Remembrance: Bethlem and the Maudsley in the First World War
Bethlem Royal Hospital following a bomb raid in 1917
The First World War had a very direct impact on both Bethlem and the Maudsley. Bethlem, then in St George’s Fields, the site of todays Imperial War Museum, was bombed by zeppelins as part of the German air campaign against London. In our archives we have photographs documenting the damage done to the Hospital. Thankfully only minor wounds were sustained by staff and patients in the raids, though the Superintendent, John Porter Philips, noted that one of the raids featured the most ‘terrifying noise’ that Bethlem experienced in the War.
Bethlem staff also served in the First World War on the front lines. The Hospital magazine, written by staff and patients, records a role of honour of all the staff who left the Hospital to join up with the armed forces. The annual report for 1918 stated that William Hammond, a carpenter, was the only member of staff who died in action while serving with the Manchester regiment (the Roll of Honour here is taken from the magazine, ‘Under the Dome’). It only covers Bethlem, as curiously the Maudsley never seems to have created one to mark either World War.
Two members of staff stand inside a crater left by one of the bombs
The Bethlem Roll of Honour of those who served in the First World War
The Maudsley’s whole history was changed by the war. Although built as a civilian acute mental hospital, it actually opened as a specialist military psychiatric treatment facility in 1915, treating soldiers suffering from the psychological effects of war. We have no records of this time, except for an album of photographs showing some of the facilities in place- these photographs show staff and pateints, who were all military personnel at work in some familiar buildings, like the posed photograph outside the entrance.
The man who ran what would become the Maudsley Hospital was Frederick Mott, who had been the person who had negotiated the terms of the bequest between Henry Maudsley and the London County Council that built the Hospital in the first place. Mott also supervised the handover from the military to the civilian authorities, but stepped aside from his role as Superintendent. A completely new staff under Dr Edward Mapother eventually opened the Maudsley to the public in 1923.
Military staff at the entrance to the Maudsley in 1918