BWH Staff

At the start of the war those men enlisted as orderlies in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) had often been rejected by the army as physically unfit, prohibited from being a soldier by age, height, and even flat feet. As the war progressed the army became less fussy as the need for more men to fight was so great.

James Vincent Blachford (M.B, B.S. LRCP MCP), was born in Staffordshire in 1866. He went to school at Dulwich College and completed his medical training in Durham.

The blue uniform worn by soldiers in military hospitals was known as the ‘Convalescent Blues’. The uniforms were made of blue flannel lined with white, worn with a white shirt and red tie

The War Office supplied the hospital with trained sisters and nurses from Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Staff Reserve. Women enlisted from the UK and from Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

This is a photograph of resident and visiting doctors and surgeons at the Beaufort War Hospital during the First World War. We have identified some of the people in the photograph but sadly not all of them