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Box Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD)During WW1
Ray Alder May 2019 Author Ray Alder sent us details of the Red Cross Working Party in Box during the First World War and asked for any information about the people involved. Right: Sherbrooke House (now Rudloe Park Hotel) courtesy David Ibberson, Lambert's Way |
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The main aim of the working parties was to provide medical services to wounded servicemen who had been evacuated back to Britain. The organisation recruited local volunteers, both men and women, and the British Red Cross and the Order of St John combined resources to establish Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) trained in nursing, cookery, hygiene and sanitation.[1] They often had to provide basic comforts for their charges including blankets, transport, equipment and even bandages.
Box and Corsham VAD
Local groups in Wiltshire were all managed by the Chippenham Red Cross Divisional Needlework Association, under Lady Spicer of Spye Park and Mrs Gladstone of Bowden Park. The work party depot, as far as I can make out, was in a drapers’ shop in the Market Place in Chippenham, now Iceland. Thekla Bowser in her book Red Cross work in the Great War confirms the classes worked side by side. I love the fact that Olive Gladstone, of Bowden Park, invited 20 fellow VADs (of all classes), from the hospital in Chippenham to her Society wedding at Bowden Hill in 1919. There are also examples of this occurring in Chippenham Hospital, where the lady of the house worked alongside her maid in the kitchens.
The main Box Working Party under the leadership of Mrs Adelaide Langton was numbered 1702 and the list has a broad mix of ladies from the Hon Mrs Dora Twistleton at Heleigh House to several domestic servants. Adelaide Langton is believed to have lived at Sherbrooke House previously called Rudloe Towers and now Rudloe Park Hotel, built by HRN Pictor, the quarry-owner. Six out of the nineteen people are listed as living at Sherbrooke House. Oher names include Mary Deane of Ditteridge, aunt of PG Wodehouse, who we know lived resided at Cheney Court with the Northey family, lords of the manor of Box. Her diary is reviewed elsewhere on the website. The VAD working party cards were compiled in the years 1919-20, and the addresses listed tend to be that date. Below is the transcription of the 1702 Working Party.
Box and Corsham VAD
Local groups in Wiltshire were all managed by the Chippenham Red Cross Divisional Needlework Association, under Lady Spicer of Spye Park and Mrs Gladstone of Bowden Park. The work party depot, as far as I can make out, was in a drapers’ shop in the Market Place in Chippenham, now Iceland. Thekla Bowser in her book Red Cross work in the Great War confirms the classes worked side by side. I love the fact that Olive Gladstone, of Bowden Park, invited 20 fellow VADs (of all classes), from the hospital in Chippenham to her Society wedding at Bowden Hill in 1919. There are also examples of this occurring in Chippenham Hospital, where the lady of the house worked alongside her maid in the kitchens.
The main Box Working Party under the leadership of Mrs Adelaide Langton was numbered 1702 and the list has a broad mix of ladies from the Hon Mrs Dora Twistleton at Heleigh House to several domestic servants. Adelaide Langton is believed to have lived at Sherbrooke House previously called Rudloe Towers and now Rudloe Park Hotel, built by HRN Pictor, the quarry-owner. Six out of the nineteen people are listed as living at Sherbrooke House. Oher names include Mary Deane of Ditteridge, aunt of PG Wodehouse, who we know lived resided at Cheney Court with the Northey family, lords of the manor of Box. Her diary is reviewed elsewhere on the website. The VAD working party cards were compiled in the years 1919-20, and the addresses listed tend to be that date. Below is the transcription of the 1702 Working Party.
| box_work_party.pdf |
There were other Working Parties which included Box residents such as Working Party 1725 at Middlewick, Corsham, where Barbara Dancer of Spa House, Ditteridge, was recorded as well as Working Party 1702.
Was there an Annex to Corsham Hospital in Box?
I have come across Red Cross index cards that refer to Corsham and Box, almost as if they are both destinations for wounded servicemen. If so, the most likely location is Sherbrooke House. From about 1902 to 1914 the distinguished engineer, William Littlejohn Philip, managing director of Spencer & Co, Melksham, rented the house and possibly bought it after HRN Pictor’s bankruptcy in 1907. WL Philip had just come back from Glasgow where he lived at Sherbrook Avenue, Pollokshields, Glasgow, full of fine baronial-style residences. He was a distinguished engineer, given an OBE for his services during the First World War, mostly for designing a shell-making plant which has been accepted as the best of its kind.[2] After WL Philip, Stephen Langton and his wife Adelaide occupied the house until 1921. In 1921 it was described as Mansion and Park of 42 acres.[3]
Box Men’s Working Parties
The men’s Working Parties tended to operate separately from the women’s, probably doing different roles. For example, Charles Edward Smith worked for Great Western Railway and lived at 6 Mill Lane, Box. In October 1916, aged 45, he joined Wilts 3 VAD, the Corsham men’s detachment, as a part-time orderly. He gave 1,750 hours and saw service at Corsham, Chippenham, Devizes and Bath Hospitals.
Other Box volunteers included Rev Vere Awdry, father of the author of Thomas the Tank Engine stories. Vere was born in 1854 in Notton, near Chippenham. In 1886 he was ordained at Chichester Theological College and served a number of parishes in Hampshire and Wiltshire from 1886 until 1916. When war broke out in August 1914, he had been vicar of Ampfield, near Romsey in Hampshire for nearly twenty years, where his son Carol had grown up. Carol had joined the army a year earlier and went into action soon after the outbreak war. His first action was on 13 August as Second Lieutenant, Carol Edward Vere Awdry of 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers. Within weeks Vere Awdry received news that Carol had been killed in action on 27 August 1914 near Etreux in France.
Following the death of Carol, Vere found it difficult to carry on at Ampfield; the memories were too painful. In 1916 he decided to retire and return to his native Wiltshire, living at Middlewick, Corsham before moving to Box in 1917.[4] In May 1917 he joined the Wilts 3rd Voluntary Aid Detachment, Wilts 3 being the Corsham men’s section.[5] He was described as a Red Cross orderly and served at Corsham, Bowood and Chippenham Auxiliary hospitals. Although not documented it is probable his duties included ministering to the patients, comforting those in distress and leading church parades. Rev Vere Awdry volunteered 1,000 hours from May 1917 until 1919 when the hospitals finally closed.
Ray is preparing a book about the Working Parties and is seeking more information about the Box men and women. He wrote: Any information you have about the men and ladies from Box, who served in the Red Cross would be useful for the book though. Possibly a photo if available.
Was there an Annex to Corsham Hospital in Box?
I have come across Red Cross index cards that refer to Corsham and Box, almost as if they are both destinations for wounded servicemen. If so, the most likely location is Sherbrooke House. From about 1902 to 1914 the distinguished engineer, William Littlejohn Philip, managing director of Spencer & Co, Melksham, rented the house and possibly bought it after HRN Pictor’s bankruptcy in 1907. WL Philip had just come back from Glasgow where he lived at Sherbrook Avenue, Pollokshields, Glasgow, full of fine baronial-style residences. He was a distinguished engineer, given an OBE for his services during the First World War, mostly for designing a shell-making plant which has been accepted as the best of its kind.[2] After WL Philip, Stephen Langton and his wife Adelaide occupied the house until 1921. In 1921 it was described as Mansion and Park of 42 acres.[3]
Box Men’s Working Parties
The men’s Working Parties tended to operate separately from the women’s, probably doing different roles. For example, Charles Edward Smith worked for Great Western Railway and lived at 6 Mill Lane, Box. In October 1916, aged 45, he joined Wilts 3 VAD, the Corsham men’s detachment, as a part-time orderly. He gave 1,750 hours and saw service at Corsham, Chippenham, Devizes and Bath Hospitals.
Other Box volunteers included Rev Vere Awdry, father of the author of Thomas the Tank Engine stories. Vere was born in 1854 in Notton, near Chippenham. In 1886 he was ordained at Chichester Theological College and served a number of parishes in Hampshire and Wiltshire from 1886 until 1916. When war broke out in August 1914, he had been vicar of Ampfield, near Romsey in Hampshire for nearly twenty years, where his son Carol had grown up. Carol had joined the army a year earlier and went into action soon after the outbreak war. His first action was on 13 August as Second Lieutenant, Carol Edward Vere Awdry of 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers. Within weeks Vere Awdry received news that Carol had been killed in action on 27 August 1914 near Etreux in France.
Following the death of Carol, Vere found it difficult to carry on at Ampfield; the memories were too painful. In 1916 he decided to retire and return to his native Wiltshire, living at Middlewick, Corsham before moving to Box in 1917.[4] In May 1917 he joined the Wilts 3rd Voluntary Aid Detachment, Wilts 3 being the Corsham men’s section.[5] He was described as a Red Cross orderly and served at Corsham, Bowood and Chippenham Auxiliary hospitals. Although not documented it is probable his duties included ministering to the patients, comforting those in distress and leading church parades. Rev Vere Awdry volunteered 1,000 hours from May 1917 until 1919 when the hospitals finally closed.
Ray is preparing a book about the Working Parties and is seeking more information about the Box men and women. He wrote: Any information you have about the men and ladies from Box, who served in the Red Cross would be useful for the book though. Possibly a photo if available.
References
[1] See https://vad.redcross.org.uk/What-we-did-during-the-war
[2] Aberdeen Weekly Journal 10 January 1919
[3] Bath Chronicle & Weekly Gazette 1 October 1921
[4] Thanks to Corsham Civic Society blog
[5] According to Red Cross Index Card
[1] See https://vad.redcross.org.uk/What-we-did-during-the-war
[2] Aberdeen Weekly Journal 10 January 1919
[3] Bath Chronicle & Weekly Gazette 1 October 1921
[4] Thanks to Corsham Civic Society blog
[5] According to Red Cross Index Card