MOST of the stories from the First World War concentrate on those who were killed or performed heroic acts.

Attracting rather less publicity were soldiers who were injured in battle and brought home for treatment.

This picture shows casualties by their beds at Oxford Town Hall, much of which had been turned into a military hospital.

It was found on the internet by Memory Lane reader Richard Samuelson, of South Street, Middle Barton.

He writes: “Seeing how many wounded servicemen had to be squeezed into every part of the building reminds us once more of the immense sacrifice of the 1914-18 generation.”

The Town Hall became part of the 3rd Southern General Hospital and as you can see, beds were packed tightly into the main hall as well as on the balconies.

From 1916, it specialised in treating soldiers suffering from malaria.

Space must have been at a premium as at that time, the Town Hall housed not only military personnel, but council staff, the public library and the city police force, which didn’t move to the new police station further down St Aldate’s until 1936.

The main section of the 3rd Southern General Hospital was at the Oxford University Examination Schools in High Street.

The Bishop of Oxford had attended a dedication ceremony there with university and city leaders on Sunday, August 16, 1914.

He said: “We are here in the middle of peaceful England, in the midst of the harvest season of peace and God’s goodness, to prepare this hospital, which speaks to us of something so terrible, and brings into the heart of peace the thought of war.”

Speaking from a lectern draped with the Union Flag, he said: “We can hardly go near a home of any sort or class which is not full of the thoughts of anxiety for those whom they love, who have gone amid the perils of war.

“We are here to prepare, in a way which will bring it home to the hearts of all, for the treatment of those who suffer in the war.”

Among the medical staff posted to the hospital in 1915 was Gathorne Girdlestone, then in his mid-30s, who would later become a pioneering surgeon and the founder of the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre at Headington.

The Duke of Marlborough also allowed part of Blenheim Palace at Woodstock to be used as a military hospital.