Blackpool and the Fylde During WW1

Blackpool was a Royal Army Medical Corps centre during WW1, with 10,000 RAMC personnel in the town. When war broke out on August 4th 1914 the holiday season in the popular holiday resort was in full swing…and then the soldiers began arriving. First the regional regiments to train on the wide beaches and stay in the plentiful accommodation available. Then the munition workers and then the medics and along with the growing numbers of injured soldiers came the Belgian refugees. In 1917 the fresh faced young US medics of the base hospitals, straight out of university, made Blackpool their home for their education in the state of modern warfare before moving out to repair the damage to mind and body on the slaughter fields. It was a place where the War was reflected in both the weaknesses and strengths within the diversity of the human spirit of the generation that was thrown into it.