Museum Memories Blog: Oaklands at War
By Rachel Webber.
The outbreak of war in 1914 saw a dynamic shift that changed societal and class norms. Opulent country houses and estates that were primarily the homes of the upper classes were opened to both military and civilian operations. For 50 years prior Oaklands was a family home which housed two affluent families, firstly the Wells family and later the Willink family. With its 29 acres of land and beautiful rural Italianate architecture, Oaklands was a place of calm and order.
However, this way of life changed on 23 June 1914. The shooting of Archduke Franz Ferdinand — the heir to the Austrian Hungarian empire — in Sarajevo reverberated around the world, alongside a rise in nationalism, an increased military arms race and polarising country alliances. The shooting became a spark to set the world onto a path of world war that had never been seen on such a scale before. Men and woman from all social backgrounds were expected to step up and help the war effort. Oaklands House was no exception. By 1915 the house was taken over by the war department for use as a field hospital. It was described by one of the nurses as “a hospital for less serious cases among the troops stationed in the area”. More serious cases were sent four miles away for treatment at Hylands House. The first military formation to arrive at Oaklands in August 1914 was the 3rd South Midland Division Field Ambulance.
Outside Oaklands House with the patients and nurses. Notice the nurse on the far right holding a black and white cat.
The wooden isolation huts seen here were located around Oaklands park.
The Men of the RAMC Field Ambulance in 1915 pictured round the back of Oaklands House.
The photographs seen here were donated to the museum from a former patient Reverend Douglas Walford. He recovered at Oaklands and later returned as a Nursing Orderly. He would have worked alongside doctors and nurses transporting patients and preparing them for surgery. These photographs date back to 1915 and show that despite the dire circumstances, you can see the comradeship and friendship between the patients. It must have been a much-needed respite enjoying the fresh air and quiet tranquillity of Oaklands. Before being shipped back to the horrors of the trenches.
Oaklands was known as a “fever hospital”. Wooden isolation huts were scattered around Oaklands park. Here they housed soldiers who had ‘spotted fever’, then the common name of cerebro-spinal fever or meningitis. Symptoms included fever, headaches, neck stiffness and vomiting. Oaklands also had an operating theatre that was situated where the Hive café now have their kitchen. It was said for many decades after the room had an overpowering smell of ether — which was used as a general anaesthetic at the time.
By 1917 Oaklands was used as a recruitment office. Civilian employees dealt with paperwork involving casualties, answered general enquiries and prepared notices for people about to be conscripted into the military. An employee who worked at the time, a Mrs Gentry, was interviewed back in 1982 about her time working at Oaklands. She described how her desk comprised of a wooden plank balanced on a bath tub in the former bathroom (now our toy room)! She would work from 9am to 5pm indexing cards and typing up drafts for the new recruits. She recalled how the house was barely furnished with the Victorian stairs stripped back to the floorboards.
A few months after armistice the military moved out and for the first time in its history the house lay empty. The story of Oaklands during the war was repeated throughout the country. Class lines were blurred when landed gentry were fighting side by side with their footman. The financial toll saw many stately homes having to close or landowners forced to sell their land. However, Oaklands was fortunate to have new owners three years later in the Flower family who welcomed Oaklands into the roaring twenties.
Soldiers from the 3rd South Midlands Field Hospital outside the isolation huts in the grounds in 1915.
An example of a field hospital at Hylands House.
