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The Dick Institute Auxiliary Hospital

The Dick Institute Auxiliary Hospital

 During the First World War, Kilmarnock's  Dick Institute saw service as an auxiliary hospital for soldiers wounded in France. Many of these photos were taken in November 1917, during the year that The Dick Institute was converted from a space of arts and culture to one of healing. Over 3000 buildings and venues such as private homes, town halls and schools were established as temporary hospitals in towns and cities across the UK. These hospitals were organisationally attached to a central military hospital which cared for patients under military orders. Patients in auxiliary hospitals did not generally have life-threatening injuries and stayed in these wards to convalesce. Compared to military hospitals, auxiliary hospitals were smaller, less strict, less clinical and more homely. This meant that wounded servicemen often preferred these converted wards to more formal military infirmaries.



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