Medical dates:

Medical character:

In 1915 the LCC Education Authority lent Southwood House, one of the hostels for the Avery Hill Training Centre in Eltham, for use as an auxiliary military hospital.

The Southwood Hospital opened in July 1915 as a Class A auxiliary hospital affiliated to the Royal Herbert Hospital.  The early Victorian building, varying from 2 to 3 storeys in height, contained 60 beds (later increased to 72) for enlisted servicemen.  The nursing staff consisted of 2 trained nurses, 1 full-time and 24 part-time members of a Voluntary Aid Detachment from the Greenwich Division.

In 1917 a carpenter's shop was fitted up and a skilled carpenter employed to visit the Hospital every day to give instruction to the patients.

However, in 1918, the Education Authority required the building be returned.  The Hospital closed but re-opened four months later, on 4th December 1918, under the same name in a large rented house, Cathay, in Court Road.  It had 57 beds.

The Hospital closed on 13th June 1919.  During its operational lifetime, some 1,765 servicemen had received treatment; none had died.

Present status (April 2011)

Southwood House later became the Margaret Roper Hall of Residence.  The Avery Hill site is now part of the University of Greenwich.

Cathay House is a private residence.