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Chiseldon, near Swindon, was home to a training base for 8,000 soldiers. By war鈥檚 end, an enclosed, guarded hospital within the camp had 1,100 beds for soldiers with VD. The camp is part of the story of the army鈥檚, and Britain鈥檚, attitudes towards sex.

In 1914, when thousands of new recruits needed training; space and transport turned many sites like Chiseldon into sprawling army camps.

The village鈥檚 location on the Midland and Southwest Junction Railway, with its fast links south to the coast, and north to the Midlands, meant that Chiseldon camp grew quickly.

A camp hospital had been operational since July 1915, taking pressure off local civilian hospitals in Swindon and surrounds. Such was the demand for beds that the railway platform at the camp was altered so that ambulances could drive on, and off it.

In 1917, work began on converting part of the camp into a special hospital. So special, that it was cut off from the rest of the camp by a ditch on one side, a train line on the other, and fencing all the way around.

Known locally as the 鈥楤ad Boys鈥� camp, this facility of 400 beds quickly expanded to 1,100 by war鈥檚 end.

But those beds were not for battlefield injuries. Chiseldon鈥檚 鈥淏ad Boys鈥� Camp鈥� was for soldiers who had venereal disease (VD).

VD ravaged all combatants during World War One, which undermined discipline and fighting strength. A staggering 417,000 hospital admissions were recorded among British and Dominion forces by the end of the war. The drain on manpower was significant with each man infected requiring approximately a month鈥檚 treatment.

Inevitably, whilst it wasn鈥檛 widely publicised that the camp was for men with VD, its proximity to the local village meant that it didn鈥檛 stay a secret for long.

This is what led to the name, 鈥淏ad Boys鈥� Camp鈥�, among the local population when explaining to innocent children why they should stay away from anyone they saw in 鈥榟ospital blues鈥�.

It took years for the true picture regarding venereal disease infection rates to come out.

Professor Mark Harrison specialises in the history of medicine at Oxford University: 鈥淏y the end of the war, there were about 417,000 cases of VD in the military; at least the ones which were officially recorded through being admitted to hospital.鈥�

Professor Harrison says the drain on manpower was significant with each man infected requiring approximately a month鈥檚 treatment. The infection rates in the British army, excluding those of the Dominions like Australia and Canada, climbed 鈥榠nexorably鈥� apart from a blip in 1916. In the Somme area alone, the British saw 60,000 cases of VD by war鈥檚 end.

Furthermore, both society and the military were initially very unforgiving of those who were infected. Professor Harrison says he finds the use of full disclosure to a sufferer鈥檚 family 鈥榪uite extraordinary鈥�.

鈥淎t least for the first couple of years of the war, the authorities would notify the victim鈥檚 family of his admittance to hospital, and the nature of the complaint. That only stopped in 1916, after a major committed suicide after his wife had been informed of his infection. From then on, they just said that a man had been admitted with some kind of non-specific disease鈥�.

Today, nothing remains of the 鈥淏ad Boys鈥� Camp鈥�, nor of the rest of the camp, as traffic goes by from the M4 to Marlborough on the A346.

Modern-day commuters beetling northwards to junction 15 of the M4 motorway, or southbound to Marlborough, have little or no idea that to one side of the busy A346 lies on of Wiltshire鈥檚 less appealing WW1 memories.

Location: Chiseldon, Wiltshire SN4 0FH
Image shows the area where the camp was (then and now), courtesy of David Bailey, who also presents the story

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