of Khartoum in Picture of St Luke’s Church 1884. He was Medical Director at Chatham www.churchpo.stcardviews.co.uk/ between 1910 and 1913, after which he took up his post at the Admiralty. His term of office Picture of ship’s figurehead. The Age May 31st there ended in 1917. He was knighted in 1914. 1949, Google News (Obituary, Br Med J. 1925 May 2)

Hospital routine Picture of Sir Arthur May. www.sttudehistorygroup.co.uk/ Fleet Surgeon Alexander Gascoine Wildley.¹ F/S Wildley was transferred to Medway in Salvarsan7. This was the first organic anti- 1911 but did not stay long. By 1913 he had syphilitic, the first man-made chemotherapy been promoted to Deputy Surgeon General agent, invented in Germany in 1909. It was at Haslar. During the First World War he had described as a ‘magic bullet’, being the first a distinguished career, being awarded the cure for the disease which had previously been Legion of Honour, the United States of America treated with a variety of ineffectual substances Navy Cross, and Commander of the Order of including mercury and arsenic. the Crown, Italy. He was made Surgeon Rear Admiral and knighted in 1919. (Navy Lists, UK Training of Sick Berth attendants5. BMJ 18th Naval Medal and Award Rolls) July 1914.

Head Nurse². A Naval Nursing Service was first Sick Berth Attendants pay and role9. British established in 1884, at Haslar, in Portsmouth, Journal of Nursing September 9th 1911. and in Plymouth. In 1897 the service was extended to Chatham and Malta and, in 1901, Picture of the Massage Room. Royal Naval to all Royal Naval Hospitals. In 1902, the School of Massage. www.sciencedirect.com/ service was renamed the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS). The History of Massage and Physiotherapy in There was also a QARNNS Reserve, of civilian the Royal Navy10 – Jack Stockton nurses, for service in wartime only. (The first nursing services in the Royal Navy - National Mrs Elspeth Kingdon¹¹. National Archives, ADM Archives.) 104 Vol 1 Register of services of massage sisters in naval hospitals. Picture of a ward by Vernon Hancock www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/ Medal¹². Ebay (France)

Dr Hearn³. Medical Officers ADM 104 Vol 10. John Greene. The Guardian 23 May 2001 National Archives. Picture of Christmas 1931. National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth. The treatment of Syphilis4 at the Royal Naval Hospital Chatham by Surgeon Gilbert Bodley

15 The Hospital at war the Royal Navy. He was knighted in the 1942 Birthday Honours list. ¹Miss Margaret H Keenan was Matron in http:munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/ www.npg.org/ . Chief of the QARNNS between 1927 and 1929. She was transferred to Chatham on the Staff in 1945¹². recommendation of Grace Mackay. The British www.digital.nls.uk/ Journal of Nursing 19th December 1914. Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor¹³. An expert HMS Bulwark². anatomist, Gordon-Taylor became known during www.wessexwfa.org.uk/ World War I For taking on cases with severe www.navalhistory.net/ abdominal wounds. He was a pioneer of blood transfusion and an acclaimed orator, lecturing HMAS Princess Irene³. in many different countries. His knowledge of www.wessexwfa.org.uk/ anatomy led him to become an examiner and he presided over examinations in Australia, Chatham Drill Hall Massacre4. India and Sri Lanka. He came out of retirement www.campus.medway.ac.uk/ to join the Royal Navy in 1939, having been rejected by the Army because of his age. In Royal Naval Psychiatry5: Organisation, Methods later years he worked as an adviser for the and Outcomes 1900-1945 by Edgar Jones and British Council, travelling abroad wherever Neil Greenberg - Mariner’s Mirror 92, no.2 2006 British surgery could be of help. www.livesonline.rceng.ac.uk/ Picture of the Royal visit 1917. Copyright (c) www.tandfonline.com/ Mary Evans Picture Library 2008 Surgeon Commanders14. One of these was Eric Sir William Watson Cheyne6. Thomas Sutherland Rudd , who would go on to www.watson-cheyne.com/ be appointed honorary surgeon to the Queen in 1955. www.genealogy.kolthammer.org/ Another Ambulance trains7. First introduced in 1900, was L B Osborne, who would be appointed the trains had been specifically built to carry honorary dental surgeon to King George Vl in stretchers and had been used to evacuate 1951and later to the Queen and would take part wounded troops from the front as well as on in the Coronation Procession in 1953. disembarking. They carried a crew of medical www.householdcavalry.info/ officers and orderlies. (www.worldnavalships.com) (bmj 2 June 1900) Frank Baker15. www.naval-history.net/ Albert McKenzie VC8. www.millwallfc.co.uk/ Poor standards of nursing16. Poxed and Inside a hospital train. Scurvied: the Story of Sickness and Health at www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/ Sea by Kevin Brown - Naval Institute Press, 2011 A ‘Boys Own’ hero9. www.haslarheritagegroup.co.uk/ Undergound theatre17. It is said to have cost £7,500. www.sussexhistoryforum.co.uk and Staff in 193910. The Surgeon Commanders Medway Maritime Hospital Estates. included William A Hopkins who carried out research into causes of the common cold. Royal Naval Psychiatry18: Organisation, www.digital.nls.uk/ Methods and Outcomes 1900-1945 by Edgar Jones and Neil Greenberg Sir Sheldon Francis Dudley¹¹. He was previously a professor of Pathology at the William Golding19: The Man who Wrote Lord of Royal Naval Medical College at Greenwich and the Flies by John Carey - Faber & Faber, 2010 in 1941 became Medical Director General of

16 Surgeon Captain Cleave20. www.archives.wellcomelibrary.org/

The Handover

Parliamentary questions¹. http://hansard.millbanksystems.com

Earl Mountbatten². www.southampton.ac.uk – Mountbatten papers.

Princess Alexandra of Kent³. 6 July 1960 – Credit Keystone-France

Parliamentary questions4. http://hansard.millbanksystems.com

Chaplain of the Fleet, Venerable Archdeacon J. Armstrong5. The Reverend John Armstrong was awarded the OBE for devotion to duty during the Battle of Narvik in World War II and from 1958 to 1961 was Honorary Chaplain to H. M. The Queen and awarded the C.B.E. He retired in 1963. www.the.saleroom.com

Sir Robin Leonard Francis Durnford-Slater KCB6. In 1956 he was awarded Commander of the Legion of Honour for services during the Suez Crisis. He was the last Commander in Chief of the Nore, retiring in 1961, (The Gazette)

General Superintendent, Vice Admiral W. R. S. Panckridge7. In 1958 he was appointed Honorary Physician to HM The Queen. (The Gazette)

Picture of the closing ceremony - www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/

17 Medway NHS Foundation Trust, 2017

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