John Firth, who kindly contributes the monthly cover drawing, sends us this explanation of this month’s cover.
During the First World War thousands of civilian establishments were used as hospitals for sick and wounded soldiers. These included both public and private buildings. In Sheffield the teacher training college on Ecc lesall Road was taken over and became known as the 3rd Northern General Hospital.
Wounded men would arrive at Sheffield by train and then, as soon as their health would allow, be moved on to an auxiliary hospital. The Duke of Rutland’s Longshaw Lodge was one of many private houses used to nurse the wounded troops. It opened as a hospital in February 1915 and eventually more then sixty men were accommodated at any one time.
Soldiers came to Longshaw from the Western Front and the Dardanelles Campaign and here they were able to recuperate in beautiful surroundings, enjoying walks in the fresh air, boating on the lake or simply sitting in the garden. They were also regularly entertained by visiting performers.
The Duke of Rutland sold the Longshaw Estate in 1927 and it was acquired by the National Trust in 1931. The drawing of soldiers with their nurses in a boat was taken from a collection of photographs reprinted in a free pamphlet currently available at the Longshaw Lodge.