Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital in the Blitz

14/15th November 1940 

Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital was designated in Coventry's Civil Defence Scheme as the "Base Hospital" to take all cases too serious to be dealt with in the network of First aid posts and Casualty Clearing Stations. It displayed a large red cross in lights on the roof. However this did not offer much protection, and the hospital was hit at 8.00 p.m. and then again at 8.30 p.m. Half of the In-patient accommodation was destroyed and several wards were seriously damaged by blast. Many of the stores, laundry,  workshops, staff quarters and other property were damaged. By midnight the hospital was without water, sewerage, electricity and windows.  

The hospital continued to receive casualties during the  night and surgeons continued to work in operating theatres without electricity and open to the air.. The hospital had 440 beds, 275 of which were occupied at the start of the raid and at least 300 more were admitted during the night. The newer patients were put on top of the beds and the older ones beneath. Despite the  conditions, miraculously no patients were killed in the air raid although one soldier was killed in the grounds. After the raids, 260 patients were evacuated from the hospital to other hospitals in the region, many in a fleet of American ambulances.

Nurse "Spenny" Spencer was on duty that night.

St. John's Ambulance Brigade outside the hospital in 1939	Student nurses, Christmas 1939	Ambulance on top of Gulson Balcony	Damage from the April bombing was very serious.
The Recreation Room	Edward and Alexandra Ward	Edward Ward	Boiler House
Damaged cars	The laundry	X-ray Department

8th April 1941

The hospital survived the November blitz but was again bombed on 8th April 1941 receiving a total of ten direct hits, leaving it virtually unusable.  The staff carried on courageously, attending to patients as bomb after bomb hit the building. One struck the X-ray department, killing as sister, a nurse and a patient. Next to it was the Outpatients Department, where a fireman having burns treated was blown off the operating table, although he survived the experience.

A delayed action bomb, had not been noticed, and at about 7 p.m., after the "all clear" had been sounded, it exploded, killing 21 patients in the basement, where they had been taken for safety, two doctors and several nurses. 

Surviving patients were hurriedly evacuated to other hospitals and such was the emergency that for over a week the hospital did not know the fate of a number of its patients until they were reported to be safe elsewhere. 

Two doctors, seven nurses and twenty one patients were killed in the raid and twenty four others had not been accounted for two weeks later. Three George Medals were later awarded to Miss Burton, the Matron, Cecil Hill, the House Governor, and Staff Nurse Horne, for their courage and example at an time when panic could easily have ensued. 

After the raid, only the outpatients department remained in the city, with other departments moved to Keresley Hall and Kenilworth. Rebuilding began in 1947.

More about the affects of the blitz on Hillfields.

More about the history of Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital

The two main sources this page are: Moonlight Sonata, the Coventry Blitz, 14/15 November 1940 by Tim Lewis. Published by Tim Lewis and Coventry City Council, September 1990 and Coventry at War, a pictorial account 1939 - 45 by Alton Douglas, Gordon Stretch and Clive Hardy published by Brewin Books.

This page was last updated 07/04/02