|
Date: |
|
Description: | The hospital was built close to the shore of Southampton Water at Netley and was finished in 1863 at a cost of £350,000. It was built because existing military hospitals were found to be inadequate during the Crimean War. Florence Nightingale felt the building was built to look impressive from Southampton Water rather than for the benefit of the patients, many windows faced north-east and many rooms were unventilated. The bulk of the patients arrived by troopships from Bengal, Bombay and Madras. 3,000 a year were invalided home from India where one in three British soldiers were posted after the mutiny, although others arrived from other war torn areas such as Sudan and Afghanistan.
It was being increasingly realised that the speed of removal from a battlefield helped injured soldiers and so the medical officers at the hospital trained the orderlies and stretcher bearers, the crews of hospital ships and ambulance trains.
Netley housed the Army Medical School, until 1902, where officers were trained to treat diseases likely to be met in all parts of the world where there was a British Army presence and also to treat wounds caused by many different weapons. They also learned about transport and treatment of the wounded, preventive medicine, hygiene and the organisation of military hospitals.
Copy photograph.
References
1.Holder, J. (1981) Royal Victoria. pp.8-9
2. Harper, B K. (no date). Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley, 1863-78 p. 2 | Format: | image/jpeg | License: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.exe?a=query&p=gateway&f=generic_sitetext%2ehtm&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&cms_con_core_subtype%3acms_con_text_what=copyright&%3acms_sys_group=%22sopse%22 | Rights holder: | Hampshire Library and Information Service - Hampshire County Council | Subjects: | soldier Florence Nightingale tower building Netley Army uniform Royal Victoria Military Hospital hospital | Temporal: | start=1865-01-01; end=1900-12-31; | Source: | Sense of place SE | Creator: | Copied by: Dine, Derek; Hampshire County Library; 1970s-1980s | Identifier: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | image/jpeg | Go to resource |
|
|