3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital
From Our Contribution
History | |
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Name | 3rd Australian Auxilary Hospital |
Where formed | England |
Date formed | 9 Oct 1916 |
Capacity | 1,200 patients |
Locations | Dartford, Kent |
General Information
The second 'River Hospital', the Orchard Hospital opened just south of the Long Reach Hospital in Joyce Green Lane, Dartford in the spring of 1902 as another temporary hospital for smallpox patients. Built on 63 acres belonging to the Joyce Green estate, it had cost £135,359 and had 800 beds. The Hospital, made of iron and wood, was furnished with surplus furniture from the nearby Gore Farm Hospital in Dartford. Gas lighting was used in all the wards.
In 1910, with the decline of smallpox outbreaks, the service was reorganised and the Hospital became a fever hospital. It spent much of its time closed, being opened only for epidemics, mainly of scarlet fever and diphtheria.
It was empty at the outbreak of WW1 but in 1915 it became the Orchard Military Hospital for sick and wounded soldiers. On 16 Oct 1916 a unit previously known as the 1st Australian Stationary Hospital was renamed as the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital under the command of Lt.-Col. H. Arthur Powell. Previous service as 1st Australian Stationary Hospital had been on Lemnos and the Suez Canal area of Egypt.
The Australians greatly improved the site, even adding an operating theatre. In April 1917 the Australian Red Cross took control of the Red Cross store, which ambulant patients could visit to get items that would make their stay more comfortable. Bed-ridden patients were visited by the store workers and given cigarettes and chocolate. Every patient received 30 cigarettes a week.
The number of beds increased from 800 to 1000, and finally to 1200; additional nursing staff was provided by the Women's Army Auxiliary Crops. From October 1915 until December 1918, 56,441 troops had been treated. At the end of 1918, when the war had been over a month, 884 soldiers still remained in the Hospital. Many of the soldiers married local Dartford women.
The Australian government later presented the town of Dartford with a German gun, captured by the Australians, in appreciation of the hospitality extended to the troops during the war (the gun was later sent for scrap during WW2 when metal was needed for the war effort).
It developed specialist skills in dealing with those who suffered severed injuries, damage to the nervous system, and war related neuroses. Only one Australian is buried in Dartford Watling Street Cemetery.
Nursing staff levels in 1918 were 1 Matron; 20 Nursing Sisters;36 Staff Nurses; 6 Masseuses
Staff
- Inez Claire Cronin 29 May - 13 Jul 1917
- Patrick Francis Fitzgerald 5 Sep 1918 - 1 Jun 1919
Soldier Patients listed by date admitted
Egypt
1915
- John Harold Coffen 21 Sep 1915 - ?
- William Buck 9 - 11 Dec 1915
1916
- Herbert William Coxhead 20 - 25 May 1916
- Alfred Cecil Clarence Curtis 20 May 1916 - ?
- Walter Raymond Farnham 25 May - 9 Jul 1916
England
1916
- Henry Thomas Cockram 9 - 28 Nov 1916
- Charles Rudolff Dumps 1 - 11 Dec 1916
- Frank Moore Dec 1916
1917
- Aubrey Cecil Dawson 7 Mar - 10 Apr 1917
- John Goffin 28 May - 18 Jun 1917
- John Harold Coffen 29 May - 25 Jun 1917
- Alexander Donald 13 -17 Jul 1917
- Sylvanus Benjamin Buckland 23 Jul - 6 Aug 1917
- Vernon Claude Witney Aug - Sep 1917
- Henry Ogilvie Allom (Jnr) 27 Sep - 11 Oct 1917
- Frank Moore 16 Nov 1917 -
1918
- Lancel Butcher 12 Feb - 3 Apr 1918
- John Harold Coffen 28 Mar - 4 Jun 1918
- Charles Blunt 18 -22 Apr 1918
- John Alexander Adamson 3 May 1918 - 5 Jul 1918
- Vernon Claude Witney 27 May - June 1918
- John Harold Coffen 13 - 30 Jun 1918
- William Percival Nairn Jun 1918
- William Wright Casterton MM 26 Aug - 18 Sep 1918
- Alfred Gittins 1 - 25 Oct 1918
1919
- Clarence Henry Batt 6 - 9 Jan 1919