Ambulance Trains in the Great War - The Wartime Memories Project -

Ambulance Trains

The first specially built Ambulance Trains in the Great War were specially built by Great Western and Eastern Railways and paid for by the UK Flour Millers' Association which presented them to the Red Cross. Each train was in effect a full staffed mobile hospital, allowing patients to be treated and emergency operations to be carried out on the move. Each could carry around 400 patients, either lying in three tier beds which lined the carriages or sitting if they were able. The middle bed was designed to fold, allowing the lower bunk to be used as seating when required. These two trains were worked in France during 1915, alongside a third which was converted from ordinary French rolling stock. around thirty ambulance trains were sent to transport patients from the Casualty Clearing Stations of the Western Front to hospitals, with another twenty trains running in Britain to carry patients from the ports to one of the 196 receiving railway stations where they would be transferred directly to hospital.

16th Oct 1914 Refreshments

25th Oct 1914 Refreshments

25th Oct 1914 Ambulance Train

13th Nov 1914 Ambulance Train

21st Nov 1914 Eggs

24th Dec 1914 Gratitude

5th Jan 1915 Nurses Needed

14th Jan 1915 Visit

16th Jan 1915 Rest Facilities

18th Jan 1915 Influenza

24th Jan 1915 Correspondence

28th Jan 1915 Shelling

31st Jan 1915 Influenza

2nd Feb 1916 Problems

9th Feb 1916 Field Allowance

11th Feb 1916 Correspondence

14th Feb 1916 Postings

18th Feb 1916 Contracts Renewed

21st Feb 1916 Requests

24th Feb 1916 Visit

25th Feb 1916 Heavy Snow

25th Feb 1916 Rest Clubs

4th Aug 1916 Wounded Arrive

17th August 1916 Ambulance Train

17th September 1916

10th Oct 1916 Wounded Arrive

10th Nov 1916 Ambulance Train

21st Nov 1917 Ambulance Train on Display

28th Nov 1917 Ambulance Train

15th Dec 1917 Convoy Arrives

19th Dec 1917 Wounded

24th Dec 1917 Wounded

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Patient Reports.

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Those known to have worked or been treated at
Ambulance Trains
during the Great War 1914-1918.

Blyth William. Pte.
Hillier Thomas Harvey James. Pte.
Jones Robert. Pte
Legg Edward John. L/Cpl. (d.7th Oct 1916)
Morse Daniel Albert. Gnr.
Shevill Marmaduke Guy. Pte.
Stewart John Patrick Purcell. Pte.
Taylor William Thomas. 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 Ambulance Trains from other sources.

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19th Nov 2024
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Want to know more about Ambulance Trains?

There are:32 items tagged Ambulance Trains available in our Library

These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.

264947
Pte Robert Jones 9th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers
I have recently purchased one of Robert Jones' war medals. He was also with the Welsh Regiment. His record shows him as being ill with severe diarrhea with notes written at No 56 Casualty Clearing Station on 20th of October 1918. He was at No 46 Stationary Hospital on 11th of November 1918. Also mentioned as being transferred from sick convoy No 33 Ambulance Train.
Huw Williams

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258949
Pte. Thomas Harvey James Hillier 8th Btn. Somerset Light Infantry
My grandfather, Thomas Hillier, joined the Somerset Light Infantry on 1st of December 1915 aged 31. He was severely wounded in the mouth, chest, and back on 17th of May 1918. He was transferred from 48th Field Ambulance to 42nd Ambulance Train on 21 May 1918. He was discharged from the Army on 15th of October 1918. He spent 17 weeks as an inmate of the Pensions Hospital. He was an invalid after his discharge and unable to work. My father, his son, Edward Hillier was born in February 1922. Unfortunately, Thomas died on 24th January 1924 aged 39 at the Royal United Hospital, Bath after complications brought on by the injuries received in WW1.
Patricia Wraight

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258226
Pte. John Patrick Purcell Stewart 15th Light Trench Mortar Battery
John Stewart was a wheeler from Catherine Hill Bay, New South Wales. He enlisted on the 8th of May 1916. He returned to Australia 15th of April 1919. Jack Stewart was awarded the British War Medal, Victory Medal, the returned from active service badge and the Silver War Badge.
He applied to enlist in the 1st AIF on 2nd May 1916 at West Maitland, NSW. John had served about 2 months in the senior cadets but he was living in an exempt area. his mother gave her consent for him to enlist.
His physical description was recorded as: Height 5 feet 5½ inches, Complexion fair, Weight 9 stone 5 lbs, Eyes blue, Chest measurement 31 - 34 inches, Hair brown Distinctive marks scar on right shin.
He was a single man, 18 years 4 months, a wheeler and his address he gave was 2 Catherine Bay, NSW. His mother, Mrs E Stewart, of Teralba, NSW, was listed as his next of kin (father deceased). This next of kin was later changed to his wife Mrs D D Stewart of 53 Pisgah Street, Kefir Hill, South Wales.
John was enlisted in the 1st AIF at West Maitland NSW on 8th May 1916 and he joined B company of the Newcastle Depot Battalion with the rank of private. Then on the 5th July he was allocated to the reinforcement 2 of the Light Trench Mortar Battery and transferred to the Menangle Camp. His unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A40 Ceramic on the 7th October 1916. They disembarked at Plymouth on the 21st November 1916 and moved to the Parkhouse Camp.
John was transferred from the Reinforcement Group to the 18th Battalion at Rollestone on the 6th February 1917. He moved from the 5th Training Battalion at Rollestone and proceeded overseas to France on the 19th April. He joined the 18th Battalion, in France, on the 9th May. On the 11th May 1917 John was attached for duty with the 5th LTM battery, then on the 10th July he was transferred and taken on strength of the battery. Oral history tells us that he was a runner (message carrier) He told me he was a runner and had to wait for the artillery shells to pass then run like mad ...
John reported sick on the 15th September 1917 and was given aid by the 7th Field Ambulance for P.U.O. (pyrexia of unknown origin). He was discharged back to duty after 4 days. He reported sick again on the 12th December and was moved to the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station with cardiac dilation then placed on Ambulance Train 28 and admitted to the 54 General Hospital. He was evacuated to England aboard the hospital ship Jan Breydel on 28th with V.D.H. severe. He was admitted to the Chilly Hospital at Eastbourne the same day. He was then transferred to the Central Military Hospital then to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Dartford on the 24th January 1918. Then, on the 2nd February he was discharged to the No2 Command Depot at Weymouth. He was charged with being way without leave, from Littlemoore, from the 1st March to the 20th March 1918. The charge was dismissed by the Lt. Col. D.A. Lane because a medical certificate was produced covering the absence.
John embarked on the 15th April 1918 for his return to Australia for a change, due to Mitral Regurgitation, aboard the H.M.A.T. Marathon. He disembarked on the 12th June in Port Melbourne, then he travelled to Sydney (most probably by rail). He was discharged from the A.I.F. in the 2nd Military District (ie. NSW) on the 26th July 1918.
John Patrick Purcell Stewart was born at Teralba, NSW during 1898, the son of Charles Parnell and Elizabeth Anne Etewart. He died on the 4th April 1975 at age of about 77.
Len Smith

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258201
L/Cpl. Edward John Legg 12th Btn. Rifle Brigade (d.7th Oct 1916)
Edward Legg was born 29th of December 1889 in Richmond, Victoria, Australia. He was a Seaman from Williamstown, Victoria, Australia, he had landed in England and was waiting for a ship, when war broke out. On the 8th of September he enlisted at the Admiralty Recruiting Office in London, went directly to Rifle Depot, Winchester. On the 10th her was posted to the 9th Battalion, Rifle Brigade, 14th (Light) Division but on the 1st of October was transferred 12th Battalion, Rifle Brigade, 20th (Light) Division. He landed in France with 12th Rifle Brigade on the 21st of July 1915.
On the 6th of June 1916 he was wounded, a gun shot in right eye and forehead while in the Potijze sector of the Ypres Salient. He was admitted to 17th Casualty Clearing Station the next day and evacuated via No 6 Ambulance Train to No 1 Canadian General Hospital, Etaples where he was admitted on the 8th of June. On the 10th he was transferred No 26 General Hospital and on the 27th to No 20 Infantry Base Depot, Etaples for convalescence.
Edward rejoined the 12th Rifle Brigade on teh 7th of July 1916 near Ypres. from the 15th to 19th he was treated at a Local Field Ambulance for scabies. He was wounded, gun shot to face a second time on the 13th of August 1916 and admitted to No.29 Casualty Clearing Station and evacuated via No 21 Ambulance Train the next day. On the 16th he was admitted No 25 General Hospital at Hardelot his injuries recorded as GSW and he was also noted as suffering from urticaria. He was transferred No 47 Infantry Base Depot, Hardelot for convalescence on the 6th of September and on the 8th was appointed Lance Corporal (unpaid) rejoining 12th Rifle Brigade at Corbie two days later.
Edward was recorded as missing in action on the 7th of October 1916 and officially presumed to have died on or since that date on the 9th of November 1918.
Pam Henderson

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248505
Pte. William Thomas Taylor 58th Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps
My maternal grandfather, William Taylor, was born in Railway Cottages in Dublin in April 1889. He had two brothers, Arthur and Jack, who also served in the First World War. His father was a train driver and his parents both died some time before 1914. William, Arthur and Jack, as orphans, were sent to live with relatives in Liverpool, though one may have entered a children's home in Croxteth. William had an uncle called Captain W. Gallant whom he wrote postcards to during the war. He lived at Primrose Cottage in Croxteth which is no longer there.
William volunteered in 1914 training at Aldershot and going to France in 1915. He suffered a slight gas attack at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 serving as a stretcher bearer. He was put on lighter duties and served on Ambulance Train No 10. He once saw his brother on a train going in the opposite direction.
In June 1918, William was wounded with a gunshot wound to his ankle somewhere between Reims and Epernay. As boys, my brother and I found a small cardboard pill box with ribbon and the pieces of shrapnel inside that were taken from William's ankle. He was taken to a French field hospital, strapped down and the shrapnel taken out of his ankle without anesthetic. William recovered at Mere, Wiltshire in a VAD hospital.
Paul Eddy

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247108
Pte. William Blyth 10th Battalion Black Watch
Bill Blyth ran away from home to join the Army in 1914 giving his age as 21 when in fact he was only 17 years old. He was born in 1897 in Manuel, Dumbartonshire, Scotland where his father was the station master.
By August 1916 he had been with the Field Force for 11 months. He received a gunshot wound to the upper, right thigh on 3rd of August 1916 and was subsequently transferred to the Hospital ship SS Galeka. Two weeks later on 18th of August 1916 he was transferred from the hospital ship to the Ambulance Train Depot.
He fought with the 10th Battalion, Black Watch in Mesopotamia, Palestine and Macedonia. He was gassed with mustard gas in Flanders during the Battles of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres) between July and November 1917.
His mother died in 1911 and his father died in 1918 before he arrived home. His brother younger brother Andrew was a master mariner in the Merchant Navy and also fought in WWI.
Bill departed London on 2nd of July 1920 on the steamship Themistocles with his 3 sisters Jane (aka Jean, a school teacher aged 34), Janet (a clerk aged 30) and Alison (aka Dulcie, a tracer aged 19) to migrate to Australia. Following a 40 day trip they arrived in Brisbane, Australia in August 1920. He never saw his homeland again. He married Freda Marjinetta Hammond in Melbourne, Australia in 1929. He built a new house in Box Hill in 1929 in time for his November marriage to Freda Marjinetta Hammond, where he resided for the remainder of his life. Bill and Freda had one daughter, Margaret Ann in 1937. Bill worked as an accountant for Email & met up regularly with (Sir)Frank Packer (& reportedly also (Sir)Ian Potter) to discuss investments and the share market. He must have experienced some heavy losses as Margaret's school fees at PLC (Presbyterian Ladies College) in Melbourne were paid by a benefactor; anecdotally reported to have been (Sir) Frank Packer. Andrew migrated to Australia with his family after WWII and settled in Melbourne.
Bill suffered with Petit Mal (a mild form of epilepsy) and died at the age of age 64 of aplastic anaemia which doctors attributed to his exposure to mustard gas during the war. He was cremated and is buried at Springvale Botanical Cemetery He was a shy, quite man.
Diane Wood

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236557
Gnr. Daniel Albert Morse 256 Brigade, D Bty. Royal Field Artillery
Albert Morse was born in 1888 in Chedworth. His parents were Lambert Morse and Clara Juggins. He enlisted into the Royal Field Artillery on the 13th of November 1915.
The son of farmer Lambert and Clara Morse of Pinkwell, Albert enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) in November 1915. The most numerous arm of the artillery, the horse-drawn RFA was responsible for the medium calibre guns and howitzers deployed close to the front line and was reasonably mobile. It was organised in brigades.
We have no detailed record of Albert's service with the RFA, except the certain knowledge from the following newspaper report that he was wounded in a battle at Givenchy on the 18th April 1918. "Mr and Mrs L Morse of Pinkwell received the news that their son, Gunner Albert Morse, was badly gassed and burnt on April 18th in a battle near Givenchy in France. He was in a battery of the RFA 55th Division, and had been on active service for over two years. All his relatives and friends will be glad to hear that he is making good progress in the War Hospital, High Barnet." The battle was known as the Battle of the Lys where the 55th Division defended some 5 miles of the front against an all-out attack by 3 German divisions. During the battle British casualties were heavy, amounting to 163 officers and 2,956 other ranks, killed, wounded and missing. Whilst the rest of the Division was withdrawn for a brief rest, the Field Artillery and Trench Mortar Batteries remained to assist the 1st Division, and earned the gratitude of the Corps Commander, which was most freely expressed as follows:- "From Lieut.-General Sir A. Holland, K.C.B., M.V.O., D.S.O., Commanding 1 Corps 21/4/18. The Corps Commander wishes to place on record his high appreciation of the work done by the Trench Artillery of the 55th Division during the attack on Givenchy on the 18th April. The detachments, by their heroic stand, assisted materially in the retention of the Givenchy position, and have added another page to the glorious history of the Royal Regiments of Artillery."
Albert eventually recovered and he returned to live at the Rookery in 1920 and 1921, subsequently moving away. Albert also served with 256 Brigade, D battery. He was wounded about 19 April 1917 and treated by 2/1st Highland Field Ambulance, 12th Ambulance Train and a Hospital Ship. We have a photograph of him in uniform and have copied his issued small book. He married Effie Ada Winifred May in 1919 in Croydon.
An extract from Chedworth Remembers the Great War
Mike Tovey

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- Ambulance Trains during the Great War -

Ambulance Trains

Patient Reports.

Those known to have worked or been treated at
Ambulance Trains
during the Great War 1914-1918.

Can you help?

If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.

Announcements

Want to know more about Ambulance Trains?

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project - Ambulance Trains during the Great War -

Ambulance Trains

Patient Reports.

Those known to have worked or been treated at Ambulance Trainsduring the Great War 1914-1918.

Can you help?

If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.

Announcements

Want to know more about Ambulance Trains?

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project
- Ambulance Trains during the Great War -

Those known to have worked or been treated at
Ambulance Trains
during the Great War 1914-1918.