Haddo House babies from WWII?

[andarah]

My Dad was a Haddo House baby, born in 1943.

I just googled Methlick, and supposedly it's in Aberdeenshire, but my Dad's family lived in the Gorbals.  Was it primarily people from Glasgow, even though it's in Aberdeenshire?

Does anyone know any history or have anything written up?

I've tried to look it up, and all I ever get is a single line saying it was used as a maternity hospital during WWII.  Surely there must be more known.

Does anyone know anything?  Does anyone else have a Haddo House baby?

My Dad was finally able to get a picture of the home and has it framed on his wall.

[tootsiepie]

Is this any use ?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/castlekay/2465128916/

The caption underneath says they were evacuees.

[K44ENF]

Is it the same Haddo House which is under the care of the National Trust for Scotland?
http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/73/Details/
I don't know if you have tried contacting them before, but I would have thought they would be able to tell you something of the history of the house, or know if records survive.

[andarah]

We had never considered them to be evacuees, but I guess that could be the case.

From what I understand, there was limited maternity space in the regular hospitals because of the war wounded, so they opened up this home as a maternity hospital.  My father knows the exact window to the room he was born in.

Yes, it is now under the protection of the National Trust of Scotland.  I hadn't thought to contact them.

Thanks!

[andarah]

I just looked at that photo and again, and unless I am mistaken (very likely), the fraction of a window on the left beside the staircase is the window to the room my Dad was born in.

However, if there was more than one grand staircase curving at that angle, then I would be wrong.  I don't know what the back of the house looks like, as I have only seen the front of it.  There is only one staircase on the front (one curves each way).

So, I *think* that is the room.

Thanks for the link to the pic!

[sancti]

What was your grandfather's occupation?

[andarah]

During the war he was an aircraft mechanic, stationed in Burma.

After the war he was in aircraft quality control.  I don't know about before the war, but he would have only been 22 when my Dad was born, so he was probably in something related to mechanics if that's what he did during the war.

[sancti]

Is it possible it was for the wives of servicemen?

[andarah]

I don't know....maybe??

I found a little bit more, and it appears as though mothers were moved there at the beginning of their 8th month and they returned to Glasgow when the baby was a month old.  It also said that with all the returning injured, there wasn't space for maternity in the local hospitals.  This supports what my Dad had told me.

Now, my father was a full-term, large baby, born 8 months after the wedding.  In other words, he was not born a month early.  I wonder if that had something to do with it?