We see and hear so little of New Zealand forces that when I came across these photos I thought I would post ! In 1916 Oatlands Park Hotel was requisitioned and during the War was used as a Casualty Hospital for the New Zealand Forces serving in France. New Zealand Avenue, at the end of Oatlands Drive, is named in memory of the New Zealanders who died here. Plaque from outside the gates of Mount Felix, a house in Walton which was used by New Zealand forces as a hospital during the first world war. It reads "THIS TABLET IS ERECTED AD 1921 BY THE INHABITANTS OF WALTON ON THAMES TO COMMEMORATE THE 27000 FELLOW SUBJECTS FROM THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND WHO WOUNDED OR DISABLED IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918 WERE CARED FOR AT THE MILITARY HOSPITALS IN MOUNT FELIX & OATLANDS PARK AND SEVENTEEN OF THESE MEN LIE BURIED IN WALTON CEMETERY THEIR BODIES ARE BURIED IN PEACE BUT THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE" http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/ObjectDetails.aspx?oid=900352 http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Theme.aspx?irn=818 Oatlands Park At this time, Oatlands Park, a hotel, was being used as a hospital by the New Zealand Expeditionary Force for medical and tuberculosis cases and limbless men (informally known as 'limbies'). Oatlands Park was a few miles south-west of No. 2 New Zealand General Hospital at Walton-on-Thames. It was also near the Queen Mary Convalescent Hospital at Roehampton where the amputees could be fitted with artificial limbs. World War I and limbless veterans Thousands of Allied soldiers ended up maimed and limbless as a result of the conflict of 1914-1918. While a relatively small number of New Zealand soldiers suffered amputations (just over 1000 were listed as limbless war pensioners in 1924), over 41,000 British servicemen required the amputation of a limb. Gas gangrene The impact of shellfire and a condition known as 'gas gangrene' necessitated this phenomenal number of amputations. Without penicillin or surgical intervention, gas gangrene could be fatal. It occurred as infected wounds ballooned up with gas from bacteria found in the muddy quagmires of the trenches and battlefields. Rehabilitation The Red Cross set up vocational workshops at Oatlands Park, where men learnt new occupational skills. In May 1918, the work of New Zealand limbies was displayed in London to coincide with a conference on the 'After Care of Disabled Soldiers'. Delegates reported that the New Zealanders' work was the 'best and most practical display in the whole exhibition'. http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz/lo...XML&num_result=0&&&Object_Layout=about_object http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz/lo...L&num_result=45&Object_Layout=view_collection Picture of the Oatlands Park Hotel as it is now !
