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NETLEY ABBEY MATTERS!
Netley Military Hospital Names' Database
We have been advised very recently that the Ministry of Defence's Archives held some of the Admission and Discharge Registers for those who attended the Royal Victoria Military Hospital
at Netley, Hampshire, UK from 1918 to its closure in 1960s.
The Museum of Military Medicine, based at Keogh Barracks, Aldershot is about to embark on the digitisation of these records in conjunction with one of the "pay-to-view" military websites.
The project could take a couple of years to complete.
So Julie and I will continue trawling through pockets of information found in all
manners of places - to identify anyone who had a connection to the Netley Hospital site
throughout its lifetime 1862 - 1966.
The Database currently holds about 11800 individuals.
All the Hospital Censuses from 1861 to 1921 and the 1939 Register are available too.
The Database itself is not accessible on this website.
Several of the pay-to-view military websites have shown an interest in its content so it needs to
be kept off-line to ensure its access remains "free of charge" to the general public.
However, we are now working more closely with the Royal Victoria Chapel Team and hope in the near future to be able to offer free access to the Database via the inter-active stands inside the Chapel.
In the meantime, continue please to complete the form on Contact Me to find out if we have your relative on the Netley Military Hospital Names' database or if you wish me to add him/her on!
My research is free of charge regardless of whether your relative was at Netley Hospital or not.
On 26/11/1892, the Linlithgow Gazette published an apology -
"In an Obituary Notice which appeared in our last issue, we unfortunately confused the name of
Lieutenant-Colonel Perrier, with that of his now deceased brother, Major Charles David Perrier, of
the 14th Regiment.
We understand that there are four members of the family who hold commissions in the army, and
we regret that impression was inadvertently conveyed to us that it was
Lieutenant-Colonel Perrier who had died at Netley Hospital.
Major Perrier, we understand, only arrived in the troopship "Crocodile" from Bombay at Portsmouth
on 2nd last, and being of ill-health, was taken to tho Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley.
1t was thought that the Major was making satisfactory progress towards recovery, and the sad tidings
of his death were quite unexpected.
Much sympathy has been expressed with the family in their sad bereavement."
"Unforgotten Lives at Netley Hospital"
A big THANK YOU to everyone who bought my book.
With your help, I made a Donation of £1169.86 to Alzheimer's Research UK on 3 September 2024!
The Book's Bank Account has now been closed down.
Click below to read the letter I received from Alzheimer's Research UK
Hospital Notices - November through the years!
The Queen accompanied by the Duke of Albany, Princess Beatrice and the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, left Windsor this morning for the purpose of paying a visit to the sick and wounded in Netley Hospital.
Portsmouth Evening News 29/11/1882: Windsor Wednesday
Her Majesty drove there in an open carriage where the Dowager Countess of Hardwicke, the Hon Mrs Yorke, Lady Pearson (wife of the Commandant), Lady Broomfield and the hospital staff had assembled.
The 2nd Hants Rifle Volunteers supplied the guard of honour in the grounds and at the entrance to the hospital. After spending about an hour at the hospital, the Royal Party proceeded to Colonel Pearson’s Residence [Netley Cliff House]for lunch before departing again for Windsor.
Morning Post 30/11/1882
By kind permission the Commandant, Lieut-Colonel Sir Warren Crooke-Lawless, a flag collection
on behalf of "Our Day” was made in the British Red Cross Hospital, Netley, on November 2nd.
The amount collected was £9 14s.
Hampshire Advertiser 11/11/1916
Henry James, 46 a shoemaker and an in-patient at Netley Hospital, was charged at
Southampton Police Court on Wednesday with being drunk and disorderly in Orchard Lane.
PC Franklin said the accused was drunk and shouting “I am a soldiering still in hospital”.
Mr James indignantly denied being drunk, declaring that he had not tasted intoxicants for two months.
He said he had been to the dentist and had 5 teeth extracted, cocaine being administered.
He was suffering from neuritis and paralysis and after leaving the dentist’s, his head went round and
his legs gave way. The case was dismissed.
Hampshire Advertiser 06/11/1920
“There are now representatives of five different nations in Netley Hospital - British, Indians, French,
Belgians and Germans. This is the first time in the history of the hospital that such a thing has happened.”
Hampshire Advertiser 21/11/1914
Coroner's Inquest on Charles Rushton Turner's Death
An inquiry was held by the County Coroner Mr Ingoldby at Netley on Monday into the circumstances surrounding the death of Charles Rushton Turner, aged 40 who died from heart failure associated with a fracture occasioned by an accidental fall from a horse on 30 October last.
The deceased was mounted on one of the Brigade horses when the animal appeared to stumble.
On its near foreleg and fell down on the near side with the deceased’s leg underneath.
He was attended to on the spot immediately.
Captain Evans stated that the deceased was transferred to the Welsh Hospital, Netley on 30 October
suffering from a fracture of the leg ankle. In the evening, he became delirious.
On Sunday morning he had a sudden attack of heart failure and passed away at 7.15 am.
In his opinion, death was due to fractured ankle complicated by delirium, exhaustion and heart
failure which was duly the verdict returned.
Hampshire Advertiser 06/11/1915
Julie found this game for sale online ...
The Game ends at Netley War Hospital - see bottom right box!
Last week 22,000 cigarettes were presented to the Chaplain for distribution among the patients.
The cigarettes were paid for by the proceeds of a recent concert arranged by
Messrs Sparks and Living at the Roberts Hall.
Hampshire Advertiser 06/11/1915
Burying the fallen of the Great War in the country where they died was the idea of Sir Fabian Ware, Founder of the Imperial War Graves Commission. He thought that it would result in equal treatment of soldiers and officers alike, as there would be no distinction between rich and poor,
those who could afford to bring their loved ones home and those who couldn't.
www.cwgc.org
Soldiers who died at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley could be returned to their home town by train,
at a cost of one penny a mile.
The Boys behind Hound War Memorial, Paul Keast + Maureen Queen
Photos from the Netley Hospital Names' database
If you recognise any of these folk, use Contact Me to share!
According to an article in The Guardian in 2014, the vast Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley was as
big as a town, with its own gasworks, bakery, reservoir and even had its own prison.
But it was still too small to cope with the large scale carnage of the first world war.
In response, a vast hutted hospital, using wooden kit-built field huts, was constructed behind the
main hospital.
Patients wore blue woollen suits with white lapels and red ties, called "hospital undress" – a reminder to anyone who might encounter convalescent soldiers that they were still serving men (and not
potential cowards to be handed white feathers).
So vast and busy was this wartime site, up to three trains a day would arrive, bringing wounded
from the Front. It was only here that British civilians could come close to the reality of what was going
on across the Channel in Europe.
The infrastructure needed to supply and staff Netley meant that the local population knew better than
most the true scale of the war – a story carefully concealed from the rest of the country by a
government wary of its effect on morale. At Netley, young nurses, often in their teens and with no
previous medical experience, had to deal with men without limbs or men who were on the verge of
losing their minds to the war.
Netley boasted the first purpose-built military asylum, known as D Block. Here men who were suffering extreme psychosis were treated or in many cases simply locked away in padded cells.
Half of all men suffering from shellshock were cleared through or treated at Netley.
Imperial War Museum blurb accessed 23/04/20
Did you know ...
within the pages of the History of Netley Military Hospital on this website, the names of
hundreds of Members of Staff, Patients, family members are mentioned?
They are on our database too, often with additional information.
Why not use Contact Me to ask if your relative is already on the database
or use the Search Box below to see if they are already mentioned on this website?
