Kent VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachments)

Beginning in 1999 I conducted a study of the work of Kent VAD for a postgraduate degree at the University of Kent at Canterbury. I was awarded my degree in 2005, but my interest in Kent VAD will be ongoing as I am sure there is more to be revealed. I hope you find these pages interesting. Maybe you are looking for information about the Home Front in WW1, perhaps you are researching a relative. Whatever your interest I hope my website can help. If you would like any further information, please get in touch.

"No nation in the world has the capacity to improvise and the will to compromise so thoroughly as Great Britain..." so begins 'Kent's Care for the Wounded' the earliest account of the story of the Voluntary Aid Detachment movement in the county nearest to the battlefields of the Western Front. Such resourcefulness and determination was sorely needed and magnificently forthcoming during the dreadful conflict of the First World War as groups of volunteers set about providing hospital care for allied soldiers of several nationalities - including British, Belgian, Australian and Canadian.

Kent VAD which operated throughout the period of the First World War set up and ran over eighty auxiliary military hospitals in houses, church halls and schools, to receive wounded and sick soldiers brought home from the battlefields. The first Voluntary Aid Detachments in Kent were formed in 1910 following the publication by the War Office in 1909 of a scheme for groups of volunteers to support the medical services of the Territorial Force. Kent 1 (a men's detachment) was formed at Dover and the first women's detachment, Kent 2, at Ramsgate. The men provided hospital orderlies and organised transport, the women planned hospitals and trained as nursing assistants. Three organisations were responsible for setting up detachments, providing training, certification etc - the Kent Territorial Force Association, the British Red Cross Society and the St John Ambulance Association.

On the outbreak of war in August 1914 they combined their efforts to form 'Kent VAD'. Headquarters were at the home of Dr Yolland, the Chief of Staff, at 53 Bromley Common, Bromley. Detachments were officially numbered by the War Office, women's detachments were given an even number and the men's detachments an odd number. 'Kent VAD 1914-1919' lists a final total of 32 men's and 95 women's detachments in the county. All detachments stipulated that members must obtain a First Aid Certificate from the ruling body of their own association. On the outbreak of war there were 50 detachments in Kent and their role soon became apparent. The military medical provision could never have coped with the enormous number of casualties from the Western Front. There were just three military hospitals in Kent in 1914 - at Chatham, Folkestone and Woolwich, the latter, providing 629 beds, was one of the largest in the whole country. The detachments were mobilised on 13th October 1914 when they were notified at just a few hours' notice of the arrival of hundreds of wounded Belgian soldiers evacuated from the battlefields of Flanders. The Belgians were taken from the Channel ports to towns all over Kent and many of them stayed in the hospitals until the early months of 1915 when they were moved to special Belgian hospitals elsewhere in England. Their places were taken by the increasing number of British wounded being brought home.

Although the War Office paid a daily allowance for each patient, a large part of the equipment and running costs of the hospitals was met through local fundraising and support. People lent equipment as well as their houses. At Quex Park, Birchington, Major Powell Cotton gave his home for use as a hospital and his own domestic staff did the cooking and laundry.

The eighty or more VAD hospitals in Kent provided accommodation for 4,730 patients. In addition to the members of the VADs, local surgeons and physicians gave their advice and long hours of service together with other medical professionals, nurses and masseuses. Kent accommodated far more wounded soldiers than any other area of the country and by the end of the war the VAD hospitals had cared for 125,000 patients - 30,000 (31%) more than any other county in England (Kent VAD 1914-1919).

No forward planning could have anticipated the awful slaughter and mayhem caused by trench warfare and the system to care for the wounded was only able to cope because it was underpinned by the voluntary effort of local communities. 'Kent VAD 1914-1919' concludes, "the warmest thanks are due to the many friends who, though unable to render personal service, contributed by their gifts of equipment, stores and money to add so greatly to the comfort and happiness of the patients."

I will be very pleased to hear from you, particularly if you have any memorabilia that you want to find out more abou,t or information you would like to share, and I will be happy to answer questions and provide information if I can. I can be reached via the contact us page

Hazel Basford