0:00:09 > 0:00:12In the closing years of the First World War, this magnificent
0:00:12 > 0:00:14country house in the heart of Cheshire was transformed
0:00:14 > 0:00:20into a military hospital.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26It became a sanctuary from the trenches for almost 300 soldiers.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30They'd been shot, blown up, gassed or shell`shocked but here
0:00:30 > 0:00:38at Dunham Massey they found a refuge from the terror of warfare.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Imagine you've been injured on the front line ` shot at
0:01:14 > 0:01:18by a rapidly firing machine gun, or torn apart by burning shrapnel.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21The army medics have done all they can, then you've endured
0:01:21 > 0:01:22the trip back to Blighty.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26Perhaps you spent days on a thin army mattress, with your body
0:01:26 > 0:01:29aching and your nerves screaming.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33Then you arrive here ` in these glorious, stately surroundings `
0:01:33 > 0:01:37to be met by aristocratic women who want to look after you.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40For the young men returning from the Western Front injured, Dunham Massey
0:01:40 > 0:01:48became known as The Safe House.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Within a few weeks of the First World War,
0:02:12 > 0:02:14the enormous and unexpected tide of casualties soon overwhelmed
0:02:14 > 0:02:18the existing medical facilities ` both at the front and at home.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25Many civilian hospitals and public buildings were turned
0:02:25 > 0:02:27over to military use.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29Stately homes across the country were converted
0:02:29 > 0:02:36into convalescent hospitals.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39At Dunham, they turned the Salon into
0:02:39 > 0:02:47a ward and over the next two years treated a total of 282 soldiers.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51They were just "Tommies" ` rank and file working class lads whose
0:02:51 > 0:02:55injuries weren't life threatening, but did require medical care.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59There were no officers here, so most of the soldiers were entering
0:02:59 > 0:03:04a world they'd never seen before, and would probably never see again.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18They found themselves being cared for by a trinity
0:03:18 > 0:03:20of resourceful women.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24There was a determined nurse who nearly drove herself to exhaustion.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27A teenager who'd only just left a top`class boarding school
0:03:27 > 0:03:29in Berkshire.
0:03:29 > 0:03:30And a Victorian Countess who'd married
0:03:30 > 0:03:36into a family which could trace its lineage back to the Tudor throne.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Penelope, Lady Stamford had been a widow for seven years by the time
0:03:40 > 0:03:43she opened her doors to the troops.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47In 1904, at the age of 39, Penelope posed with her children
0:03:47 > 0:03:50for portraits by John Ernest Breun (correct).
0:03:50 > 0:03:54Roger was the heir to the title, while his sister Jane would find her
0:03:54 > 0:03:59teenage years dominated by the war.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01She was just 15 when the first shots were fired.
0:04:01 > 0:04:07Jane trained as a nurse and helped convert the house into a hospital.
0:04:07 > 0:04:1170 years later, towards the end of her life,
0:04:11 > 0:04:16Lady Jane recalled how people reacted to the declaration of war.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18It was the spirit of the time.
0:04:18 > 0:04:19Everybody was thrilled.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22It's almost unbelievable to think of it now.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25We'd won the Boer War and we were going to mince up
0:04:25 > 0:04:30the Germans before Christmas.
0:04:30 > 0:04:35The whole country was thrilled about it and cheered and cheered
0:04:35 > 0:04:37in front of Buckingham Palace.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41The excitement and the glamour was simply tremendous
0:04:49 > 0:04:52For 19 year old Arthur Topham, a trainee cabinet maker, war leaves
0:04:52 > 0:04:54him with a big decision to make.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Should he enlist for overseas duty?
0:04:56 > 0:05:00He wants to learn his trade ` but he also likes the Military.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02Four years ago, when the world seemed a safer place,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05he'd lied about his age and joined the Territorial Force.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07Now his friends call him a "Saturday Soldier"
0:05:07 > 0:05:09because he only serves part`time.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Arthur knows the Army will soon be asking if he'll volunteer to serve
0:05:12 > 0:05:14overseas ` probably at somewhere called Flanders.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16As Arthur ponders his future, three`quarters
0:05:16 > 0:05:17of a million men are recruited.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20As they set off on their great adventure ` believing
0:05:20 > 0:05:23they'd be home by Christmas ` the truth was slow to emerge.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26They were ill`equipped for modern battle and completely unprepared for
0:05:26 > 0:05:30a war that would grind to a halt in the fields of France and Belgium.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34For houses like Dunham in 1914, the War was still a long way away,
0:05:34 > 0:05:35and life continued with the same ease and opulence that
0:05:41 > 0:05:45For houses like Dunham in 1914, the War was still a long way away,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49and life continued with the same ease and opulence that
0:05:49 > 0:05:54its occupants were used to.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58No`one appreciated yet, that hostilities would also signal
0:05:58 > 0:06:02the swansong of the British upper classes.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07The golden age was drawing to a close, and the Tommies would be at
0:06:07 > 0:06:14Dunham to witness the last Hurrah.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16In 1914 a house like Dunham Massey would have had
0:06:17 > 0:06:18a fairly extensive household staff.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21And they still had quite formal roles like footman,
0:06:21 > 0:06:26people who were there to look good, rather than to necessarily to do
0:06:26 > 0:06:28a lot of the heavy labour.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31The butler and the housekeeper were really the key people of the staff.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33They had their own spaces.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35They might have had the butler's pantry or
0:06:35 > 0:06:37the housekeeper's sitting room.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40And they had absolute authority in those spaces.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43They could summon servants, they could dismiss servants.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46You know, their word was law.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49So it was a place where discipline was pretty,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53pretty firm and a very close eye was kept on the younger servants.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Arthur Topham's decided not to volunteer for service overseas.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Instead, he's hoping to see home defence service only.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Many of his contemporaries who went to France have already been killed
0:07:09 > 0:07:11in the Battles of Mons and Ypres.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14It's clear that within months even this reluctant soldier's unit will
0:07:14 > 0:07:18soon be embarking for France.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25He leaves his work wondering if he'll ever return.
0:07:33 > 0:07:373,500 miles away a huge snow storm is sweeping Canada.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40In the city of London, Ontario a young man just two years
0:07:40 > 0:07:45older than Arthur is also wondering what life has in store for him.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48Carl Brodie is a bank clerk who lives with
0:07:48 > 0:07:50his mother and two sisters.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55By January 1916 his mind is set.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57Brodie joins up, agreeing to serve overseas with
0:07:57 > 0:08:00the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03With a flourish of his signature, the blue`eyed, fair haired Brodie
0:08:03 > 0:08:07is a new recruit.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10By March he's leaving for Liverpool on the first leg
0:08:10 > 0:08:12of his journey to the battlefield.
0:08:12 > 0:08:19He sails aboard the steam ship Missanabie
0:08:19 > 0:08:21with fellow members of the 43rd Canadian Field Artillery.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26By the time he reaches France on the 14 July 1916 he's in the middle of
0:08:26 > 0:08:27one of history's bloodiest battles.
0:08:27 > 0:08:34The Somme.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57The Somme wasn't a single battle ` but a series that lasted
0:08:57 > 0:08:59until November 1916.
0:08:59 > 0:09:06On the first day, 20 thousand British troops were killed,
0:09:06 > 0:09:07and 30,000 were injured.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10It was the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13The details would have reached Dunham by newspaper `
0:09:13 > 0:09:16and it's likely that Lady Stamford would have read them here in her
0:09:16 > 0:09:20parlour and that romantic vision of war that she'd had two years earlier
0:09:20 > 0:09:21would have quickly disappeared.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24It may have been the news of the carnage that stirred her
0:09:24 > 0:09:28into action.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Lady Stamford was the President of the Altrincham division
0:09:39 > 0:09:42of the British Red Cross, and was charged with developing
0:09:42 > 0:09:45local convalescent hospitals.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49In a letter to her son in 1916 she suggests using Dunham `
0:09:49 > 0:09:54but in a particular way.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57She writes to Lord Stamford and suggests that it should become
0:09:57 > 0:10:00a hospital for officers because it wouldn't really do for Tommies.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04We don't know what happened to change ` or whether anything did
0:10:04 > 0:10:07happen to change her mind ` or whether the Red Cross decided that
0:10:07 > 0:10:11it didn't need an Officers' hospital but it needed somewhere for Tommies
0:10:11 > 0:10:14who were coming from the front ` or whether Lord Stamford who was
0:10:14 > 0:10:17a bit liberal in his tendencies that actually he would prefer Dunham
0:10:17 > 0:10:19to be a hospital for Tommies.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22But we know that by 1917 when the doors opened it was Tommies
0:10:22 > 0:10:24and non`commissioned Officers ` so privates
0:10:24 > 0:10:27and non`commissioned Officers that were coming here to Dunham.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29On the 23 April 1917, Lady Stamford penned
0:10:29 > 0:10:32a short note to her son Roger.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35In it she told him the news they'd all been waiting for:
0:10:39 > 0:10:42"This evening a telephone message came through ` "Expect 16 patients
0:10:42 > 0:10:53tomorrow at 11.30" This great house had at last become a hospital.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01Medical staff and domestic servants were anxious but ready, as the first
0:11:01 > 0:11:07convoy of injured arrived.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29The first patient to be admitted was Private Thomas Hibbits of the
0:11:29 > 0:11:30Royal Irish Rifles.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34His regiment had seen action at the Somme.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37He was sent to Dunham to recover from Trenchfoot `
0:11:37 > 0:11:39a painful condition stemming from weeks standing
0:11:39 > 0:11:45in the quagmire that was the front.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49the soldiers presented with.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Shrapnel wounds, bullet wounds, shellshock, men recovering
0:11:51 > 0:12:06from gassing as well.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09Lady Stamford oversaw the running of the hospital and appointed Sister
0:12:09 > 0:12:13Catherine Bennett, as the Matron.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Most of the nurses came from the Voluntary Aid Detachment `
0:12:16 > 0:12:20an organisation of middle and upper class civilian women.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23One of them was Lady Stamford's daughter, Jane who became a VAD
0:12:23 > 0:12:28as soon as she left school.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32I think the staff would have been very excited about the prospect of
0:12:32 > 0:14:30incoming wounded, also to do their duty but quite exciting to have them
0:14:30 > 0:14:35Arthur Topham and Carl Brodie are now fighting in the Battle of Arras.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39The two soldiers ` who've never met ` are within 16 miles of each other
0:14:39 > 0:14:46at the village of Bullecourt.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50These pictures are taken on 3rd May 1917 near the village.
0:14:50 > 0:14:56On the same day, Topham is struck in the face, arms and legs by shrapnel.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00Soon afterwards, Gunner Brodie is also seriously wounded in the arm.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05Their traumatic journey to Dunham is under way.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07When a soldier was wounded on the battlefield
0:15:07 > 0:15:11in northern France or Flanders his first task would be to dress his own
0:15:11 > 0:15:13wound with a first field dressing.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16He would then be picked up by stretcher bearers ` there could be
0:15:16 > 0:15:18a long wait before that happened.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20A doctor would treat him, he'd have morphine
0:15:20 > 0:15:24and anti`tetanus serum before being put in a motor ambulance.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26At the Casualty Clearing Station he would have emergency surgery
0:15:26 > 0:15:31and then he'd be put in a hospital train and taken to a Base Hospital
0:15:31 > 0:15:34on the coast of northern France.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37And then he'd be put on a hospital ship, and then put
0:15:37 > 0:15:40into another hospital train and brought to a place like this.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42The Stamford Hospital.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45So the transport of troops to the front, the transport of ammunition
0:15:45 > 0:15:49and supplies to the trenches was given a higher priority than the
0:15:50 > 0:15:54return of wounded down`the`line.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03Three weeks after being seriously wounded, Topham arrives at Dunham.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Brodie is admitted a few days later.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10Their details meticulously recorded by staff.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12The two patients soon strike up a friendship.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16Despite being foreigners to one another, they have much in common,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19not least their survival at Arras.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22You see people in the same photographs together so they became
0:16:22 > 0:16:24close friends we can only presume?
0:16:24 > 0:16:26Um, I think they do.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29If you spend two months in the same place sharing the same room
0:16:29 > 0:16:31with someone you'd either want...
0:16:31 > 0:16:33to throttle them, or you'd become good friends with
0:16:33 > 0:16:36them, I should think.
0:16:36 > 0:16:43And I'm sure many friendships were formed within these four walls.
0:16:43 > 0:17:41MUSIC: Duettino ` Sull'aria from The Marriage Of Figaro.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44It's so peaceful,
0:17:44 > 0:17:45you can't hear anyone at all.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49And just to be away from the noise, the hell, the shrieking noise
0:17:49 > 0:17:53of the Western Front and just be here to have your own time, and
0:17:53 > 0:17:57actually it's time devoted to you ` it's not for the Battalion, it's not
0:17:57 > 0:17:58for your Division, it's for you...
0:17:58 > 0:18:00It's for you to get better.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03It must have been almost quite unusual for a lot of them,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06they'd probably never really had time just for themselves.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10And so it would have been just wonderful.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17Within a month nearly 50 soldiers had been admitted.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19Some of the household staff helped treat
0:18:19 > 0:18:24the patients ` working alongside the voluntary aid detachment nurses.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27One housemaid did fall in love and escape to a new life
0:18:28 > 0:18:30as the wife of one of the soldiers.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Sergeant Percy Chaplin was looked after by Mabel Doody `
0:18:33 > 0:18:36they married two years after the war and moved to Essex
0:18:36 > 0:18:40where Percy became a fishmonger.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44The reason we know so much about the Dunham hospital is the family
0:18:44 > 0:18:46here rarely threw anything away.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49Their archive goes back to long before the start of the
0:18:49 > 0:18:53First World War, and even includes old electricity bills.
0:18:53 > 0:18:59Sorting the useless from the fascinating became a labour of love.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02We've been working on the project for about two years
0:19:02 > 0:19:03in total from start to finish.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Katie Taylor from the National Trust is responsible for the historical
0:19:06 > 0:19:08collection at Dunham Massey.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10The recreation of the hospital has been done
0:19:10 > 0:19:13by a team of 500 volunteers.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15It involved researching our soldiers,
0:19:15 > 0:19:17researching what the household was doing, researching what Lady
0:19:17 > 0:19:21Stamford and Lady Jane were doing, as well as looking at how we could
0:19:21 > 0:19:24replicate some of the original items so that people could use them.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27So all the bed side lockers you can see
0:19:27 > 0:19:31around the room are based on this original one, were all made by our
0:19:31 > 0:19:34volunteers, the woodwork was done by our volunteers and the locker covers
0:19:34 > 0:19:36were made by volunteers as well.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38The bedspreads were all made by volunteers to replicate
0:19:38 > 0:19:40as close as possible the originals.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43We're really lucky at Dunham that the family left us a huge archive
0:19:43 > 0:19:46as well as a massive amount of information regarding the
0:19:46 > 0:19:49collections that remain in the house which really helped us to create
0:19:49 > 0:19:52something that we feel is really true to what would have
0:19:52 > 0:19:54happened here back in 1917.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58To find out more, I've come to Deansgate in the centre
0:19:58 > 0:20:07of Manchester to one of the most beautiful libraries in the world.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33You've spent years working with all these papers.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37I mean how many people keep that amount of information `
0:20:37 > 0:20:41and that was a good thing from your point of view, wasn't it?
0:20:41 > 0:20:43Absolutely.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45They were born hoarders, I think.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48Born archivists almost so they threw nothing away.
0:20:48 > 0:20:49Erm....they
0:20:49 > 0:20:54had the space, partly it was a case that they didn't need to throw
0:20:54 > 0:20:58things away, but also I think it was all part of this business of having
0:20:58 > 0:21:00an awareness of their historical importance so they wanted to
0:21:00 > 0:21:06preserve their place in history for future generations. The archive
0:21:06 > 0:21:11arrived here in the late 1970s and very little happened to it
0:21:11 > 0:21:14until I was appointed in 1989.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17So I was confronted with boxes and boxes and shelves
0:21:17 > 0:21:21of uncatalogued, fairly chaotic, papers and it was quite a daunting
0:21:21 > 0:21:28task to try and put some order to this archive and then catalogue it.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31And can people come and look at this or not?
0:21:31 > 0:21:31Absolutely.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35The archive is here to be used like all our collections and the
0:21:35 > 0:21:37Stamford papers are very well used.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40One of our most frequently accessed archives.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44It's a standard autograph book which has been used as a souvenir
0:21:44 > 0:21:49album by many of the patients at the Stamford Military Hospital.
0:21:49 > 0:21:58And it contains photographs of them sitting in the grounds...
0:21:58 > 0:22:00Gosh, it's rather lovely that, isn't it?
0:22:00 > 0:22:02And so many of the photographs show soldiers who
0:22:02 > 0:22:04really they look like teenagers.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06Look it says here, "May Good Fortune Always Be With
0:22:06 > 0:22:09Nurse Grey", and she's depicted as an angel there, isn't she?
0:22:09 > 0:22:12That's right, yes and every care was taken of them.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14They were in this beautiful secluded place.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17It must have been a paradise compared to the horrors they had
0:22:17 > 0:22:21experienced in the trenches.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23It's a really lovely piece of archive actually, isn't it?
0:22:23 > 0:22:28It is.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41And what of Topham and Brodie, the two soldiers
0:22:41 > 0:22:44which fate had brought together?
0:22:44 > 0:22:48By September 1917 both men have recovered and are discharged
0:22:48 > 0:22:50from Dunham.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52Brodie heads to a training camp in Hampshire to rebuild
0:22:52 > 0:22:57his strength and prepare again for the Western Front.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00Arthur Topham returns to France ` one of his three brothers was
0:23:00 > 0:23:04killed in action a few weeks ago, and another was shot in the arm.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09Now, he's back where he started ` Cambrai just a few miles from Arras.
0:23:09 > 0:23:14He's been promoted to Lance Sergeant.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24On the 11th of October ` exactly a month before Armistice,
0:23:24 > 0:23:28he was involved in vicious hand`to`hand combat, as the Allies
0:23:28 > 0:23:36advanced two miles ` an enormous distance for the First World War.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42There have been numerous battles at Cambrai but now in the closing
0:23:42 > 0:23:46days of the war, the Allies are on the point of liberating it.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48The fighting is almost done.
0:23:48 > 0:23:54And soldiers are beginning to think the unthinkable ` about going home.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57Arthur Topham was a cabinet maker who'd wanted to stay
0:23:57 > 0:24:00at home but instead went to fight for his country.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03He'd been restored to health by women who'd given up
0:24:03 > 0:24:05their time and their home.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09But by the end of that day he was dead ` his body falling in
0:24:09 > 0:24:14a foreign field far from home ` one of the last casualties of the war.
0:24:14 > 0:24:22It was his 23rd birthday.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40But the story doesn't end there, and it's thanks to the family at Dunham
0:24:40 > 0:24:44who never threw anything away.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48Deep in the vaults of the John Rylands Library a series
0:24:48 > 0:24:52of letters was recently discovered that tells us what happened to
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Gunner Carl Brodie, the smiling Canadian who'd spent
0:24:55 > 0:24:58months in hospital with Topham.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02In 1917 he's gone back to his unit, He's about to be sent off to France.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06It's quite a poignant letter because he's comparing the
0:25:06 > 0:25:11tranquillity of Dunham Massey with the horrors he's going to face.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13in France.
0:25:13 > 0:25:21His mother has also written from Canada and she emphasises
0:25:21 > 0:25:24the distance, the physical distance between her and her son.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27This camp is a fairly good one with lots of amusements `
0:25:27 > 0:25:29not to much work and good food.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31so we do that fare too badly.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Please tell Nurse Grey that I'm not starving yet.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36Kindly remember me to Sister Bennett and the other nurses.
0:25:36 > 0:25:37His mother has
0:25:37 > 0:25:38also written from Canada.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41She emphasises the physical distance between her and her son.
0:25:41 > 0:25:42And she's thanking Lady Stamford.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46My heart was at rest while he was there away from he danger zone.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49He has told me so much about your beautiful home and surroundings...
0:25:49 > 0:25:52I remain sincerely yours, Margaret Montgomery Brodie. So he's
0:25:52 > 0:25:55been treated by Lady Stamford and all the nurses there
0:25:55 > 0:25:58and then we know he's going back to France which is worrying, but....
0:25:58 > 0:26:01That's right, yes, but there is a happy ending.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04He's survived the war and he's now in Rhyl in North Wales waiting
0:26:04 > 0:26:08to be repatriated back to Canada.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11I'm sure very Canadian soldier will go back to Canada with a feeling
0:26:11 > 0:26:15of great respect for the way in which the English people have
0:26:15 > 0:26:18thrown their homes open to us and for the kindness we have received.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20So it had a happy ending.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24It's a lovely story and we only just managed to find that one.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26So you sort of think they go off to France
0:26:26 > 0:26:30and that could have been the end but that's lovely to see, isn't it?
0:26:30 > 0:26:30Yeah.
0:26:30 > 0:26:37And there may be many, many stories like that in the archive.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42For the soldiers, servants, nurses and the house things would
0:26:42 > 0:26:44never be the same again.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46No longer a family home with little children
0:26:46 > 0:26:49running in the corridors, or wounded soldiers filling the main rooms
0:26:49 > 0:26:56the house lost much of its purpose.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59The furniture and objects which had formed the wards were put
0:26:59 > 0:27:03in store here in the Great Gallery, and just like a memory, left.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07When the National Trust took over the house 60 years later, they found
0:27:07 > 0:27:12it all just as it had been in 1919.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18The world for these people had changed and that the kind of era
0:27:18 > 0:27:22of grand country house weekends ` for this family in particular `
0:27:22 > 0:27:24was kind of coming to an end.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27And that their way of life was for ever going to be impacted
0:27:27 > 0:27:29on what had happened here.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Sister Bennett moved on and worked in the Balkans
0:27:32 > 0:27:34for the Serbia Relief Fund.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37Lady Jane visited Paris after Armistice, and in later years
0:27:37 > 0:27:40married a vicar in Suffolk.
0:27:40 > 0:27:46Lady Stamford died in 1959 at the age of 93.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50After the Great War she continued to living at Dunham with her son Roger
0:27:50 > 0:27:52who became the 10th Earl of Stamford.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55And they're buried alongside each at St Mark's Church.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59She left behind her a legacy of grateful soldiers who never
0:27:59 > 0:28:05forgot their time in her house.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19You can hear more fascinating stories from the war with
0:28:19 > 0:28:25World War I at home at:
0:29:05 > 0:29:07Hello, I'm Ellie Crisell with your 90 second update.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09Reports of alleged abuse carried out by Jimmy Savile
0:29:09 > 0:29:11now total more than 500.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14NSPCC research found most victims were aged between 13 and 15,
0:29:14 > 0:29:15but the youngest was just two.
0:29:15 > 0:29:21Details in Panorama at 8:30.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23A new phase in the Madeleine McCann inquiry.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26Police are searching scrubland near where the toddler went missing
0:29:26 > 0:29:27in Portugal seven years ago.