'Wounded Soldiers Return - Maidstone 1916'

The civilians in the picture are Maidstone residents who met the trains and directed the distribution of the wounded to the various hospitals in the district.

These people include Mr. F.T. Travers, Dr. Pye Oliver, Mr. Bernard Haynes, Mr J.T. Pickard, the stationmaster and ambulance men of the time.

This painting was purchased by public subscription in 1918 and exhibited at the Maidstone Museum. This fee was added to the £30 already raised by Frank Hyde from the exhibiting of another of his paintings to raise funds for those left disabled by the war.

He later painted and sold ‘Trones Wood’ to help further this cause. The paintings by Frank Hyde were also used to help raise funds for The British League of Help to assist the communities in northern France that had been devastated by the fighting.