Hospitals

21 British General Hospital, Alexandria

No 21 BGH was located at the Ras-el-Tin barracks in Alexandria.

When it was decided to undertake operations in the Dardanelles, four general hospitals were sent to Egypt from the United Kingdom, to act as base hospitals for the force. Two (Nos. 15 and 17) arrived in March, and the other two (Nos. 19 and 21) at the beginning of June 1915. They were all opened in Alexandria, No. 15 in the ”Abbassia Schools,” No. 17 in the Victoria College, No. 19 in the Deaconesses’ Hospital, a German hospital, and No. 21 in Ras-el-Tin barracks. They were nominally under the administrative control of the D.M.S. of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Surg.-General W. G. Birrell, whose representative in Egypt was Colonel Sexton, the A.D.M.S. of the Base at Alexandria.

Source: Medical Services General History Volume III (Medical Services during the Operations on the Western Front in 1916, 1917 and 1918; in Italy; and in Egypt and Palestine), by Major-General Sir W. G. MACPHERSON.

No 21 BGH Alexandria
No 21 British General Hospital, Ras-el-Tin Alexandria
Courtesy: Museums Victoria, Photographer: John Lord, URL: https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/1317162
Compound 21st General Hospital Alexandria, Egypt.
European Pattern Tents at 21 BGH

21 BGH Compound
Officers Quarters, 21 British General Hospital
Rock Breaker, 21 British General Hospital

No 3 British General Hospital, Basra

No. 3 B.G.H. is in the Sheikh of Mohammerah’s town palace. It has some fine rooms off the main hall, which make excellent wards. Adjoining the palace are large hut extensions. They are solidly built to resist the heat. The roofs are thick and sun-proof, the wards are high and airy, with electric lights and fans. So far as structure and conveniences go this Hospital is as good as any one could hope to find in Mesopotamia. A very competent Staff of Doctors and Nurses maintain a high standard of efficiency. Here there is a very nice officers’ ward, to the furnishing of which the Red Cross has done not a little.

Source: A MESSAGE FROM MESOPOTAMIA, by THE HON. SIR ARTHUR LAWLEY G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E.

No 3 British General Hospital Basra
Hospital Pier No 3 British General Hospital

Beit Nama Officers Convalescent Hospital, Basra

The Officers’ Convalescent Hospital at Beit Nama was opened on July 26, 1916 and was situated just downstream of the No. 3 British General Hospital.

Map of Beit Nama Officers' Hospital Basra
Beit Nama Officers Hospital Photo
« of 2 »

Medical History of the War, Volume IV, Page 262:
A British convalescent depot was established at Mohammera. This depot received the first batch of 100 convalescents on 24th October 1916, and, as it had been decided to abandon Ashar barracks as a convalescent depot, it was extended to accommodate greater numbers. The site of the new camp on the right bank of the river, about three miles above the Persian town of Mohammera, was ideal. It had a pleasant outlook on the river and on the Bamashia channel leading from it. Steep turf banks and scattered palms gave to the camp a rural appearance, enhanced by well-made gravel paths, rustic seats, fences and flower-beds. Patients were conveyed to and from it by river boats twice weekly. During November 1916 a similar convalescent depot was opened for Indians on an adjoining site.

33 British General Hospital, Makina (Basra)

Personnel of 33 British General Hospital (BGH) arrived at Basra on June 11, 1916 on the HS VITA from Bombay. The hospital was initially deployed at TANOUMAH (on the right bank of the river) in 40 European Pattern tents. Within a month, the hospital was split between two locations; TANOUMAH and in the old Liquorice Factory at Makina which had been vacated by the 32 BGH.

No. 33 B.G.H. is in the liquorice factory, not nearly so happily situated as No. 3. It is shut in and airless. There is a mule depot just across the creek which brings an ” infinite torment of flies,” and on the occasion of my visit I found the wards somewhat topsy-turvied by the discovery of plague-infected rats, and consequently of course of plague-infected fleas. The O.C. and the Staff have, however, been well trained to cope with difficulties, and as in the past, so in the future, their cheery optimism, skill and courage will carry them through every difficulty.

Source: A MESSAGE FROM MESOPOTAMIA, by THE HON. SIR ARTHUR LAWLEY G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E.

Map of 33 BGH Locations at Basra
Compound of No 33 British General Hospital

Llandyrnog Red Cross Convalescent Hospital

Llandyrnog Red Cross Hospital
Staff & Patients Llandyrnog Red Cross Hospital