This unit was formed at Valcartier in September, 1914. Medical personnel from all over Canada sailed to London and set up base for training near Hampstead in Mount Vernon Hospital. It had already been taken over by the War Office and converted to a Military Hospital. After leaving London, the unit encamped for 20 days near Le Havre. In March, 1915, orders were received to erect a 300-bed tent hospital at Wimereux near Boulogne and patients started arriving in April. The activity of the Hospital grew quickly and beds were soon increased to 400.
In July, a state of confusion existed, the Hospital in France was disbanded and the #1 Canadian Stationary Hospital moved first to Malta, then Alexandria via their hospital ship Asturias. After their arrival in Alexandria, the nursing sisters were told to transfer to the Delta and proceeded to Lemnos.
The Sisters of #1 Canadian Stationary Hospital
Conditions in Lemnos were difficult . Water, food and sanitation supplies were inadequate. Outbreaks of dysentery and scurvy at Gallipoli meant that the nurses were pushed to the limit and many fell ill themselves. The medical unit evacuated Lemnos in January, 1916.
The unit proceeded to Alexandria and thence to Salonika, arriving on February
27, 1916. Six months later all personnel from this first draft returned to England.
Source: War Story of the Canadian Army Medical Corps V.1 (Toronto: Mission
Book Co., 1918)
Source: Recent History Atlas (London : Cox & Wyman Ltd., 1966)
Source: Historical Atlas of Canada: Addressing the Twentieth Century Vol.
III, Plate 26 (Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 1990)
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