HAVING played a crucial role in
the war effort from 1914 through to 1919, Normanby Hall, near Scunthorpe, has
launched a new exhibition commemorating the auxiliary hospital which occupied
much of its ground floor. It’s part of a Humber region-wide initiative to mark
the centenary of World War I.
The Normanby at War exhibition casts light on the period when the
Sheffield family offered Normanby Hall as the location for a convalescent home,
housing soldiers returning from war who had already been treated for their
sometimes horrific injuries, but who were still not sufficiently recovered to
return home.
‘The story at Normanby Hall was
very similar to that portrayed in Downton
Abbey, when the historic house was turned over to military use, but with
one significant difference – it was not the daughter who took on a nursing
role, but in Normanby Hall’s case, it was Lady Julia who rolled up her sleeves
to help look after the patients, says Susan Hopkinson, museums and heritage
manager for North Lincolnshire Council.
‘Lady Julia took a hands-on role as the hospital commandant, overseeing
how the auxiliary hospital was run for the five years that patients were
admitted here, from a modest start with 25 beds in the dining room, to taking
over much of the ground floor with 75 beds by 1919.’
The exhibition has been funded
as part of the Joining Up The Humber initiative, which has funded the
renovation of one of the rooms within Normanby Hall to create the permanent
display, including oral history recordings, photographs of the patients and
even some of the original beds and medical equipment used at the time.
Alongside the exhibition, the
historic house’s costume gallery will continue the wartime theme, with Keep Calm and Look Fabulous, exploring
how fashion changed from the pre-war styles, through both World Wars and in to the
austerity chic of the early 1950's.
