First World War Belgium soldiers treated at the Devonshire Hospital, Buxton

When the First World War broke out in 1914, many wounded Belgium soldiers were evacuated to Great Britain to be treated. Here we have a photograph, from a scrapbook belonging to nurse Nancy Garnett, of a group of wounded Belgium soldiers who had been treated at the Devonshire Hospital in Buxton.

Nancy Garnett spent her early life in Buxton between the 1900s and the early 1920s, living in the Park Road and Manchester Road area of Buxton, and also near the Brittain family, which included Vera Brittain, the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse, writer, feminist, socialist and pacifist.

Frances Alison Garnett (always known as Nancy) (1892-1980), was the daughter of a cotton merchant and lived at the outbreak of the war at Cold Springs, Buxton. Nancy had French and German cousins, who she visited just prior to the First World War. When the First World War broke out in 1914, Nancy began working as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse. During the war she worked at Devonshire Hospital, Buxton, Barlow Fold Hospital, Poynton, Cheshire, and the Canadian Special Red Cross Hospital, Buxton. She nursed Belgium, Canadian and British troops.

In 1919, Nancy visited Belgium and visited many of the places affected by the war.

The mineral waters at Buxton have been known and used since Roman times. From the 16th century information survives on their use and the development of accommodation for visitors wishing to drink the waters. Such accommodation was for the wealthy, but it seems that a charity was established to enable poor persons to use the medicinal waters.
The charity was revived or formally reconstituted in 1779 as Buxton Bath Charity.

In 1858, the Duke of Devonshire handed over the Great Stables to the trustees of the charity (built at the same period as The Crescent in the 1780's). After adaptations, the building was opened in 1859 as the Devonshire Hospital and Buxton Bath Charity, where the charity lodged poor people whilst undergoing treatment. In later years the inner area of the building was opened up and the whole, including the former exercising yard for the horses, was covered with a dome. The work was completed in 1881. Meanwhile, the building and grounds had been legally conveyed to the charity by the Duke of Devonshire in 1868 for a nominal rent.

In 1934 it was granted permission to be known as the Devonshire Royal Hospital and in 1948 became part of the National Health Service.

During the First World War, the hospital treated many injured British, Canadian, ANZAC and Belgian soldiers.

The Hospital was closed in 2000.