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VAD Hospital, New Court, Lansdown Place, Cheltenham |
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| Location: Lansdown Place, Cheltenham | Grid Reference: SO 943217 |
| Opened: 21st October 1914 | Closed: 18th December 1918 |
| Beds: 102 (77 + 25 at Cleeve) | Average Resident Patients in 1918: 61 |
| Total Casualties Treated: 1697 | UKNIWM Ref: In due course |
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Inscriptions on the Memorial:
This Building Was Used As A Hospital For Sick And Wounded Soldiers
During The Great War. It was manned By The Gloucestershire
Voluntary Aid Detachment No 16 And Was Open from 21st October 1914 to
18th December 1918 During Which Period 1697 Cases Were Treated. The building remains in use today and is currently a Healing and Learning Opportunities (HALO) Centre. We wish to thank and acknowledge the Proprietor, Ms Penny Ostler-Williams for allowing us access to New Court and for giving us permission to photograph the Memorial.
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The hospital was staffed by No 16 Gloucestershire Voluntary Aid Detachment and its officers were: Commandant: Mrs A C King, OBE Medical Officers: Dr C Ewbank Lansdown, Nr H N Pike Lady Superintendent: Miss Theresa Bailey, ARRC Quartermaster: Miss Mackenzie Assistant Quartermaster: Miss St Barbe Hon Secretary: Mr J H W Fulton Hon Treasurer: The Hon Mrs Stanley Jamieson |
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Notes made by the Hon Secretary (after
closure in 1918)
Soon after the declaration of war this large private house was offered to the War Office by its owner, the late Mr J Fleming, and as a result was opened as a hospital of 55 beds on 21st October 1914. This was the first of the Red Cross Hospitals opened in Cheltenham. Twenty five more beds at the Cleeve Convalescent Home came under its authority before the end of 1914, and in 1916 (after the great push of 1st July) a new ward (a wooden structure) was added to the hospital by the generosity of Mr Herbert Unwin, which enabled 22 more beds to be added. This brought the total accommodation to 102 beds (ie 77 at New Court and 25 at Cleeve). With its straight corridors and beautiful rooms it would have been difficult to find a private house more adaptable for use as a hospital. Moreover, its grounds were of great benefit to the patients, and its situation was one of the best in the town. It was finally closed on 18th December 1918, and no fewer than 22 of the not very large original staff remained at work during the whole course of its existence. |
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| The building remains in use today and is currently a Healing and Learning Opportunities (HALO) Centre. | |
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Miss Theresa BAILEY, Sister in
Charge of New Court VAD Hospital, was awarded the Royal Red Cross 2nd
Class (titled Associate of the Royal Red Cross) in November 1917.
The ARRC is awarded "for special devotion and competency
in the performance of actual nursing duties."
Also awarded the ARRC in November 1917 was Miss Margaret Henley, at the time Lady Superintendent of New Court Hospital. She was succeeded in this post by Miss Bailey.
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