Raven House was built in 1824. It was at first, three separate houses, now it is just one. Behind the house is a courtyard, a barn and three terraced cottages in which the farm labourers used to live.
In the late1880s it was a public house for the villagers of Adderley. It was probably called The Raven Arms or The Raven Inn. By the end of the century it was closed down. It was thought that the farm labourers got drunk at lunchtime so they were unable to do their work and the Corbet Family had the pub closed.
After this time it was owned privately by the Corbet Estate. Mrs Katherine Corbet let Raven House to The Red Cross for use as an auxiliary military hospital for convalescing soldiers from The First Word War. It opened on 27th July 1915. The commandant was the honourable Mrs K Corbet who was in charge of the running of the house. She had the help of a trained nurse Sister, STP Phaup. Miss Sybil Corbet daughter of K Corbet, was on general duty and Miss Robinson was the cook. It was financially difficult to run the house and some of the other soldiers helped with the daily duties and showed their appreciation by holding concerts. The soldiers had visits to Hawksmoor Farm, which was then owned by the Jameson family, where they enjoyed playing croquet and tennis. This all helped with their convalescence and recovery.
A concert took place at Audlem in May 1917, where the soldiers and some of the staff put on a performance of recitals and a short play. There was another concert held at Adderley Hall where the soldiers were by then known as The Raven Boys. Miss Mary Jameson, daughter of Adam Jameson who lived at Hawksmoor Farm arranged the evening and was thanked at the end of the concert.
The Raven House Auxiliary Hospital was closed on 27th September 1917.It proved to be too small for further army use. While it was open approximately 150 soldiers passed through Raven House. On 19th November 1917, it became an Edith Cadell Home of Rest for Nurses. Again Raven House was lent by Mrs K Corbet. The Home closed in October 1927. About 600 nurses had stayed there in its 10 years of service.
In the Archive on this website, you will see photographs of soldiers at Raven House and Hawksmoor Farm with signed names and regiments as well as poems , writings and cartoons from the soldiers.
There are also details of the story of Edith Cadell through newspaper cuttings and photographs, signed names of the nurses and where they came from. Photographs of Katherine Corbet,wife of R Corbet and their daughter Sybil and gives an insight into Adderley at this time.
Sybil Corbet married LT Col Edmond Waller Browne in February 1922 and lived at Raven House until around 1960. Around 1961 Mary Jameson who was married to Mr George Boulton, lived at Raven House until the early 1970’s, so the association with Hawksmoor Farm continued.