CAMFK:20.2006. Postcard of 1st Eastern General Hospital, T. Cambridge, 1914. 8.7cm : 13.7cm. Museum of Cambridge

First Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge

History of the First Eastern General Hospital

First Eastern General Hospital was a major military hospital established in Cambridge during the World War I, providing treatment for thousands of wounded soldiers. Based in buildings including Trinity College Cambridge and other university sites, it transformed parts of the city into a vast wartime medical network.

The First Eastern General Hospital was one of a network of territorial force hospitals created at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Cambridge became a significant centre for military medical care, with university buildings rapidly adapted to receive and treat large numbers of wounded servicemen arriving from the фронt.

Rather than occupying a single site, the hospital operated across multiple locations in the city, forming a dispersed but coordinated medical system.

Locations in Cambridge

At the outbreak of WWI a temporary home was needed for the First Eastern General Hospital while more permanent quarters were being built. On mobilisation its territorial and reservist staff were assembled at the Leys School, but soon more spacious quarters were found in Trinity College, in Neville’s Court, under the Wren Library.

The hospital made extensive use of existing Cambridge buildings, including:

• Trinity College Cambridge – used for wards and medical facilities
• Other university and college buildings (including lecture rooms and halls)
• Auxiliary sites across Cambridge to expand capacity

Patients were typically transported by rail into Cambridge and then distributed across these sites.

Scale and Operation

During the war, the First Eastern General Hospital operated on a very large scale:

• Thousands of beds across its various sites
• Treatment of many thousands of wounded soldiers over the course of the war
• Continuous operation between 1914 and 1919

Medical cases included:

• Gunshot and shrapnel wounds
• Gas injuries
• Orthopaedic trauma
• Psychological trauma (then often termed “shell shock”)

The hospital formed part of the wider military medical system supporting casualties evacuated from France and Belgium.

Patients and Staff

The hospital relied on a combination of:

• Army medical personnel
• Civilian doctors
• Nurses, including many from Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs)

For Cambridge residents, the presence of large numbers of wounded soldiers was a visible and constant reminder of the war. College courts, halls, and rooms—normally associated with academic life—were transformed into hospital wards.

Personal accounts, letters, and photographs provide valuable insight into daily life within the hospital.

Cambridge in Wartime

The First Eastern General Hospital played a major role in reshaping Cambridge during the war:

• University life was disrupted as buildings were requisitioned
• Military activity became embedded in everyday life
• The city became a place of recovery as well as education

The hospital represents one of the most direct ways in which the First World War affected both town and gown.

After the War

Following the Armistice in 1918:

• The hospital was gradually wound down
• Buildings were returned to their original university use
• Cambridge resumed its academic functions, though marked by wartime loss

See University of Cambridge film by Dr Sarah Baylis, From the Front to the Backs.

There is a different version of Dr Baylis’s film available on Youtube:

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For more information follow this link:

“Nevile’s Court a Hospital…”: The First Eastern General Hospital

Edward Conybeare recorded in his diaries events at the hospital day by day:

1914 15th August – Neviles Court turned into hospital. Took F [Mrs Conybeare] in hansom to see Trinity cloisters being floored for hospital.

The message on the back of the example of this postcard from the Museum of Cambridge makes it clear that those in the picture are Belgian wounded.

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The needlework pieces donated to the Museum of Cambridge in 1962 were made by recovering soldiers at the First Eastern General Hospital. Some have a surname and a ward number.

During WWI there were schemes such as the Disabled Soldiers’ Embroidery Industry created as a way to get soldiers back into employment. This scheme. actually ran from 1918 to 1955.

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1916 3rd August

Visit of George V