08 Dec 2014
Stories from the Admissions Registers of the Dreadnought Seamans Hospital
Our Item of the Month is an admission register from the Dreadnought Seamen’s Hospital. The Seamen’s Hospital Society was set up 1821 to help those who were employed or had previously been employed in the Merchant Navy. The Society’s hospital was first housed in the Grampus hulk, which was replaced by the ex-warship HMS Dreadnought in 1830. The name Dreadnought was retained when it moved onshore to the Royal Greenwich Hospital Infirmary buildings in 1870. A branch hospital was opened at Albert Dock in 1890.
In 1909 the Navy asked the Society to ready itself to care for injured seamen in the event of a conflict. At the outbreak of war in August 1914, 225 beds were offered to the Admiralty at the hospital’s two branches, and the Dreadnought received 102 injured soldiers on the 29th October 1914. Given the Hospital’s obvious maritime connections, I was surprised to see from the registers that the initial patients were from the army, rather than the Royal Navy; 109 additional soldiers were admitted on the 28th April and 6th May 1915.
After this date admissions seem to have been restricted to those in the Royal Navy or connected to the Admiralty in some way. This includes men from the Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and Royal Naval Air Service, as well as soldiers from the Royal Naval Division and Royal Marine Light Infantry who served alongside the army on the Western Front and at the Gallipoli landings. The conditions listed in the register include a range of shrapnel, shell and bullet wounds sustained in the trenches and at sea, but also more routine illnesses or ailments.
In addition to the patient’s admission number and name the registers record their service number and rank (in the ‘quality’ column) and the service and ship (or regiment) they belonged to (in the ‘ship or place of employment’ column). Medical information, such as the date they were admitted and discharged, the floor they stayed on and the ‘nature of complaint’ are also recorded, as well as where they discharged to (or the condition they were discharged in) and the duration of their stay at the Dreadnought. Occasionally the age of the patient is recorded, but other details which were recorded for regular Dreadnought patients – such as the patient’s religion, place of birth or nationality, port of registration, name and address of employer or owner, and doctor’s details - are left blank for armed forces patients.
Some of the registers indicate the psychological impact of war on the soldiers and sailors: several such patients are admitted with shock, and a couple absconded from the hospital, presumably in an attempt to avoid returning to the front or their ship. Ultimately it is estimated that 5,282 naval ratings had been treated by the Society between 1914 and 1920 (see G. Cook, pp. 465-6), typically in large batches of 50-100 patients, but sometimes in smaller groups or as readmissions.
As the registers usually give a service number and unit, it is possible to trace patient’s careers through the service records held at The National Archives in Kew (available to view online in the Caird Library as an electronic resource). For example, Frederick Marshman was admitted to the Dreadnought on the 14 July 1915 as patient 192761 with a gunshot wound in his right arm. Marshman was a stoker in the Royal Naval Division, from Ystad in Glamorganshire, Wales, who had worked as a collier prior to joining the Royal Naval Division in 1904. Marshman was wounded by shrapnel in his arm at the Dardanelles on the 16th May 1915. Initially taken to a military hospital in Egypt, he was then transported on HMHS Letitia to Dreadnought. After 114 days at Dreadnought, he was discharged in an improved condition.
Medal presentations also occurred at the hospital, including the presentation of the Croix de Guerre to Chief Petty Officer Frederick Nash. The Croix de Guerre was established by the French Government in April 1915 to recognise acts of bravery in the face of the enemy by French soldiers, sailors and airmen or their allies. It was awarded to Nash in March 1917 for services rendered on the coast of Syria in August 1916 whilst with HMS Wear. In Welcome Aboard: The Seamen’s Hospital Society and the Dreadnought, Jane Matthews writes that Nash received the award for ‘remaining at his post, despite being severely wounded, during a minesweeping operation.’ Wonderful footage of the presentation ceremony, held at the Dreadnought, is available in the British Pathé film archive. The film shows Nash’s wife and son at the presentation and a march past of boys from the Greenwich Royal Hospital School. From the registers we can see that Nash was admitted to the Dreadnought on the 28th March 1917 as patient 196842 from HMS Pembroke (the onshore barracks at Chatham) with a gunshot wound to the leg. He was returned to his branch on the 30th March. Examples of Croix de Guerre awarded in the First World War can be seen in the Collections catalogue.
Data Protection Legislation and the sensitive personal data contained in these records require us to control access to the Admissions Registers for the lifespan of the patients concerned: please contact the manuscripts team for more information.
Sources
- Jane Matthews, Welcome Aboard: The Seamen’s Hospital Society and the Dreadnought, 1992 (PBP0670).
- Gordon Cook, Disease in the Merchant Navy, 2007 (PBH0304).
- Marsham and Nash’s service records held at The National Archives (ADM/188/1106, ADM/339/1 and ADM/188/301).
Katy, Archivist