Relatives' Hostel, Hotel des Anglais, Le Touquet

Hotel Des Anglais, Le Touquet (writer Mary Campion)
Imperial War Museum, Women's Work Collection, BRCS 12.7/11

     In the first winter of the War the Duchess of Westminster’s Hospital, afterwards No.1 Red Cross, was opened in the Casino at Le Touquet. After a short period as a General Hospital, it became a hospital for officers only. The number of patients rose, and the Nursing Staff, to which V.A.D.s were added, was largely increased; at the same time the difficulties of providing suitable accommodation grew. A still more pressing need arose for the housing of those wives and near relatives who were allowed to visit patients in the hospital; the hotels in Paris Plage and Le Touquet, with few exceptions having been requisitioned as hospitals, lodging was difficult to obtain, and exceedingly costly. The B.R.C.S. determined to provide the accommodation needed, and accordingly, the Hotel des Anglais was taken by the Society, and opened in October 1915 as a Red Cross Hospital, under the management of a V.A.D. Commandant and a staff mainly composed of V.A.D.s.

     The Hostel was very fortunately situated, being within three minutes walk of the hospital. It is charmingly designed and was peculiarly adapted to the Society’s purpose, having two wings connected by long dining rooms, and otherwise independent of each other. It has a pleasant, shady garden, still almost a part of the Forest of Le Touquet, on the edge of which the Hotel was built. The Westminster Nursing Staff and the V.A.D. Hostel staff were housed in the upper stories of the larger wing. Some of the rooms on the ground floor became offices of the Etaples branch of the Missing and Wounded Enquiry Department; the rest of the rooms on that floor were used as bedrooms for members of the Enquiry Department, chaplains attached to the hospitals, voluntary drivers and other male workers. The whole of the second wing, with the exception of two rooms reserved for an eminent physician and his wife, who worked in the Etaples hospitals, was given up to the relations of dangerously wounded and sick officers, the plan of the Hotel affording them separate and quiet accommodation apart from the Nursing staff and other workers housed in the larger wing.

     The Hotel des Anglais was the first hostel opened to receive ‘Relatives’ and its opening, principally for that purpose, was in the nature of an experiment. The experiment proved successful. The work of housing such guests was peculiarly suited to the Red Cross Society which was troubled with little red tape and which placed human needs above other considerations. Owing to a very general and very gratifying appreciation of the hospitality shown to its visitors, the Anglais became the pioneer of other Hostels opened in each Army Base. It differed only from the later hostels, in that it was not exclusively reserved for relations of officers on the D.I. list. At the Anglais, the visitors were always inferior numerically to the other inmates, but their position was that of guests, very specially honoured by the Red Cross Society, their host, and by the V.A.D. Staff who represented the Society.

     From the moment when their guests landed at Boulogne, to be sent out to Le Touquet in a car attached to the Hotel for that purpose, until they embarked, after their return journey to Boulogne, the Society’s workers realised that these, often unhappy, sometimes heartbroken, always anxious men and women, were all people most entitled to consideration. None needed help more than the wives and mothers and fathers racked by fear and anxiety, prolonged in many cases from week to week, prolonged sometimes for months. The V.A.D.s, brought into close contact with the most acute mental suffering, learnt to be grateful if they could relieve it in the smallest degree. Verbal sympathy offered to anyone in very great grief seems an impertinence when offered by strangers. Sympathy, when it can be expressed by ministering to the needs of those in sorrow, helps not only the recipient but the giver. The thought that the Anglais was not merely a hostel, but a friend’s house in which nothing was lacking that could be provided for the guests’ comfort, alone made it possible to continue in this special branch of Red Cross work. The length of stay varied from a few days to several months. While the patient lived, and until he was out of danger his relatives could remain. One mother stayed over five months before her son’s living, but terribly mutilated body was taken to England.

     No charge of any kind was made. Some wealthy visitors gave large donations to Red Cross Funds; others with less means, gave most generously. Many could give nothing. But whether they gave much or little, or nothing at all, they were equally welcomed and equally honoured. Indeed, the Society and its representatives felt that such a Hostel as the Hotel des Anglais best fulfilled its purpose when it housed people in straitened circumstances, who could not have afforded the cheapest hotel and lodging. There were many such wives and parents, especially in the last two years of the war when the officers were drawn from all classes. The mixture of classes caused no embarrassment. As the officers of the New Army were representative of the nation, so were their relatives at the Anglais. For a little time, while they stayed under one roof, wealthy people, men and women of good social position, little village shopkeepers, labourers and their wives, suffered together, feared together, hoped together and helped each other.

     The Hotel des Anglais remained open for three years; during most of that time the daily number of inmates lay somewhere between 120 and 160. Hostels as a rule are opened to accommodate one class of people engaged in one kind of employment. The residents at the Anglais were of both sexes and were engaged in various kinds of work. The guests were of every class and of every age, from grandparents to babies in arms. The diversity of the inmates added enormously to the interest, but it increased the work. For instance: five dinners, five breakfasts and five luncheons were served daily in the dining rooms instead of the two usually given in a nurses’ hostel. As the Commandant was responsible for running the Hotel des Anglais with due regard to both economy and efficiency, she undertook the catering, prepared for fortnightly returns of cash and receipts and drew up the monthly statement, showing the total expenditure of the establishment together with the number of inmates taken from the daily nominal roll.

     The Quartermaster had charge of the store room, but her work lay principally among the visitors. For nearly three years she spent herself for others; rejoiced and sorrowed with them and devoted herself to their comfort whenever they needed her by day or night; showing a practical sympathy and an absolute unselfishness beyond all praise. The V.A.D. Staff was a good one. Much of the work was monotonous, some of it was hard and even unpleasant for untrained voluntary workers. Dusting, and sweeping, and cooking, washing-up and waiting at table are most useful, but not exciting forms of labour. It is greatly to their credit that many remained over two years, few left under eighteen months. The head cooks had the hardest task, for in their case responsibility was combined with manual labour. Fortunately the two members who successively held this post showed that they possessed powers of organization and of coping with difficulties most essential in such a busy kitchen.
No.1 Red Cross Hospital was closed in August 1918. Early in the following October, after some discussion as to its future, the Hotel des Anglais was handed over to the Army and from that date ceased to exist as a Red Cross Unit.

While browsing the web, I followed someone else's link to this account, and luckily came across a web page with a photo of the Hotel des Anglais.  I have to admit that the picture I'd formed of it my mind was nothing at all like the reality!  But I'm very pleased to have found it.