Hospital on the hill that was built for old soldiers

A soldier outside the former main entrance to Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham

Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham, began life as a military hospital. It was needed to replace an older hospital which stood in Lion Street at Portsea.

It was built between 1904 and 1908. The red brick buildings stood on the slopes of Portsdown Hill overlooking the village of Cosham. Paulsgrove was then a hamlet by Southampton Road. Wymering was also a quiet little village. However trams known as the green cars passed the hospital on their way up the hill to Horndean.

In 1926 the hospital was taken over by the Ministry of Pensions. It was used to care for disabled ex-servicemen. However, during the Second World War the first civilian patients were taken into the hospital.

A number of huts were built to extend the hospital. However the huts stayed for many years after the war.

The grand faÃ§ade of QA in the days when it was a military hospital

In 1951, 540 of the 640 beds at the hospital were transferred to the NHS.

For a time the remaining 100 beds were reserved for ex-servicemen.

All today’s undated pictures were posted by Mick Cooper on the Portsmouth Nostalgia: Pictures from the Past Facebook site.