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 All of the photographs on this page can be enlarged. Simply click on the images to see higher resolutions
of these.
One of the pages in Nurse Oliver's album contains five badly faded photographs of convalescent soldiers at Beechland House. The photograph above is probably the most detailed of the five and certainly the one that has withstood the test of
time the best. Neither Edith Oliver or Frances Blencowe named the individuals who appear in photographs in their albums; with the exception of these five.
The photos were clearly taken at Beechland House and almost certainly during the summer of 1916. Apart from the
fact that lupins can be seen in full bloom in a couple of the photographs and the men appear to be blinking into the sunlight,
Trooper Hicks appears elsewhere in Nurse Oliver's album and dated his entry May 1916. He was obviously still a
patient when Hickwells was vacated and Sussex 54 VAD moved into its new Beechland House premises in June 1916. The individuals who appear in the photograph above are
named as:
Back row: Sergeant Milne, Private Hilton, Sergeant Richey; middle row: Trooper Hicks, Private Foster, Rifleman Deers, Private Hart, Bombardier Garland; front row: Rifleman Hardcastle, Private Dorchester, Rifleman
R Nicholson.
Three of these men also appear in another photograph in Nurse Oliver's album (below). Identified soldiers in this
photograph are Private Hart (holding the dog), Rifleman Nicholson (second from right) and Sergeant Milne (far right).
This photo almost certainly dates from around the same time in 1916.
A Rifleman Hughes is named as appearing in another one of the five faded photographs but the image has suffered badly
and I have not reproduced it on this website.
The photogaph below appears elsewhere on this site and may have been taken at Hickwells rather than Beechlands; it is
impossible to say which. Nevertheless, the men in the photograph are unknown to me. The original image is very badly
faded and scratched indeed.
The photo below was obviously taken at Beechlands which
therefore dates it to June 1916 or later. Some of the patients are wearing boaters which indicates a sunny day,
and probably a summer's day, but there is nothing else to go on here. Nurse Oliver stands at the back and the matron
sits in the foreground with a dog on her lap. But who are the soldiers and the nurses? Beechlands could accommodate
40 men and there are 28 patients and four nurses in this photo.
Does anybody recognise
any of them?
Corporal Fred Denton of the Essex Regiment came to Beechlands after being wounded on the Somme in July 1916. He can be see in the photo below, sitting on the bench second
from left. In front of him on the ground sits Lance-Corporal Albert Smith of the Canadians. These are the only two men I've been able to positively identify to date, although it's possible
that William Washbourne of the Gloucestershire Regiment sits next to Fred Denton. Does anybody recognise
any of the other men here?
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If you can add any further information about any of the men featured here,
Chailey 1914-1918
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