Endell Street Military Hospital

Entrance to Endell Street Military Hospital c. 1915

Endell Street Military Hospital was a First World War military hospital located on Endell Street in Covent Garden, central London.

This was the only hospital entirely staffed by suffragists (women who supported the introduction of votes for women).

The hospital was established during the First World War in May 1915^[1] by Doctors Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson.^[2] Both women were former members of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), a militant organisation that campaigned for women's suffrage in the early twentieth century.^[2] The hospital was run under the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) of the British Army.^[2]

In 1917, Murray and Anderson each received the CBE for their work in the hospital.^[3]

In October 1919, Endell Street received orders to evacuate and close the hospital. Endell Street Military Hospital closed its door in December 1919.^[1]

Hospital

An Operation at the Military Hospital, Endell Street - Dr L Garrett, Dr Flora Murray, Dr W Buckley, Francis Dodd, 1920. Imperial War Museum, London.

The hospital was constructed in the former St Giles Union Workhouse located on Endell Street in Covent Garden, Central London. The empty workhouse had room for a larger hospital to operate. A majority of the hospital equipment came from a military hospital in Wimereux, France following its closure in January 1915. Murray and Anderson previously headed this hospital which was shut down because of a lack of patients as well as a destination change for injured soldiers from France to England.^[1]

Endell Street Hospital had 573 beds, allowing for some 26,000 patients to be cared for during the five years the hospital was active. The women doctors performed upwards of 7,000 operations during that time.^[3]

The hospital was located in close proximity to railway stations, allowing a great influx of patients when ambulance convoys arrived. Often each convoy was transporting 30 to 50 injured soldiers, some of which required immediate surgery. These soldiers were taken directly to the operating theatre.^[2] The doctors were able to carry out as many as 20 operations a day, many of which were late at night when the convoys arrived.^[3]

Staff

Volunteer Margaret (Peggy) Katherine Turnbull (1892-1980) in the nursing uniform of the Endell Street Military Hospital, 1915.

Endell Street Military Hospital was staffed entirely by suffragettes. Leading the hospital, Murray was named Doctor in Charge and Anderson was named Chief Surgeon. Many of the women who staffed the hospital had previously worked with Murray and Anderson at the hospital in Wimereux. When that hospital closed its doors, the suffragettes were relocated to the new Endell Street hospital.^[1] At Endell Street, these women worked in what was considered female appropriate jobs as nurses, orderlies, and clerks. The hospital also staffed women as drivers, dentists, pathologists, and surgeons, which tended to be considered more masculine employment.^[2] The hospital also received a great number of volunteers daily. Librarians and entertainment officers would visit with the patients to heighten moral. Gardeners would help in the courtyard and ward visitors would often come, some only wishing to visit with lonely patients as they did not have family or friends in the hospital.^[4]

Women's Hospital Corps

At the outbreak of the First World War, many women wanted to be involved in the war. Most were told to return home and perform domestic duties. Murray and Anderson, having a background in social organisations as well as being qualified doctors, felt that they needed to help in a more constructive and evident way. The concept of the Women's Hospital Corps was created and instituted in 1914. Previously met with hostility by officials, the women decided to bypass the British government by going directly to the French Embassy with their offer to run a military hospital in France. Their idea was accepted and they were granted work permits to travel to France. In less than two weeks, Murray and Anderson were able to recruit enough medically trained women to staff an entire hospital; doctors, nurses, orderlies, and clerks. The women created uniforms and raised funds for the supplies needed.^[4]

While working under the authority of the War Office, women doctors at the Endell Street Military Hospital received the pay and benefits of military grades from lieutenant to lieutenant colonel, but they had no rank and could not command men.^[5]

The Women's Social and Political Union influence at Endell Street Military Hospital

Although the hospital was run by suffragettes, the women kept the suffrage movement and their hospital duties separate. The hospital did, however, adopt the WSPU's motto of "Deeds, Not Words". In the long run, the women hoped that the hospital and their deeds would prove women's equality and their ability to fulfil their duties as citizens.^[2] There has been no conclusive evidence that the women's work at Endell Street Military Hospital and with the WHC had an effect on the suffrage movement in England.

WSPU "Deeds, Not Words" Banner c. 1910

Tension with the Royal Army Medical Corps

The RAMC was outspoken about their reluctance to allow an all women's staff run a military hospital. The staff's involvement in the suffrage movement also added to the RAMC's scepticism of the women's ability perform in a professional manner. Murray recounts a colonel who was disgusted by the idea, claiming that the hospital would shut down within six months.^[1] The RAMC felt that the women would not be properly trained to care for and control soldiers in the military setting. They were proven wrong when the women received all positive acknowledgments due to their feminine touches around the hospital. Flowers, bright colours, and proper lighting were all attributed to the women's ability to consider the patient's psychological health as well as their physical health.^[2]

Contributions

During the hospitals active years, Endell Street Military Hospital staff were able to publish a total of seven publications in The Lancet, one of the world's oldest and best known general medical journals.^[6] The papers were in collaboration with the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service.They included an analysis of a series of cases of anaerobic infection, and collaborated with the Institute Pasteur in trails of gas gangrene antiserum by Frances Ivens from the Scottish Women's Hospital at Royaumont. Endell Street and Royaumont together produced the first hospital-based research papers published by female British doctors.^[2]

1918 Flu Pandemic

The Endell Street Military Hospital received patients affected by the 1918 flu pandemic that infected 500 million people across the world.^[5] Military camps and hospitals were often hotbeds for sickness and disease to spread.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Endell Street Military Hospital.

External links

• Media related to Endell Street Military Hospital at Wikimedia Commons
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01rjcsv
• Geddes, J. F. (2008). "Louisa Garrett Anderson (1873-1943), surgeon and suffragette". Journal of Medical Biography. 16 (4): 205–14. doi:10.1258/jmb.2007.007048. PMID 18952990.