Oxford Inscriptions: Third Southern General Hospital: Somerville
THE / THIRD SOUTHERN GENERAL / HOSPITAL OCCUPIED THIS SITE / BETWEEN 1915 AND 1919
THE POETS / ROBERT GRAVES (1895–1985) / AND / SIEGFRIED SASSOON (1886–1967)
WERE BOTH PATIENTS HERE
This plaque was installed on Somerville College to mark the hundredth anniversary of the end of the First World War, and was unveiled on 11 November 2018 by Baroness Shirley Williams (Somerville, 1948), the daughter of Vera Brittain (Somerville, 1914). William Graves (the son of Robert Graves) and Jessica Gatty and Rhoda Bucknill (Sassoon's nieces, and Fiona Gatty (his great-niece) were present and they read out poetry. Vera Brittain’s biographer Mark Bostridge gave an address discussing the development of Vera Brittain's pacifism as a result of the war. Jan Royall, the Principal of Somerville, laid a wreath on behalf of the members of the College in remembrance of those whose lives were lost or for ever changed by the conflict.
In April 1915 Somerville College, which was conveniently situated next door to the Radcliffe Infirmary, was taken over by the War Office to house convalescing soldiers. This was just one of the nine buildings (not including VAD hospitals) that formed the 3rd Southern General Hospital.
The students of Somerville (then a college for women only) were evacuated to Oriel College, most of whose students were serving on the front line. A wall was built to separate the few men who remained from the Somerville women.
A total of 262 beds were provided here for convalescing soldiers: at first it was for all ranks, but in 1916 it was designated for officers only.
The Library was not used by recuperating servicemen, but they were allowed to sit under the sheltered loggia at the front.
Right: The old main entrance to Walton House when the college was occupied by the hospital
