By 1940 the Royal Army Medical Corps were operating at ‘Chartham Military Hospital’ at St Augustine’s Hospital, Chartham. This was a Victorian Lunatic Asylum (1875), with one wing converted for use as a military hospital. The said wing was very new – in fact not quite finished (possibly the admissions wing?). The remainder of the hospital formed a civil-defence emergency hospital, with an air-raid siren fixed at the laundry, and there also seem to have been some of the accustomed inmates still present. In mid May and June 1940 this was listed as a Main Dressing Station, occupied by 167 Field Ambulance. 130 Field Ambulance followed, replaced in turn by 131 Field Ambulance in May 1944. (An administrative exercise of this year addressed, among many other concerns, the eventuality of a break-out of the inmates). Kenneth Hulbert confided in his diary that: ‘the fields all around had obstacles in them — farm carts, hurdles, fences and wires — to stop planes and gliders landing’. All but the chapel and water tower have now been demolished to make way for a housing estate.
Owner : Unknown
Publicly accessible : Yes
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential :
Condition : Destroyed
Date of visit :

Kenneth Hulbert, Contribution to BBC People’s War online project (Digital archive). SKE15315.

Kenneth Hulbert, Contribution to BBC People’s War online project (Digital archive). Ske15315.

Jonann Melville-Smith, My War (Digital archive). SKE15316.

Jonann Melville-Smith, My War (Digital archive). Ske15316.

64 Field Regiment Royal Artillery, 01/01/40, War Diary 64 Field Regiment Royal Artillery 1940 (Unpublished document). SKE15318.

64 Field Regiment Royal Artillery, 01/01/40, War Diary 64 Field Regiment Royal Artillery 1940 (Unpublished document). Ske15318.

90 Field Regiment Royal Artillery, 01/01/40, War Diary 90 Field Regiment Royal Artillery 1940 (Unpublished document). SKE15317.

90 Field Regiment Royal Artillery, 01/01/40, War Diary 90 Field Regiment Royal Artillery 1940 (Unpublished document). Ske15317.

44 Division General Staff, 01/01/41, War Diary 44 Division General Staff (Unpublished document). SKE15319.

44 Division General Staff, 01/01/41, War Diary 44 Division General Staff (Unpublished document). Ske15319.

49 Battalion Royal Tanks Regiment, 01/01/41, War Diary 49 Battalion Royal Tanks Regiment 1941 (Unpublished document). SKE15321.

49 Battalion Royal Tanks Regiment, 01/01/41, War Diary 49 Battalion Royal Tanks Regiment 1941 (Unpublished document). Ske15321.

12 Corps Headquarters, 01/01/43, War Diary 12 Corps 1943 (Unpublished document). SKE15320.

12 Corps Headquarters, 01/01/43, War Diary 12 Corps 1943 (Unpublished document). Ske15320.