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In January 1915, a newly-formed army unit, the 180 Company, Royal Army Service Corps, Mechanical
Transport,
arrived in Hungerford, which was to be its mobilisation station. Initially the unit was small, with one officer and 32 men, with one car, two motor-cycles and 15 lorries! The vehicles were parked in the High Street to start with, and The Croft was used as their parade ground. As the size of the unit grew, the main camp was established on the Common.
By July the unit was complete and fully prepared for battle. There were nearly 500 men and 109 vehicles. The whole company assembled in the
High Street, and, watched and cheered by the whole town, they set off on their way to Avonmouth, bound for France.
Whilst in Hungerford, the the 18th Ammunition Sub-Park unit produced one edition of what was intended to be a regular monthly magazine. They
entitled it "At the Back of the Front". It includes a nice introductory letter expressing a kind thought about a creche for Hungerford, and an uncompleted poem by "Y.L.O.R.". Due to a shortage of paper,
a second edition was never printed. Follow this link to see "At the Back of the Front".
In 1914 there was no Ministry of Health and no one had overall control of the hospitals, however the British Red Cross Society, founded in
1870 linked up with the order of St John of Jerusalem in 1909 and formed the organisation known as the Voluntary Aid Detachment or V.A.D. for short. During the War, the old National School building (42 High Street, now Dickins, Hopgood, Chidley, solicitors) was used as a convalescent hospital, for nursing wounded men who had been sent home from the Front. The building was refurbished for its new use, with three small wards and a kitchen. There were about twenty beds, and most patients were Australians based at Tidworth.
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 "war_11a(w)")
 "083-war 1919(w)")