Craiglockhart Hydropathic - The Hydropathic and The War Hospital

The Hydropathic and The War Hospital

In 1877, the estate became the property of the Craiglockhart Hydropathic Company, who set about building a hydropathic institute. The Hydropathic was built in the Italian style. Craiglockhart remained as a hydropathic, until the advent of the First World War. Between 1916 and 1919 the building was used as a military psychiatric hospital for the treatment of shell-shocked officers.

Probably the most famous patients of Craiglockhart were the poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, whose poems appeared in the hospital's own magazine called The Hydra. Wilfred Owen was the editor of the magazine during his stay. Siegfried Sassoon was sent to Craiglockhart, as a response to his 'Soldier's Declaration', an anti-war letter. He later wrote about his experiences at the hospital in his semi-autobiographical novel, 'Sherston's Progress'.

The best known of the doctors assigned there was W. H. R. Rivers. The Hospital featured in the 1991 book Regeneration by Pat Barker – and the 1997 film adaptation by the same name – and in which the institution was known as Craiglockhart War Hospital.