Public urged to help trace ‘forgotten’ nurses at wartime country house hospital

Rare photos were transformed into colour images to try to fully identify First World War nurses serving at Wrest Park.

Rare photographs from the First World War’s first country house hospital have been converted to colour to help identify the “forgotten” nurses who served there.

English Heritage is calling on the public to help spot their ancestors in the images taken at Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, thought to be the first stately home set up as a convalescent home after the outbreak of war.

Nurse Given and Staff Sister Whyly pictured on the terrace (London Metropolitan Archives/Royal Sun Alliance/coloured by Marina Amaral, commissioned by English Heritage/PA)

No formal records exist of many of the nurses who served there during the war because of the unofficial way in which it became a hospital and the way in which it closed, the heritage charity said.

It was offered by owner Auberon Herbert, 9th Baron Lucas, directly to Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, on the day after war was declared, as a place to treat wounded servicemen.

Nurses and convalescing soldiers pictured at Christmas 1914 (Private collection/coloured by Marina Amaral, commissioned by English Heritage/PA)

While volunteer historians have researched the history of the property as a military hospital, “they’ve hit a brick wall” in finding out more about the staff who worked there, English Heritage said.

Soldiers and nurses at Wrest, including Sister Ife, furthest left, and Nurse Cook, second from the right (Private Collection/coloured by Marina Amaral, commissioned by English Heritage/PA)

“They worked tirelessly and deserve to be known as individuals, just as the soldiers they cared for do.

“Being able to identify these nurses and find out more about them would help us better understand life at Wrest during the war.”

Nurse Phillburn was one of the many nurses who served at Wrest Park (Private Collection/coloured by Marina Amaral, commissioned by English Heritage/PA)

The 18th-century French chateau-style mansion was transformed into a place for wounded soldiers to recuperate before returning to front-line duty.

But as casualties on the Western Front began to mount it was soon transformed into a much-needed base hospital.

Wrest Park was offered as a place to treat wounded servicemen as soon as war was declared (English Heritage/PA)

Nurses at Wrest Park were overseen by the baron’s sister Nan Herbert, working long and taxing shifts cleaning wards and making beds, changing wound dressings and tending to injured soldiers.

Wrest Park Hospital included an operating theatre housed in a first floor bedroom (Private Collection/coloured by Marina Amaral, commissioned by English Heritage/PA) — Wrest Park Hospital included an operating theatre housed in a first-floor bedroom (Private Collection/coloured by Marina Amaral, commissioned by English Heritage/PA)

The photographs of the nurses were transformed by digital colourist Marina Amaral, who said: “Humans live in colour, and this helps us see people from a more personal perspective – they are no longer removed from reality, but real people with lives and purpose.

Sister Warner is pictured taking medicines from the dispensary (Private Collection/coloured by Marina Amaral, commissioned by English Heritage/PA)

If you recognise any of the nurses in the photographs, you can contact Wrest Park’s Volunteer History Team on wresthistoryvolunteers@english-heritage.org.uk.