Foleshill’s Gas Storage Tank and the New Ricoh Arena Coventry

Coventry’s first gasworks near the city centre was privately owned and had started in 1824. It was a restricted site, with coal having to be delivered by horse and cart, which had been hand-loaded via pan-shovels from a railway siding some distance away.

It was found that this privately owned company was unable to meet the city’s demands and later, the supply of gas was taken over by the city council.

Foleshill gas storage tank 1995 and the rear view of the new Ricoh Arena 2009. Both photos taken from the same canal towpath.

On the west side of the Coventry Canal in the district of Foleshill, the council purchased and developed a 40 acre site for gas supplies. This included a massive storage tank about 85 yards high and 43 yards in diameter, which could contain up to 5 million cubic feet of gas.

Another reason the council had chosen this site was because, being next to the canal, it allowed easy access for narrow-boats ferrying the coal supply. Also there was a convenient railway siding connection nearby. Since its erection in 1909, the silver-coloured gas tank at Foleshill had dominated the skyline.

Apart from its normal services, the gas supply was to prove vital to the city’s munitions factories during the following two wars.

Before and after: 2 photos taken from the same area of Foleshill gas storage tank before demolition in 1995 and the newly-built Ricoh Arena, Coventry in 2009.

Unfortunately, being a dominant landmark, the gasworks provided the ideal target for enemy bombers. Factories and buildings in Foleshill were set on fire by high concentrations of incendiary bombs during raids in 1940 and after. The gasworks’ coke plant was struck and set on fire. The cinema next to a library just a few hundred yards away suffered the same fate.

The cinema’s projectionist was lodging with our family during one such bomb raid. For a treat, he would allow my elder brother, who was in his early teens, to accompany him in the film projection room. An air raid siren had once sounded and a sign warning put onto the screen. The projectionist said to my brother, “your family will be worried; you had better run home!”

My brother told me later that shrapnel from anti-aircraft ack-ack shells had rained down as he sped down the road. He also remembers the ‘swish’ as incendiaries struck the library next to the cinema. Both buildings were gutted, as communication to the fire brigade had been disconnected during the raid.

Foleshill Gasometer, Coventry. Before and after. 2 photos taken from a mound on the same spot between the oak tree and pylon.

A few days after, clad in gasmasks and with identity cards about our necks, my younger brother and I, along with other school children, trudged to the nearby railway station to be evacuated.

Many of us returned to Coventry shortly after to be reunited with the skyline that reminds me of home. Being close to where we lived, one advantage the gasworks had was the coke filtration plant that poured hot water into the canal. This allowed us to take a dip, even on cold days.

And now, over fifty years later, early one morning in September 2002, over 4000 people watched as the steel gasometer Tower, hoarding tens of pounds of explosives, collapse. The new Ricoh complex would signal a new age and a new skyline.

The complex was originally intended to be a replacement venue for Coventry City Football Club and the stadium hosted its first game of football in 2005. Instead, the Japanese-owned Ricoh bestowed the stadium its name and was officially opened in 2007. It now boasts a casino and shopping centre.

Today with pension and bus-pass, I sometimes travel to the Ricoh Shopping Centre and walk along the canal towpath to where the old coke plant outlet had once stood.

But I would always remember how the landscape had once looked and the old gasworks dominating the skyline.

A Manchester Military Hospital in World War One for Facial Injuries

This WW1 photograph shows a large number of inpatients in front of a British hospital. The memorial stone on the front, reads ‘Alderman Thomas Turnbull Hospital’, and has the name, ‘Manchester’.

World War One Manchester Military Hospital

War Inpatients during the War

The group of about 150 wounded and convalescing servicemen seem to have mostly eye, nose and chin wounds, suggesting the hospital specialised in facial injuries. Apart from rifle and machine gunfire, a large number of injuries were caused by the metal fragments from exploding shells, often causing blindness, deafness and burns to exposed skin. Injuries often required regular cleansing and dressing leading to long periods of convalescence. In the community, some civilians were shocked at how disfigured the inpatients were.

The servicemen in the photo are wearing hospital blue uniform with a white-facing collar and red tie. Between the two sergeants in the centre of the second row from the bottom, is a coloured colonial soldier with long service stripes.

A colonial black solder amidst a sea of white faces, likely from South Africa.

The field service badges showing are Seaforth Highlanders, Worcestershire Regiment and a Glengarry headwear. Most of the servicemen are in their prime with just a few in middle age.

Field Dressings of the RAMC Medical during WW1

This world war one photograph shows a Royal Army Medical Corp with medicinal gear in readiness for what the Great War had in store. The absorbency of the field dressings became paramount, as heavy blood loss was common on the battlefield.

A medial orderly in front of bell tents

Medical Practices in the Great War

Here, this RAMC serviceman carries a kit, likely comprising antiseptic wound dressings of muslin and wool, which would be used as an immediate application to a wound until the stretcher bearers arrived. For very heavy blood loss, bog moss from Scotland was used for high absorbency and antiseptic properties. Sphagnum, as it was called, was collected by children in Scottish bogs.

The practice spread throughout Ireland, Europe and Canada before the end of the war. The dressings were kept in an airtight waterproof pouch to keep the dressings clean and dry. Soldiers on the field were eventually required to keep a dressing pouch in his pocket, should a RAMC cannot be located.

Basic applications were used, such as hydrochloric acid to clean wounds and ether to subdue the patient.

British Military Hospital in World War One: Convalescing Servicemen Outdoors

This WW1 photograph, taken outside the hospital grounds, demonstrates the principle that fresh air is good for health. Here we see approximately 30 wounded and convalescing WW1 servicemen with their nurses. A rare jovial air is reflected by the character in the foreground, reclined upon the lawn in debonair fashion, wearing his sling like a fashion accessory.

Wounded WW1 Servicemen with VAD Nurses outside a Military Hospital

WW1 Military Hospital Photograph

Some of the casualties have been brought outdoors on their beds or wheelchairs, having donned their hospital uniforms for the shot. The fabric would have been Oxford blue with white collar and red tie.

A large number of these servicemen had suffered wounds caused by rifle and machine gunfire, as well as shrapnel from exploding shells. Such injuries required regular cleaning and dressing. Servicemen often had long periods of convalescence.

Voluntary Aid Detachment during WW1

The nurses pictured are VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) who, from a war office appeal, had stepped forward to do their bit for their country. Many of the women were from the order of St. John and the Red Cross to serve as nurses at home and in British hospitals. The VAD also served at casualty clearing stations near the front line. After learning basic first aid and how to deal with simple fractures, many VAD nurses also drove ambulances.

British Red Cross Nurses in WW1: Photograph of a British Hospital in 1914 before the Outbreak of War

This old photo of an English hospital has a Victorian feel. The interior shows wooden rafters, open plan with an air of high discipline judging by the postures of the nurses and the starchy British Cross uniforms.

British Red Cross Nurses in a Hampshire Hospital Prior to WW1

At the back of the photograph, a nurse called Gracie writes the date, which is 31 July 1914, although the date displayed on the front gives the date 27 May 1914. Hants, discloses the location being Hampshire, a county on the south coast of England.

Life of a World War One Nurse

The date on the rear would have been 3 days after war broke out, which was July 28 1914. A cloud of uncertainty and dread must have pervaded over the room. But the belief of doing right by your country would have bolstered morale.

The wards would have comprised a mixture of trained nurses, and volunteers, known as Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD). Matrons and sisters would have presided.

Message dating back to before the First World War

The message from Gracie on the back of the photograph reads:

“Ear Ida,

I have marked myself and my special friend. I am the short one, of course. I am looking forward to seeing you soon. Please write.

Love, Gracie”.

Beneath is the note: “received last night”.

WW1 Squaddies outside a Bell Tent: the Lazy Tribe with Haunted Faces WW1

This World War 1 photograph shows eight privates outside of their bell tent. It would appear that these squaddies are made up to look wounded. A contrived feel pervades over the theatrically-applied bandages, a ‘black’ eye and a limp.

The Lazy Tribe in front of a Bell Tent during WW1

Rare Moment of Humour on the Front Line

At such grim times as on the Western front, a little humour may help lift the spirits. Sharing good and bad times would no doubt form a lifelong bond, if all the privates pictured had survived the terrible experiences of the trenches.

This ‘Lazy Tribe’ may have lifted the mood for an instant, as can be seen in this shot, but the haunted look on some of their faces tells a different story.

WW1 Dentistry: Photograph of RAMC Staff Waiting outside a Dental Surgery

This rare photograph shows two medics of the Royal Army Corps waiting outside a dentist’s surgery during World War 1. Dental treatment dished out within, would likely have been basic and unpleasant.

Medics of the Royal Army Waiting outside A Dental Surgery during WW1

What Dentists Like in World War One

Dentistry during this time was in its infancy. Many recruits for the armed forces were rejected because of poor dental health due to ignorance. Dentistry in the United Kingdom was not properly regulated until 1921. And even then, volunteers and unqualified recruits dished out the treatment, due to shortage of qualified dentists.

  

Many recruits would have suffered toothache, which would have resulted in tooth extraction, as there was little other treatment available.

The Royal Army Dental Corps

Even Douglas Haig suffered a bout of toothache during the Battle of Aisne, having no qualified dental surgeons at hand. To guard against a similar fate befalling the troops, mobile dental units were despatched to battlefields to treat dental ailments of the soldiers. This enabled the forces to remain on the field. But it was not until 1923 that the Royal Army Dental Corps was formed.

The British Dental Association continued to print its journal despite the cost of the war. Sharing valuable information about the treatment of facial injuries such as that of the jaw and lower face was vital for dentists working on the field. Antiseptics and ether was widely used.