Headquarters, A, B, C, D Cambridgeshire - 14 Corn Exchange St
‘3rd Volunteer Battalion (Cambridgeshire) Suffolk Regiment; head quarters [plus A,B,C and D Companies], Orderly room, Corn Exchange street, 4th Volunteer Battalion (Cambridge University) Suffolk Regiment; head quarters, Market street.’ (Kelly, 1896)

According to ‘203rd (Cambridgeshire) Field Company, Royal Engineers - 1915-1919: A Short History of the Field Company’ compiled by Cliff Brown, the Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely Territorial Force Association asked the War Office early in 1915 for permission to raise a Field Company and this was formed in March, 1915. It was based at the Drill Hall, East Road, Cambridge. The company soon moved to Wisbech, then to join the 35th (Bantam) Division at Fearby Camp, near Ripon, Yorkshire.

The East Road Drill Hall was on the site between Wellington House (an office block) and Centre Point (a student hostel). The site also fronted Adam and Eve Street. Opposite the drill hall on East road was the Zion Baptist Hall, which was used as the Drill Hall’s cook house during the Second World War.

In addition to its military use, the Drill Hall was also used for classes of the technical college. It was subsequently used, like many drill halls, as a Royal Mail Sorting Office before being demolished in 1993.

The site was empty for many years, but after a controversial and drawn-out planning application, a new County Court building was erected and completed in 2006.

Market street was the Headquarters of the University’s Officer Training Corps and as such is outside the scope of the project.

1st Eastern General Hospital was a military hospital unit based in Green street until 1915, after which the building was redeveloped. It formed premises for a territorial medical unit.