A Higher Purpose:
Newcastle University at War

Newcastle University evolved from two nineteenth century educational establishments: the College of Medicine (1834) and the College of Science (1871).

After starting life through lectures given at the Barber Surgeons’ Company Hall in the Manors, the College of Medicine eventually found a permanent home in Orchard Street (below) in 1852, coinciding with formal recognition of the qualifications it awarded.

The College of Science was initially housed in a number of rooms rented from, amongst others, the College of Medicine itself. Following the expansion of the railways, which served both colleges a notice to quit their premises in 1884, the College of Medicine relocated to Northumberland Road, where it enjoyed one of the most up to date premises in the country. This is now Northumbria University’s Sutherland Building.

It took some time for a suitable location for the College of Science to be found, but in 1886, land for a new college building was purchased on the site of Lax’s Gardens, thus named because it was formerly in the possession of a Mrs Lax.

Construction of the new College of Science began in 1887 and progressed in stages until finally completed in 1904 and officially opened by King Edward VII in 1906.

The above image of the site plan appears to have been created between 1888 and 1891. The phase 1 building of the Armstrong Building has been completed and a location drawn on for the remainder of the building work. We know from this and other plans that all 3 phases were planned before any construction took place.

The drawing also shows the extent of the land owned by the college, shown in a red line. It may have been drafted soon after the completion of phase 1 for the purpose of record keeping, but also as a propaganda tool. It is quite decorative for a simple survey, serving as an illustration for the college to show the potential for new buildings.

At this time it was very difficult to find funding for building work, so the college may not have known how long it would be until they built the next phase.

It was decided to name the institution and building ‘Armstrong’ in recognition of the support local scientist and businessman Lord Armstrong gave to the college in its early days.

The Armstrong Building still exists as the largest building in the University quadrangle facilitating many diverse teaching needs.

Background image: Plan of Durham College of Science (c. 1888-1891)

The 3 photographs shown on the left (scroll down to reveal each one) show the development of the Armstrong Building in becoming a focal point and the oldest building in Newcastle University's quadrangle.

Phase 1...

This phase was designed by local architect Robert J. Johnson in 1886 and constructed between 1887 and 1888. It comprised the north east wing which faces onto the university quadrangle. Johnson described the style as ‘early Jacobean English’, including ornamental gargoyles and Gothic style buttresses. Lord Armstrong laid the foundation stone in 1887 and this can be seen on the façade facing the quadrangle.

The quadrangle itself was paved during the construction of phase 1, further highlighting the College’s intention to expand.

Phase 1 was opened by HRH Princess Louise on 5th November 1889.

Phase 2...

The original architect Robert J. Johnson initiated the design of phase 2 working closely with Frank W. Rich. After Johnson died in 1892, Rich carried out the remaining works up to completion. Phase 2 forms an L. shape comprising the south east and south west wings of the Armstrong Building. The Jubilee Tower sits centrally within the south east elevation and was built to mark Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, using money from the 1887 Town Moor Exhibition. The tower originally signified the main entrance to the College, with the south east elevation forming the primary frontage to the city centre.

Phase 2 opened in 1894.

Phase 3...

This phase consists of the North West wing, which faces Queen Victoria Road and was designed and built between 1903 and 1906. The plans for phase 3 were initially developed by the original architect Robert J. Johnson but completed by W. H. Knowles. The design signaled a distinct shift in architectural style from the Gothic overtones of the first 2 phases and instead embraces Italian classical traditions. The elaborate 3 story frontage onto Queen Victoria Road became the formal entrance defined by the seven story tower which contributes to the building’s prestige. King’s Hall, which became a ward during World War I, was part of these phase 3 works.

On completion of phase 3, King Edward VII officially opened the Armstrong Building on 11th July 1906.

Life on the Wards

Over the course of the war, Newcastle University as the First Northern General Hospital took in at least 41,896 servicemen; both from home and overseas. Wounded from France were taken from one of several south coast ports by ambulance train to one of the hospitals, being treated on route. This would often be a slow process and such convoys would be a spectacle and a focal point for local people. In theory, the wounded could request a hospital near their home, but this may have actually been more to do with where there were vacancies. We know of at least 2 alumni of the University who did come back to be treated with differing outcomes.

From what we know about life on the wards from photographs and rare written sources, the soldiers would pass the time when they were well enough relaxing in the grounds, smoking, reading, and undertaking handicrafts such as lace work and embroidery.

When they were well enough to venture outside the walls of the hospital, they wore distinctive pale blue flannel suits and red ties to identify them as wounded personnel. A stigma existed for men of military age remaining at home as accusations of cowardice would often arise.

The wounded are reported as being treated very well by local people and were often sent sweets, tobacco, and other luxury goods.

Background image: Photograph of wounded servicemen and staff on Ward A of the First Northern General Hospital, NUA/041017-21

Professor Frederick Charles Pybus (1883 - 1975)

Pybus was a surgeon and alumni of our College of Medicine, graduating in 1905. He joined the First Northern General Hospital shortly after its formation and was serving as its Registrar in 1914. As a Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps, except for a brief posting at the 17th General Hospital in Egypt, he served as a surgeon at Armstrong College throughout the war. Up until 1919, he carried out at least 1,364 operations on wounded servicemen.

Professor Pybus went on to have a distinguished career as a surgeon in the Royal Victoria Infirmary from 1920 until his retirement in 1944, becoming Professor of Surgery in the College of Medicine in 1941. Amongst his claims to fame was inventing a drink to sustain patients before operations, which was later developed and sold by a local chemist to Beechams, becoming Lucozade.

His lifelong concerns included cancer research, developed during his 50 year surgical career from 1924 and pursued through his own cancer research laboratory. He was amongst the first to make the link to atmospheric pollution as a major contributing cause of cancer and his work directly informed the Clean Air Act 1956.

For some 40 years Professor Pybus also built up a collection of international importance on the history of medicine, including books, engravings, letters, portraits, busts and bleeding bowls. In 1965, he donated the collection to the Library, where it remains a valuable source of information for medical historians. Find out more in the Pybus (Professor Frederick) Collection and Archive.

Professor Pybus and the First Northern General Hospital

Professor Pybus had been the Registrar of the First Northern General Hospital, joining shortly after it’s formation and serving as Registrar in 1914. As a Major in the Royal Medical Corps, he served briefly at the 17th General Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt between March and November 1915, but for the majority of the war he was a surgeon based on the requisitioned premises of Armstrong College.

Here, he carried out around 1,364 operations between 14th September 1914 and 12th April 1919, all detailed in his Operation Log Book.

A gap in this log book between the middle of December 1917 and May 1918 and the letters between him and the hospital tells us Pybus suffered from neuritis (inflamed nerves) which led to him being demobilised for a short period. Despite still suffering, he seems to have been forced back against his will, with Pybus concerned he was not capable of performing his often life saving duties.

Professor Pybus and the Origins of Lucozade

A story which has almost passed into local folklore is Professor Pybus’ hand in the creation of a household name; the energy drink Lucozade.

Pybus himself verifies this story in a note present in the archive, which were donated shortly after his books in 1965. He describes how, during his student days working as a House-Surgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in 1908, he lost a young patient following a seemingly successful operation. It was felt that this was because the child was starved, leading to them not being able to break down the chloroform used as an anaesthetic and resulting in a slow poisoning of the liver. This tragic event clearly affected the young Pybus. When he became surgeon at the Fleming Memorial Hospital for Sick Children following his graduation, he made his patients drink a glucose drink he devised prior to surgery and when they had a fever, to stop this happening again.

An enterprising chemist in Barras Bridge called William Owen provided the ingredients as a prescription, but noticing its popularity started making it himself and indeed perfected the recipe, with Pybus admitting he had “a taste of sulphur bi-oxide which most glucose had in order to prevent fermentation.”

Owen called this drink Glucozade but, in 1938, Beecham pharmaceutical company realised the commercial potential and bought the formulae for the then princely sum of “about £10,000”, and Lucozade was born. Pybus admits in this note that although he had no share in this “I sometimes wish I had”. However, it was clearly a comfort that, in respect of the child that died, Pybus felt on his wards the Lucozade prototype “prevented this happening so far as I know for ever afterwards.”

Background image: Photograph of Frederick Charles Pybus, c.1905, FP/3/4/32 (Frederick Charles Pybus Archive)

Universities at War was a collaborative HLF-funded First World War project led by Newcastle and Durham Universities in which volunteers conducted research to be able to tell the stories of the fallen associated with both institutions whether students, alumni, or staff. Searching through class lists, course handbooks, registration documents, graduation lists and student magazines, they have slowly pieced together the lives of those who appeared simply as a list of names on Newcastle and Durham University's war memorials of these two inst.

As part of the project, a digital memory book was created, to tell the stories of the fallen. You can browse and search these fallen servicemen on the Universities at War website.

At the time of the First World War, these two institutions were united within the larger University of Durham (Newcastle University was formed in 1923 under the Universities of Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne Act 1963). Also, the university and its associated colleges comprised an unusual group of technical and professional institutions, with a strong local student and alumni body, and more traditional colleges, with a wider national and international population. Universities at War therefore offers a view of the lives of an unusual group of men from all over the country and across diverse socio-economic groups.

Huge thanks must go to our team of volunteers, without whom none of this could have been achieved, and to those with a personal connection to our servicemen whose willingness to contribute family stories and photographs has so enriched this resource.

Background image: Photograph of the Universities at War digital memory book, in front of the Armstrong Memorial

Major Alexander Kirkland Robb

Durham Light Infantry, 2nd Battalion
Date of death: Sunday, 20 September, 1914
Age 42

Born in 1872 in India, his father was Lieutenant Colonel John Robb of the Indian Medical Service. He was educated in Aberdeen and, on selecting the Army as his career, he went to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. Here, in January 1893, he obtained the sword of honour and passed out first in his year.

He was posted to the Durham Light Infantry, 2nd Battalion, on 20th May 1893, then serving in India.

After this early active service, in 1912 Alexander came to Newcastle, becoming involved in instructing the University’s Officer Training Corps and later being appointed Lecturer in Military History.

On the outbreak of World War I, he was mobilised to Northern France and saw his first engagement at the Battle of Aisne. Whilst leading a counter attack on 20th September 1914, he was severely wounded in a bayonet charge, but continued to lead his men up to around 30 yards from the German trenches.

2 men from his battalion carried him back to the British trenches whilst under fire, one of whom was wounded and the other killed performing this brave action. He died from his wounds in a hospital at Troyon the same night. Alexander is the second oldest of the fallen from Armstrong College at 42 and one of six Majors; the highest rank to feature.

Background image: Photograph of Major Alexander Kirkland Robb