Scottish Women's Hospital at Royaumont
[2] It was not the only facility of its kind; other female hospital units in France include the Women's Hospital Corps established by Louisa Garrett Anderson and Flora Murray and the Women's Imperial Service League established by Florence Stoney in Paris and Boulogne, but SWH was the largest such group with other locations in Serbia, Greece, Romania, and Corsica.
Goüin was a rich industrialist and philanthropist whose poor health rendered him unable to fight and offering the use of the facility was to be part of his contribution to the war.
Although the facility was not ready to be used as a hospital, Dr. Ivens was very happy with the location, writing in 1917: "Although within sounds of the guns, its architectural beauty and the forest scenery in the neighbourhood made it an ideal spot in which the wounded soldiers could forget for a time the horrors and discomfort of war,"[2] When wards were overfilled, patients were occasionally carted outdoors between May and October.
Installation of the X-ray equipment was assisted by Marie Curie and included water and electrical sources independent of the rest of the facility.
[2] Doctors at the Scottish Hospital at Royaumont made numerous important discoveries, although their contribution was not always acknowledged and their work required rediscovery.
Dr Agnes Savill presented to the Royal Society of Medicine in 1916 her work in the use of X-rays to diagnose the presence of gas gangrene infection before the bacteriological reports could and before the advent of symptoms.
In related work, Dr E. J. Dalyell published in the British Medical Journal in 1917 about the presence of B. oedematiens in gas gangrene.
[2] Mme Marie-Christine Daudy, daughter of Henry Goüin (1900-1977) [fr], stated that while her father admired the female doctors, French politicians and military personalities who visited the hospital were initially less enthusiastic about their work.
In 1918, General Henri Jean Descoings wrote: "We will never be able to express adequately to the Scottish ladies at Royaumont and Villers Cotterêt our gratitude for their devotion to the French wounded’.
[2] After the war the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Frances Ivens CBE MS(Lond) ChM(Liverp) FRGOG (1870–1944), was awarded membership of the Légion d'honneur.
Their achievements in France and Serbia and Greece and other theatres were no less valuable, and no body of women has won higher reputation for organizing power and for efficacy in works of mercy.
