Paid three Shillings a day

On the 12^th January 1916 Corporal Charles Henry Bush, serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was appointed Clerk. He was serving with 35th Company and was based at the New End Military Hospital in Hampsted.

New End Military Hospital

Charles had been born and grew up in Wimbledon, Surrey. He had served in South Africa and had been stationed at No. 9 General Hospital in Nantes during 1914, returning back to England at Christmas 1914. In July 1915 he had been promoted to Corporal and now with his new appointment he was being paid 3 Shillings a day.

As part of the application Charles was required to submit a letter to check hand writing and composition and in it he describes his experience as a clerk, a job he had done for over four years, including being a clerk in the office of the PMO Cape Colony and that he had been appointed as the chief clerk at the New End Military Hospital on the 25^th March 1915.

Hand writing test

His elder brother Alfred Charles Morris Bush, a Regimental Sergeant Major with the RAMC had been killed in Gallipoli in August 1915

Home by Christmas

23^rd December 1914

Home by Christmas

Private Charles Henry Bush (my 1^st Cousin 3 times removed) 100 years ago was serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) and had been out with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France since August 20^th.

Charles was serving at No 9 General Hospital, which had been initially established in Nantes at the outbreak of war and it had moved to Rouen in November 1914.

The common perception when war broke out in August 1914 was that the conflict would be all over by Christmas and everyone would be return home victorious.

How wrong that would prove to be! 

However, for Charles Bush, on the 23^rd December 1914, that situation was about to change. After 126 days in France, Charles, aged 36, was posted to New End Military Hospital, Hampsted and was home for Christmas Eve 1914.

New End Military Hospital

A huge change from the tented general hospitals based in Rouen. This new military hospital was established to cope with the ever increasing number of wounded servicemen from the front. Originally a Workhouse, which closed in January 1915 to become a military Hospital.

Tony

Royal Army Medical Corps - 20th August 1914

On the 20th August 1914, Charles Henry Bush (my 1st Cousin 3 times removed) embarked for France with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) having been mobilised from the Army reserve on the 5th August 1914 with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) No. 9 General Hospital as a private. He had re-enlisted in the reserve in May 1913 having previously joined the RAMC at the age of 21 on the 23rd May 1901, at that time he was working as a barman. He served in South Africa from December 1901 to September 1904 being awarded the Queens medal with 4 clasps including Cape Colony.

He married Edith Pearson on 12th June 1905 and had their first child, Charles Alfred exactly 1 year later. By 1911 Charles, Edith & Charles along with their 2nd son Herbert were living at 69 Pelham Road, Wimbledon, with Charles' occupation listed as a bill poster for a theatre. Herbert died a few months later just as their daughter Edith was born.

Royal Army Medical Corps Cap Badge

Charles was born in Wimbledon in 1878, the son of Charles Henry Bush and Caroline Wigman, he was one of 5 children, an elder sister and brother Louisa and Alfred and younger siblings Nellie and William. His father Charles had died young at only 34 and his mother had re-married to William Clack, a scavenger with Wimbledon Borough Council, having a further 7 children. All living at 11 Ashbourne Terrace, Wimbledon, which had been the Bush family home before his father's death.

Charles was 5 foot 7 inches tall, with a fresh complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair and was 36 when the Great War started.

His elder brother, by 3 years, Alfred Charles Morris Bush had also served in the RAMC in the Boer War and had remained in the services, by 1911 he was a staff sergeant with the London Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance. Alfred also served with the RAMC in WW1, he was married to Ellen and had two children Amy and George.

His cousin William Alfred Bush had already been mobilised and was already in France, serving with the Army Service Corps in Rouen. Charles Henry Bush was posted to No. 9 General Hospital, which was initially based in Nantes.

Tony

References
1911 census - Ancestry.com
WW1 British Army Service records - Ancestry.com
Queens South Africa medal info - Wikipedia