A Higher Purpose:
Newcastle University at War
Find out how the First World War impacted on the University 100 years on through using original photographs and documents from the University Archives...
A Work in Progress:
Newcastle University up to 1914
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)
First Northern General Hospital:
A Tale of 3 Buildings
Before the war, accommodation in military hospitals was approximately 7,000 beds. By the end there was 364,133. Local Government and other municipal bodies, as well as private individuals, were expected to cooperate with the Army Medical Service to install military hospitals in existing buildings. This placed a huge strain on the University on finding buildings to accommodate injured servicemen.
The war effort essentially took over Armstrong College’s 3 major teaching centres in order to function as the greatest part of the First Northern General Hospital for wounded military personnel.
These 3 buildings were:
Armstrong Building
The Armstrong Building was the first and original and built in 3 phases. The final phase, (fronting on to Queen Victoria Road) was opened on 11th July 1906 by King Edward VII.
Armstrong College was one of the institutions requisitioned to house the First Northern General Hospital. While Newcastle wasn’t alone in this respect, with similar Colleges requisitioned in Leeds, Birmingham, Sheffield and London, it meant many buildings could not be used for teaching purposes until October 1919.
King Edward VII School of Art
The second building (the original part of the Fine Art Building and the “Arches”) was opened in 1911 as the King Edward VII School of Art following a donation of £10,000 from a local mine-owner. This is now part of the Hatton Gallery.
Agriculture Building
Finally in 1914 the Agriculture Building was built (now part of the Architecture Building), through a donation of £5,000 by Dr Clement Stephenson, a local veterinary surgeon. Before the College could occupy this last building, it was requisitioned, meaning it was a hospital before teaching there had even taken place.
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.
Back to Blighty:
Life on the Wards of the First Northern General Hospital
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
Read and Recuperate
A popular way to pass the time both on the trenches and on the wards, was by reading magazines and comics making light of the conflict. Punch magazine (as read by the man in the image on the right, on Ward A.6 of the First Northern General Hospital) was an immensely popular satirical paper similar in tone to today’s Private Eye. It was seen as an unbiased view of the war, using comedy in a cathartic way to assuage the growing fears of the public at large.
Where Punch was aimed at a middle class readership, the Bystander, a weekly tabloid magazine, offered a much more popular view. Its height of popularity came during World War I, largely because of Captain Bruce Bairnsfather’s regular cartoons depicting life in the trenches. These were often considered crude and vulgar for the time, typically demonstrating a gallows humour soldiers could identify with.
In 1915, the Northumberland Handicrafts Guild suspended most of their activities to concentrate on providing classes to wounded soldiers; one of the first organisations to take up this calling as the need for some definite employment was required. A complaint from a soldier at the First Northern General Hospital led several ladies to volunteer their time and expertise in instructing on leather-work, basket-making, rug-making, and embroidery.
These wounded soldier classes led to ten exhibitions with prizes over the course of the war, the majority held in King's Hall in theArmstrong Buildings. These pieces were sold and all profits given to charities, amounting to £342 11s. 4d. by the end of the war. The Queen was also given specimens of the men’s work on the Royal Visit to Newcastle in 1917.
The Guild returned to its original activities in March 1919. As related in the Annual Reports however, both the Guild and medical staff felt the work was hugely beneficial in aiding the recovery of those wounded. They even adapted their teaching styles to account for the tastes of the patients, but the Honrary Secretary does comment “A restraining influence had occasionally to be applied when men wanted to develop so-called crafts that the Guild did not want to encourage.”
Background image: Section from photograph of wounded servicemen and staff on Ward A6 of the First Northern General Hospital, showing a serviceman holding PUNCH magazine, NUA/041017-12
Home for Christmas
What was it like at Christmas on the First Northern General Hospital? These 3 postcards from the University Archives (below) consist of images taken on the wards and feature both patients in flannel suits and ties, Royal Army Medical Corps personnel in uniforms, nurses, and the matron.
A note on the back of all 3 tell us they were taken around Christmas 1915 on wards on the ground floor of the Armstrong Building and were sent by a ‘D. Robinson’ to an address in Corbridge, Northumberland.
Life on the Wards:
THEN and NOW
Scroll down to reveal photographs of University buildings that accommodated the First Northern General Hospital.
Uncover what they looked like THEN between 1914-1919 and what they look like NOW, 100 years on.
Professor Pybus:
Surgeon/Inventor/Pioneer/Scholar
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)