40 Lubbock Road, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 5JJ

Medical dates:

Medical character:

  Following the declaration of war on Germany on 4th August 1914, the Kent/60 (Chislehurst) Voluntary Aid Detachment, which had been established in May 1912, spent August and September preparing the necessary equipment for a hospital and also gaining nursing experience at a local hospital.

At midnight on 13th October 1914, Kent/60 received orders to mobilise.  Immediately the Deatchment set to work preparing an auxiliary hospital in Christ Church Hall, which had been lent for the purpose by the Revd G.H. Pole and the Trustees.

The Christ Church Hall Hospital was ready for occupation by 6.00 a.m. the next day, 14th October 1914.  It had 25 beds.

The first convoy of 33 wounded Belgian soldiers arrived three hours later, at 9.00 a.m.  Those with slighter wounds were taken to the Coed-Bel School Sanatorium.

After two days Kent/60 received instructions to prepare for more patients, and Abbey Lodge at No. 54 Lubbock Road was prepared.

The Hospital was only open for a few weeks and closed in the winter of 1914.  Its patients were transferred to Brooklyn, also in Lubbock Road.


Present status (January 2011)

 Christ Church and its Hall are somewhat obscured by large fir trees (much grown since WW1).  The Hall has been rebuilt recently, but its original fabric is still evident.