In 1915 the V.A.D. (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Hospital was opened under General Buston and Mrs Lambert in the house of Mr H.L. Storey at Broughall Cottage. They had beds for 20 patients and two trained nurses to look after soldiers from the front. Monetary donations and gifts of food and cigarettes were regularly featured in the Whitchurch Herald.
Philip Buston was born in Twyford, Hampshire in 1853, the son of the Reverend Roger Buston and his wife Anne Mary Buston. He joined the Royal Engineers and became a major in 1889. He served during the Boer War and was awarded the D.S.O. in 1901. After retiring from the army he went to live at Tilstock Lodge, Whitchurch.
Herbert Lushington Storey was born in Lancaster in 1853, the eldest son of Sir Thomas Storey. He had many business interests including the family's industrial firm. In 1882 he married Miss Emily Muriel Fisher of Cheadle and they had two children. Herbert was a philanthropist, giving money to many academic, educational and social causes. In 1910 Mrs Storey died at Broughall Cottage, Whitchurch. The following year H.L. Storey was elected President of the Whitchurch and District Agricultural Society. He also hunted with the Cheshire, North Shropshire and Sir Watkin Wynn's Hounds.
Do you have any diaries written by women from ww1? I am involved in a research based in the Qube Oswestry?
Unfortunately we don’t have any diaries just letters.
I am researching a soldier who spent time at the Broughall Cottage VAD hospital. Do you have any more photos?
Hi Ben. We have been in touch via email so just let us know when you’ll be visiting Whitchurch and we’ll have the Broughall Cottage VAD hospital info waiting for you to look through.
Hi I am researching the ambulance service in Salop prior to the establishment of the NHS in 1948. I have discovered that before this date, ambulance provision was the responsibility of the local constabulary and voluntary organisations such as the Red Cross and St John. Please would you be able to help me with any information? Many thanks
Many thanks for your enquiry. We don’t have any material in our archives specifically relating to the ambulance service in Whitchurch and the surrounding area. There is evidence that the railway companies also provided ambulance services, but it is not clear whether these were limited to the railways or applied more widely? If it helps, we have a locally written book ‘Whitchurch Hospitals, their history & medical care’ by Dr John Clayton which we can make available at the cost of £5. We have also recently undertaken research into Nursing Associations and would be happy to send you a copy of that research. Let us know if you would like to follow up on either of these
Terry Fry
Volunteer, Whitchurch Museum & Archives