Men remembered here
The linked biographies identify each man’s connection with this workplace. This is a partial list; the men may have served in different years.
William Henry CAMPBELL
Occupation recorded: Cellarman
Read his storyJohn Robert CLARK
A St Pancras carman whose wife Minnie lived at West Hampstead.
Read his storyJames MANN
A Brentford tramways worker and husband of Emily Mann.
Read his storyRobert PEARCE
A Cardiff cement burner who served as a horse keeper; his wife Agnes lived in Canton.
Read his storyArthur Richard ROUTLEDGE
A veterinary surgeon with a practice in Louth. A mule kick injured his knee while he was serving at No. 3.
Read his storyWarren Stanley THOMPSON
Born at Lakefield, Ontario, he worked as a farmer before becoming a veterinary surgeon and serving in the British AVC.
Read his storyArthur Neville UPTON
Occupation recorded: Farm Bailiff
Read his storyRobert Henry WOOD
Read his storyFurther men recorded with this hospital
What the men did here
Horse keepers, dressers and farriers handled patients, assisted treatment and maintained the stables. Feeding, shoeing, exercise and animal movement continued alongside clinical work.
Pearce served as a horse keeper; Clark’s civilian occupation was carman. Routledge’s knee injury after a mule kick shows the hazards of handling animals.
Where it fitted
No. 3 received animals from other hospitals and discharged patients to remount establishments. The December 1915 figures below show these connections; the entries do not name the men who handled each draft.
Brief history and command
No. 3 was based at Pont-de-Briques, near Boulogne. The precise site has not yet been established. The diary file examined in the earlier research opens at Aldershot on 4 August 1915; that entry does not establish the hospital’s formation date or the start of its commander’s appointment.
John Rowland Hodgkins commanded the hospital during the war. The date on which he assumed command has not yet been established.
Historical material
Animals arriving and leaving, December 1915
| Date | Recorded movement | Animals |
|---|---|---|
| 13 December | Received from No. 13 Veterinary Hospital | 100 |
| 13 December | Discharged to No. 4 Base Remount Depot | 170 |
| 24 December | Received from No. 10 Veterinary Hospital | 204 |
Selected figures summarised from Graham Hodgkins’s diary research: The National Archives, WO 95/4155/6, 13 and 24 December 1915. This is a transcription of figures, not a facsimile of the diary.
Receiving and discharging these drafts required animal handling, identification and preparation. The surviving portraits above give faces to two veterinary officers who served at the hospital.
Sources and further reading
- The National Archives, WO 95/4155/6, entries for 13 and 24 December 1915; the wider hospital sequence is WO 95/4155/6–8.
- Graham Hodgkins, Medal News, hospital-commanders series, Part 3, p. 22. Issue date remains to be confirmed.
- Individual CWGC records and the biographies linked above.