Cliveden, Buckinghamshire

The British Journal of Nursing, April 17, 1915

"It would be difficult to imagine a more peaceful haven, after the storm of shot and shell, the booming of guns, and all the horrors and stress of battle, than the hospital which has been equipped by the Canadian Red Cross, on Mr Waldorf Astor's beautiful estate Cliveden in Buckinghamshire."

Click here to read the whole article.

Cliveden is now a National Trust property and also a luxury hotel. To find out more, click here.

There is a website dedicated to the Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital, Taplow with many fascinating photographs and even ghost stories and a virtual tour - click here.

The War Memorial Garden - click here.

The cemetery was used by the hospital at Taplow which, from December 1914 to September 1917, was known as the Duchess of Connaught Canadian Red Cross Hospital and then, until September 1919, became No 15 Canadian General Hospital. There are also one Canadian and one British burial of the 1939-1945 War.

From the Guardian newspaper, January 2012 (full story here):

It took the British ruling class years to accept that the Astor family, into which David Cameron has married, were true aristocrats. They were American immigrants, doubly damned because they had made their fortune in "trade". The Astors soothed suspicions by entertaining in style at Cliveden, their Italianate mansion on the edge of the Chilterns. In the 1930s, Waldorf Astor, the second viscount, and his wife, Nancy, increased their prestige by making their home the social centre for the pro-appeasement wing of the Conservative party.

David Astor, a great editor of this newspaper, could not abide the portrayal of his parents as Hitler's stooges by the left of his day. Less partial observers did not deny that Nazi sympathisers were always welcome guests. Hatred of war, antisemitism and, above all, fear of communism drove the Astors on. They saw Nazism as a bulwark against a Bolshevism that might one day rob them of their wealth. Although the British Communist party was a tiny force, they believed Britain should not fight Germany for fear of bringing on revolution. A Tory from Churchill's camp encapsulated the Astors' paranoid delusions, when he cut them with the magnificent put-down: "I see you are prepared to put the supposed interests of your adopted class before the real interests of your adopted country."

Autograph Book - Three Graces for Grace

Grace Biffen's autograph book had this drawing of The Three Graces, Faith Hope and Charity. 

The signature is quite hard to read, but it appears to say W. E. Kempton, or perhaps Kampton, 

3rd Brigade Machine Gun Corps, 1st Division, Canadians

Autograph Book - Ern Etienne, Canadian Engineers

"Recipe for kisses"

http://www.gfucrescent.com/a-recipe-for-kisses/

Autograph Book - Private R. Smith, 29th Canadians

Watercolour by Private R. Smith of the 29th Canadians.

Autograph Book - Chas Randall, 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards

This rather sad little poem was written by Chas Randall, 3rd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards.

Once I had a little dog

It tried to stop a Ford

The motor car ran o'er its neck,

And now it's with the Lord.

Autograph Book - To Grace from Bob, 20th Manchesters

To Grace with best wishes from Bob, 20th Manchesters, Taplow, 8th August 1917.

Grace was Halford Biffen's youngest sister, nine years his junior, and my great aunt. She would have been about 17 years old when visiting Halford in the hospital at Taplow and would surely have been very popular with the other patients.

Grace Marjory Biffen at the wheel of a houseboat in Canvey Island in the early 1920s

Autograph Book - Chris Paul, Royal Scots

We have an autograph book which was signed by patients at Taplow in 1917. This scan is an entry by Chris Paul of the Royal Scots, dated 17th January 1917.

Before this pig was slaughtered

He really was a dasher

But now he's hanging in a shop

Could anything be RASHER

Life saved by smoking!

My grandfather had a very lucky escape when a metal cigarette case deflected a bullet destined for his heart, into his arm. The cigarette case is still a treasured family heirloom.

A similar story was printed on a postcard produced by G.A. Wiles, a Hove photographer. 

"This testament saved the life of Pte. W. Hacket 1st Wor Regt at Armentieres. Aug 20 1915 - now in 2nd Gen Eastern Hospital Dyke Rd Brighton. Bullet passing through outer cover and all the leaves and stopped at the last page."

Halford Biffen c1922

Halford John Biffen, photographed in the early 1920s with his first son Tony. His left arm is still bandaged.

Cliveden Hospital, Taplow, 1917

Halford John Biffen (right) at Cliveden Hospital, Taplow in 1917

Ward H1 at Taplow, c.1917

This photograph, c.1917, shows ward H.1 at Taplow.

Halford Biffen, Canadian hospital, Taplow 1917

My grandfather, Halford John Biffen (born in Tottenham, London), was injured in the First World War and ended up at the Canadian Hospital at Taplow in 1917. He is the one circled in this photograph. His life was saved by a metal cigarette case in his breast pocket. The bullet bounced off it into his arm. I would love to know who some of the other soldiers are in the photograph because we have an autograph book from the time which at least some of the men in this photograph may have signed. It would be nice for other genealogists to see photographs of their ancestors at this time.