On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 00:36:02 +0000, denniscorbett <denniscorbett@denniscorbett.e.telefonica.net> wrote: >I would be very interested to hear more on this subject, because my mother >confirmed that her mother and half sister visited her husband in Le Treport >hospital after he had been wounded at Passchendaele. > >I have often wondered how this would have come about. Did they get >transport, subsidised perhaps or even free, on troop trains and ships that >were otherwise occupied ferrying men home on leave? Did they need a >passport? My grandfather was hospitalised for four months but did in fact >survive. The procedure changed during the war, but the following two letters, written by a Lt Col and sent to The Times for the benefit of its readers, explains the situation as at mid-May, 1915. I appreciate that they are lengthy, but this particular subject seems to have got quite a few people interested. The passport requirement was quickly dropped, and below these letters appears a short announcement from the War Office about the simplified procedure as it was in mid-August 1915. Procedures for relatives who wished to visit wounded soldiers in the UK, and soldiers who were interned in Switzerland, also appeared in The Times. Hopefully these articles will be of interest. Forrest ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Times, 18 May 1915 HOW TO VISIT BASE HOSPITALS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. Sir, As it may save anxiety to those who have relatives wounded in France, will you allow me to explain a matter of procedure which has recently been adopted, and the reason for that procedure? When an intimation is sent to a relative that an officer is wounded and is at one of the base hospitals, it is frequently the case that the relative in question desires to be allowed to proceed at once to the hospital in order to be near the wounded officer. Under the rules at present in force (which are doubtless made for the best possible reasons) relatives are not allowed to go to France, unless they have been asked to do so by the commandant of the hospital in question. The result has been that people have had to wire to the commandant to ask him to wire for them to come. On the strength of the latter telegram the military authorities at once issue a permit for the purpose. In order to avoid the delay thus occasioned the medical authorities have with most kindly thought adopted the practice of wiring to relatives of seriously wounded officers, informing them of the officer's admission, and adding the words "Come, use this as permit." A relative receiving such a wire is apt to read a sinister meaning into the summons, and to think that the authorities are with kindly tact withholding worse news than the message conveys. It may save some such a great deal of anxiety to know that this is not the case. It is also necessary to bear in mind that the staffs of the military hospitals are working at a very high strain, and that it is therefore utterly impossible for them to enter into details in their message on each individual case. Moreover, the difficulty of classifying the wounded under the various headings adopted is very great. A case which seems to be going well to-day may be worse to-morrow, and vice versa. The responsibilities of the surgeon in charge are very great, and it is certainly preferable that he should summon several relatives who arrive to find their wounded better than that he should omit to call one until it is too late. It is well known that our wounded in France are receiving the best possible skill, care, and attention. I should like to add, from my personal experience, that the pleasure of kindness, consideration, and courtesy shown by those in medical charge to those of us who go over to see our wounded is such that no one who has experienced it is ever likely to forget it. Not only so, but to be a visitor to the English wounded is a passport to the hearts of our brave French Allies. One other practical point, on which I speak from first-hand information. The medical authorities have no fund from which to defray the expenses of wires to relatives, and many of these telegrams are paid out of private pockets, the only claim on which is a most generous kindness. Relatives should, therefore. make a point of fully prepaying all messages they ask for and of paying for any they thus receive. I would ask you to publish this letter in the hope that it may save others some of the anxiety suffered by the relatives of the wounded officer I was called to see. I have been asked by relatives of wounded officers to say a word as to the procedure to be adopted by those desirous of going over to France. It is simplicity itself. On receipt of the telegram calling one to Boulogne or elsewhere, one applies to the Foreign Office (at the Passport Station, just off Downing-street) after 10 a.m., for a passport, taking with one two copies of one's photograph (any snapshot will do). The passport costs 5s. From there one passes to a neighbouring office, where the military officer in charge, stamps the passport with the necessary permission to proceed to the place named. To get this permission it is absolutely necessary to present the telegram authorizing one. to proceed to France. Without this the permit will not be given. One next goes to the French Consulate (51, Bedford-square, W.C.), to have the passport vised (cost of same equals 8s.). Once that is done everything is made easy. The passport is often called for on one's journey, in order that it may be stamped, &c., but one is always warned beforehand. The officers' hospital at Boulogne is close to the wharf as the crow flies, but much time may be saved by taking the ferry across, which lands one close to it, instead of going a considerable way round by the wharves. There are numerous hotels close to the hospital. I have the honour to remain, Sir, your most obedient servant, R H ELLIOT, Lt.-Col., I.M.S., Retd. 54, Welbeck-street, Cavendish-square, W., May 13. ---------- ---------- The Times, 21 May 1915 HOW TO VISIT BASE HOSPITALS. Sir, My letter which you were good enough to publish yesterday has brought me so many inquiries and requests for more information that I have made further inquiries at the War Office, and have been most courteously assisted by the officials there. As the matter in question seems to be of very wide public interest, I request you to be so good as to allow me a little further space to answer in your columns the questions I have been asked. (1) It is unquestionably wise for all who think they may be called to France to obtain passports in advance. This shortens the necessary formalities at a later stage. These have been detailed in my letter in your issue of yesterday, to which all interested are referred. (2) In asking for passports to be granted it is well to remember that the passport officers are very hard worked. Therefore place in their hands every facility for identifying you or making inquiries about your antecedents. References to published lists, ex. gr., the Medical Directory, the Clergy List, the Army List, &c., which will help to identify the person asking for the passports will all save time. Failing these, references to people of standing will be all that is necessary. There is no hesitation in issuing passports to bona-fide British subjects, but the danger of allowing them to be given to wrong people is obvious. (3) In the case of those whose relatives are known to be wounded, but who have no information as to their whereabouts, a prepaid wire should be sent to the War Office asking for the necessary information. An early reply will always be given. It must be remembered, however, that the reports of the hospitals to which officers and men are sent take some days to come in. When an officer or man is sufficiently well to ask the authorities to telegraph to his relatives, the news thus obtained anticipates the official news by hours and often by days. When the officer is too ill to take this course, or perhaps does not know of the possibility of taking it, a delay takes place. It is of little use wiring to one of the Base hospitals; there are so many of them. They are situate at Boulogne, Havre, and Rouen, and possibly (my information is lacking) elsewhere as well. Therefore the first thing to do is to ask the War Office where the officer is, and, once that is known, wire to the commandant of the hospital for further information, prepaying the reply wire. Relatives may rest assured that the authorities at the War Office are most kind and most anxious to assist them. I have had, most unfortunately, a large experience of such inquiries, and have always met with great kindness, sympathy, and courtesy from all in authority there. The tax on their time must be very heavy indeed. (4) I have been kindly authorized by the War Office to say that a communique on the subject of the visits to wounded in France is now being drawn up, and that it will shortly be handed to the Press. (5) N.C.O.'s and men are at no disadvantage as compared with officers in the matter of being visited by their relatives or friends. A permit is issued just as readily to the relative of a private as to one of an officer. In a few specially urgent eases the relatives of N.C.O.'s and men are sent to France and. all their expenses paid. The number so sent is, for obvious reasons, limited, but the number who may go at their own expense is no more limited for the men than for the officers. (6) The very large number of inquiries which have reached me show that there is a need for something in the way of "an inquiry office" at Boulogne. Havre, Rouen, and other Base-hospital centres. The suggestion is entirely unofficial, and I do not know how it would be received officially, but I feel sure that if some of the young widows who have the means and leisure to tie so would undertake some such work at these centres they would be instrumental in receiving an enormous amount of sorrow and anxiety, and that in helping others they would lose something of their own terrible sorrow. My idea is that they should establish themselves, if permitted, at one of the Base-hospital centres, and make it their work to visit the various hospitals with lists of men about whom they have inquiries, and to communicate the results to anxious friends. My correspondence shows something of the seething sorrow of those who have been left behind when our men have marched away. It may be that there are already agencies at work for the purpose. In any case, they are either insufficient or insufficiently known. It would be a kindness if any now in existence could be advertised in such a way that all might know of them. I have the honour to remain, Sir, your most obedient servant, R H ELLIOT, Lt.-Col., I.M.S., Retd. 54, Welbeck-street, Cavendish-square, W., May 19. ------------ The Times, 16 August 1915 SICK AND WOUNDED IN FRANCE. Owing to the British and French military requirements it has been necessary, for some time, to limit strictly the visits to France of relatives of sick and wounded officers and men. The Army Council wish the relatives of all ranks to understand that this limitation is one of the necessities of the military situation, and feel sure that they will readily accept it on this understanding. In cases where permission to visit is given the regulations have been much simplified and are as follows :— 1. In cases where an officer or soldier is in a dangerous condition through wounds or sickness and there is no military or medical objection to a visit being paid to him, a telegram (or letter preceded by telegram) granting permission will be sent by the War Office or Military Record Office to the relative who may visit him. 2. No passport or permit will be required. but the relative, if desiring to make the visit, must carefully preserve the telegram or letter granting permission, observe all the instructions given in it and produce it before the Embarkation Commandant at the port named. 3. Only one relative can be allowed to visit each Patient. 4. Free passage and accommodation can only be given to relatives of soldiers in a very limited number of cases, and only when the relative cannot afford to pay his or her expenses. When it is possible to grant such free passage and accommodation, relatives will be notified by the Record Office. in all other cases relatives must pay their own expenses, and are warned that accommodation will probably prove very limited and costly. ------------ -- Forrest Anderson, Edinburgh, Scotland. E-mail: forrest@military-researcher.com Website: www.military-researcher.com Forrestdale Research - Military Genealogical Researcher