World War, 1914-1918 -- Canada; World War, 1914-1918 -- Nova Scotia
Lord Astor, then Major Astor, had a palatial residence and spacious
grounds at Cliveden, near Taplow, Bucks, the grounds of which he offered
for hospital purposes. In December No. 1 Canadian C.C.S. was sent to
Cliveden to establish a hospital, and for six weeks the entire personnel
was busy in these preparations. This hospital, established by No. 1
Canadian Casualty Clearing Hospital of Nova Scotia, ultimately developed
into the great Duchess of Connaught Hospital, afterwards officially
known as No. 15 Canadian General Hospital, upon which thousands of
Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans and other
Britishers can look back with grateful memories for the skilful and
successful treatment and great kindness for which this hospital became
noted.
A Casualty Clearing Station is a field unit, and consequently when the
1st Canadian Division was ordered to France this Unit received a move
order and preceded the Division to France, landing at Le Havre at 10
a.m., February 3, 1915, on _S.S. Huanchaco_ from Southampton. On the
same ship was another Canadian Hospital Unit—No. 1 Canadian Stationary,
commanded by Lieut.-Col. Lorn Drum (now Colonel Lorn Drum, C.B.E.,
Inspector of Military Hospitals for Canada). These, however, were not
the first Canadian Units in France, as they were preceded in November,
1914, by a No. 2 Canadian Stationary Hospital, which was commanded in
its last days in France and brought back to Canada by the writer. This
was really the first Canadian Unit of any description to function in
France as a Unit and the only one in France in 1914.
After some six weeks’ stay at Le Havre the Unit was transferred to
Boulogne, where it arrived at 9.45 a.m., February 26, 1915.
Motion was usually rapid in France and changes made at short notice.
Within a week this Unit had orders to proceed from Boulogne to First
Army Headquarters at the Town of Aire-Sur-La-Lys, where it arrived
Saturday morning, March 6th. On arrival the Unit was assigned to Fort
Gassion, which had been a French prison before the War but was now
occupied by British troops as a rest camp, and there was also a Motor
Ambulance Convoy billeted there. The work assigned to No. 1 C.C.S. was
to take over this old prison and make it immediately ready for the
reception of patients.
The old buildings were filthy and in a dilapidated condition, and
required a great deal of work to prepare them for patients, and all the
equipment had to be unpacked and placed. The whole Unit went to work
with diligence and determination and within forty-eight hours they
brought order out of chaos and on Monday morning admitted and
comfortably housed fifty patients.
The Battle of Neuve Chapelle was in progress and was the source of most
of the patients during the week.
Heroic work was done by the six nursing sisters who had been attached to
and had come over to France with this Unit. They were:—Vivian Tremaine,
M.V.O., R.R.C., Frances M. Frew, M. U. Riverin, Amy Howard, Minnie
Follette.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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