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- 1st Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge during the Great War -
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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
1st Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge
3rd Mar 1916 Hospital MysteryIf you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
We are currently building a database of patients treated in this hospital, if you know of anyone who was treated here, please enter their details via this form
Patient Reports.
(This section is under construction)
Those known to have worked or been treated at
1st Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge
during the Great War 1914-1918.
- Ackers Thomas Owen. Sgt. (d.2nd Nov 1918)
- Dean Alfred William. Dvr. (d.9th Dec 1918)
- Fidler Harcourt. Pte.
- Griffiths CMG.. Joseph . Lt Col
- Ibbotson William Henry. Gnr.
- King Percival Frederick. Pte.
- Kirby Jessie.
- Leverington Walter Clare. L/Cpl.
- McKenna Harold Charles Henry. Pte. (d.25th Jan 1919)
- Watts Thomas Henry. Pte.
All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List
Records of 1st Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge from other sources.
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Want to know more about 1st Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge?
There are:2 items tagged 1st Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.
Sgt. Thomas Owen Ackers 23rd Btn. Royal Welsh Fusiliers (d.2nd Nov 1918)
Thomas Owen Ackers served with the 23rd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers during WW1. My grandfather was a patient at 1st Eastern General Hospital between 6/11/17 and 28/12/17 when he was discharged on medical grounds. He had been an asthmatic since childhood but didn't let this stop him being an active and dedicated soldier. After discharge he became a photographer and drill teacher at the local grammar school in Portmadoc. Sadly this was a very short career, he died of Spanish 'flu on Nov 2nd 1918.Lynda Shaughnessy
Jessie Kirby No.12 Voluntary Aid Detachment Cambridgeshire
Jessie Kirby of Hill Farm, Over, first volunteered with the Red Cross in 1915 to nurse at 12 VAD Auxiliary Hospital, Swavesey, her sister Mary Kirby later volunteered to nurse there as well. From June 1917 to October 1918, Jessie worked as a full time paid nurse at 1st Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge. From her photos, she seems to have largely worked on ward 14. I remember her talking about the cold they experienced working there in the winter.She wrote later: "Apart from the farm, what kept me busy at this time was First Aid and Home Nursing classes, then a large empty farmhouse at Swavesey was taken over, as a convalescent hospital for wounded men, from the 1st Eastern General Hospital in Cambridge. The wounded who first were brought to Cambridge were put into beds in the cloisters of Trinity College, and the wounds healed so well there that when the 1st Eastern General was built, it was to the same plan. All right for the men in bed, but chilly for the staff. When I finally went there full-time, I got chilblains and didn't know what they were until Sister saw them... I'd never had them in all the work on the farm."
Ebeth Murdoch
Pte. Harcourt Fidler
Harcourt Fidler was the husband of my 2nd great-aunt. He was reported on 3rd of November 1914 as wounded in action and sent to the 1st Eastern General Hospital in Cambridge.
Dvr. Alfred William Dean Royal Engineers (d.9th Dec 1918)
Alfred Dean was wounded in France and sent back to England and he sent a post card to his sister with a view of Christ Church College, Cambridge in March 1918. Later he was sent to No 5 War Hospital, Reading to be nearer his wife and family. Survived the war, but died of flu and pneumonia on the 9th of December 1918.He is buried in Hemdean Rd, Cemetery. His youngest daughter was buried in the same grave later when she died aged 10 in 1929. Her name is not on the headstone, as it is a war grave. Information about his daughter is from Superintendent Reading Cemeteries who supplied location of his grave.
Susan Rixon
L/Cpl. Walter Clare Leverington 2nd Battalion Welch Regiment
Walter Leverington enlisted 1907 in Cardiff. Between 1910-1911 he was with his regiment in Eygpt. 1914 he sustained a gunshot wound to his left shoulder. He was sent to the 1st Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge.L Leverington
Pte. Thomas Henry Watts 2nd Btn. Yorkshire Regiment
My grandfather, Thomas Watts, was born in Thornaby, Stockton On Tees in 1894 and was of mixed Welsh and English parentage. On leaving school he worked in the shipyards and also the iron foundries. It was a hard life with little reward. In July 1913, at the age of 19, he enlisted in the army, perhaps seeing it as a way to better his lot in life. Work was getting scarcer at that point in the North East of England and joining the army would at least ensure shelter and food. He served with the 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment, then known as Alexandra, Princess of Wales Own Yorkshire Regiment. He saw active service in France between 1914 and 1917. In April 1917 he suffered gunshot wounds and was sent to the pioneering 1st Eastern General Hospital in Cambridge for treatment. He was considered unfit for further war service and was discharged from the army in July 1917. As well as gunshot wounds he was also exposed to toxic gas. He suffered thereafter with lung and heart problems and died from related disease in 1928 at the age of 34.Elizabeth Greathead
Pte. Harold Charles Henry McKenna Manitoba Regiment 43rd Battalion (d.25th Jan 1919)
Harold Mckenna ran away from home and enlisted in the Canadian Army at the age of 16. By the time his parents found him he had already completed his basic training so his parents let him stay with the understanding from the Commanding Officer of the 43rd Battalion that he would go to England with his unit but would not go to the Continent to fight.Unfortunately, he did make it to the Continent and in mid October of 1918 he was shot through the right leg during the Second Battle of Cambrai. His leg was amputated below the right knee and he was eventually transported to the First Eastern General Hospital located in Cambridge. He died on 25th of January 1919 having just turned 18 years of age, and he is buried in the Cambridge City Cemetery. His parents received the news of his death just after burying three children who died during the flu epidemic in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
His younger brother Stewart Alexander Mckenna (Alex), who was 12 at the time of Harold's death, would visit his grave several times during WW2. Alex, who was a fire fighter, enlisted in the Corps of Canadian Overseas Fire Fighters and arrived in England in December 1942 and manned National Fire Service fire stations in Portsmouth and Southampton thus replacing fire fighters so that they could be used in other locations. Alex served in England until May of 1945. As the son of Alex Mckenna I grew up to become a fire fighter and served for 50 years in various positions in the Ontario Fire Service. My wife Louise and I travelled to England on vacation in 2012 and travelled to the city of Cambridge and the Cambridge City Cemetery were we visited my uncle's grave. It certainly was an emotional experience to see not only his grave but the graves of so many young men and women who died in two wars.
Alex McKenna
Gnr. William Henry Ibbotson 297th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery
William Ibbotson enlisted in Dec 1915 but was not mobilised until March 1917 where he initially served with 399th Siege Battery RGA then was posted to 297th Siege Battery in Aug 1917. It is believed he was posted to Ypres where he provided artillery support for the 3rd Battle of Ypres and Passchendaele. He was a gas casualty in Aug 1918 losing 30% lung capacity and was eventually discharged on the 20th of Nov 18. He died in 1960.Robin Ibbotson
Pte. Percival Frederick King First Eastern General Hospital Royal Army Medical Corps
Percy King was from a technically minded family, two of his brothers were car mechanics and engine fitters and worked in the Family Business, King and Harper in Cambridge,(This business was started by their Father, William King, who was also Chief Engineer in a scheme running tractors for the Board of Agriculture during WW1). However Percy did not go into the family business and became a scientific instrument maker and worked for the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company.On 18 November 1913 he joined the RAMC (TF) for 4 Years service and he worked at the First Eastern General Hospital (1191 other ranks beds and 151 Officers Beds) in Cambridge the entire time until his on discharge 17 November 1917. Even though it was the height of the war, he was released for essential war work (making instruments) back at his old company, instead of being re-enlisted. His elder brother 2nd Lt Reginald King 48425 was also in the Army (RFC)and served as a pilot, and one of his younger brothers Private Augustus King 202906 was an engine fitter in the Army Service Corps.
Percy was one of the many soldiers who survived the war unscathed and did not see front-line action but did essential work on the home front. He was my uncle and although he married, he never had any children to research or tell his story.
Geoff King
Lt Col Joseph Griffiths CMG. First Eastern General Hospital Royal Army Medical Corps
Lt Col Griffiths was a surgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge before the Great War. He commanded the 1st Eastern General Hospital during the Great War.Hilary Ritchie
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