Medical dates:

Medical character:

By the end of 1916 the Eastern Command was in great need of another auxiliary hospital, and a suitable hotel was found in Hampton Court.  An Appeal was launched to raise £1,800 to equip the building, but £2,000 was quickly collected from the local population.

The Hampton Court Auxiliary Military Hospital was ready by January 1917 with 104 beds.  It was officially opened on 3rd February by the politician Arthur Stanley (1869-1947).

The Hospital was affiliated to the Horton (County of London) Military Hospital.  It was well-equipped and had an operating theatre.

It was run by the Middlesex/28 Voluntary Aid Detachment (V.A.D.), with volunteers coming from the surrounding villages, including Hampton Hill.   The Commandant of the V.A.D. undertook the administration, but the nursing care was overseen by the Sister-in-Charge, a qualified nurse.  The King granted permission for the Gift House at the Royal Mews to be used as nursing accommodation.

Recreation Rooms and a Billiard Room were available for convalescent patients.

In 1917 a neighbouring property to the west of the Hospital - Mellison House - was taken over as an annexe.  The Hospital then had 140 beds.

The Hospital closed at the end of the war in 1918.

In 1921, when the accounts of the V.A.D. were wound up, a donation of £1,032 was given to the Molesey Hospital to endow a bed, with the proviso that, as far as possible, it should be reserved for the relatives and dependents of servicemen.  The gift was commemorated by an oak plaque placed in the Board Room of the Molesey Hospital.

Present status (November 2013)

After the war the building became the Whitehall Motor Club until the 1930s when it was the Hampton Court Hotel.   In 1933 the Thames Motor Cruiser Club moved its headquarters into the Hotel.  At the outbreak of WW2 in 1939 the property was requisitioned for use as an annexe for the Bearsted Memorial Hospital and became the Bearsted Maternity Hospital.

The building has now been converted into apartments and is known as Rotary Court.