A Very Haven of Peace: The Role of the Stately Home Hospital in First World War Britain

This thesis examines the role of the stately home hospital during the First World War. It assesses the social and cultural importance of these institutions, as well as the place that they, and their patients, held within wartime society. It argues that the establishment of a hospital in a stately home communicated a high level of patient care, reminding people all over the Empire how much Britain valued the sacrifices of its wounded. However, some members of the soldiery misinterpreted the value bestowed upon them by their status as war heroes. Consequently, the stately home hospital became a site of physical and emotional clashes between the wounded and the medical authorities. By placing these medical establishments in their social, cultural, political, and imperial contexts, this thesis delineates the myriad of ways that the space of the stately home hospital affected the experience of wounding and how a number of different people interacted with the institution and utilised it for many different purposes.

The domestic nature of these private residences meant that they straddled the military and civilian spheres, which convoluted the position of the wounded soldier, the medical staff, and ancillary workers within. In addition, the space was home to a variety of non-military personnel who presented the wounded with a variety of different opportunities that transcended normal military spaces. This thesis explores these opportunities to discuss the important position stately home hospitals held within First World War Britain. Due to the historic role of the stately home in British social, cultural and political life, the experience of recovering within these walls was socially loaded. This thesis argues that the establishment of hospitals in these buildings was an important statement to the wounded and their families.