Medical dates:

Medical character:

The Byculla Auxiliary Hospital  opened in 1916 as a convalescent home for wounded servicemen from the Endell Street Military Hospital.  Byculla, a large house in Broadlands Road, had been lent by Mr A. Stern.

The Hospital had 32 beds in half a dozen large, airy rooms.  The large Recreation Room was equipped with a piano and a small billiard table.

A small operating theatre was located on the upper floor.

The garage was converted into a pretty chapel and was decorated with a copy of The White Comrade, a devotional painting by George Hillyard Swinstead (1860-1926) depicting a wounded soldier being helped from a WW1 battlefield by a medical orderly, who glances back at the benevolent vision of Christ.

By 1917 the Hospital had 42 beds.

At the request of the Endell Street Military Hospital, Sir Arthur Crosfield (1865-1938) lent his property adjoining Byculla so that the bed complement could be greatly increased.

The Byculla and Crosfield V.A.D. Hospital then had 82 beds.  It remained classified as a Class A Hospital, that is, it received cot cases (the bedridden).

The nursing staff consisted of a Matron, 3 trained nurses and 3 masseuses, assisted by 15 full-time and 40 part-time members of the local Voluntary Aid Detachment (V.A.D.), of which Lady Domini Crosfield was the Commandant.

The Hospital closed in March 1919.  Of the 2,493 patients who had been admitted, none had died.

Present status (July 2010)

The site of the Hospital is now occupied by Broadlands Lodge, an apartment block, and townhouses.