REVEALED FOR THE FIRST TIME: Personal medical records of WW1

MELKSHAM, U.K. - June 24, 2015 - PRLog -- Military genealogy website Forces War Records is to release newly transcribed versions of the medical and hospital records of men who fought along the Western Front.  Available NOW, these rare accounts of 1.5 million records the company has recently discovered - and is now transcribing.  They are archive gems for those researching their family history.

Apart from documenting the men’s names, service and medical details and movements, whether returned to the Front, sent back to Blighty, or ending in death, they also shed light on a grisly line-up of the top 20 most common injuries and ailments suffered by the men, from expected conditions such as trench foot and mustard gas poisoning, through to more surprising ones, including lice (97 per cent of men were infested), scabies and sexually transmitted diseases.

An e-book: Trench Traumas and Medical Miracles, is also published.  Compiled by Forces War Records’ expert researchers and downloadable free from www.forces-war-records.co.uk, it explains and adds further context to these rare documents.  The e-book paints a picture of everyday life on the front line and explains the ‘chain of evacuation’: how and where these men were patched up (or not) and what was done with them next.

It also catalogues the legion of problems the medical practitioners saw on a daily basis, with many soldiers suffering from a combination of conditions at once.

In addition to battlefield traumas, social diseases also took their toll. Sexually transmitted diseases were rife as soldiers visited French brothels looking for warmth, comfort and a release from the horrors of the trenches.

Besides the ‘top 20’ list, additional common hazards of war included deafness from artillery fire,  bayonet wounds, tonsillitis, haemorrhoids, in-growing toenails, even broken dentures and glasses.  Many self-inflicted wounds (some imparted in a bid to escape front line duty, a punishable offence) were also recorded – and the Forces War Records team noted a number where ‘injury with pick-axe’ was cited.

The team found the records to be quite inconsistent.  For instance 300 men could be affected by mustard gas on one day, but then there were quiet days where non-emergencies such as tooth decay were treated. One entry that stood out was a soldier who contracted gastroenteritis after drinking fetid water from a shell crater, such was his desperation to slake his thirst.

But there were lighter moments, such as muscles sprained from football matches and an unfortunate Private Crack who’d been shot in the buttocks.

Medical innovations

The e-book also describes some of the incredible and pioneering inventions dreamt up during the conflict.  For instance, it describes how blood transfusions became commonplace, mobile X-ray units were created and how, prior to the war, 80 per cent of patients with a femoral (thigh bone) fracture would have died, but following the development of the Thomas splint fatalities were reduced to just seven per cent.  In contrast a number of highly improbable ‘medical recipes’ are shown – including one for ‘Weakness and Nervousness’, which has, as its ingredients, quinine, ginger, rosemary leaves and dilute sulphuric acid.

Touching stories

Apart from the excruciating suffering described from the front line, the e-book also highlights some ordinary, but very touching moments.  For instance, a letter of thanks from a hospital orderly to a schoolgirl who’d sent them a basket of eggs: “they are greatly appreciated by them; after a man has been up at the firing line for some months, and living on rough food, an egg means that he partakes of a luxury”.  There are also extracts from a nursing sister’s beautifully written diary chronicling her War from a peaceful, sunny barracks in Aldershot to hell on earth in Boulogne.

Significance of the records

The records, the originals of which are stored at the National Archives in Kew, have not been transcribed before now since they are handwritten, many in faint pencil or with lots of abbreviations, and therefore very difficult to read and interpret.  Methods of recording and fluctuating levels of accuracy between the 100 year old books also made the records challenging to decipher, even for Forces War Records’ specialist data entry staff.

In some cases the field ambulance record may be the only existing proof that an ancestor fought in the war, as it can be hard to find information on men who were injured in the war but survived.

This first collection to be digitised is from the 51st Field Ambulance, a mobile frontline medical unit that would have been based about 400 yards behind the Regimental Aid Post.  It would have had special responsibility for the care of casualties from the 17th Division (an infantry division of between 12 and 14,000 men from many different regiments). It was the most forward of the RAMC units dealing with these troops, and the first line of documentation for casualties.

The records run from 17 July 1915 to 13 August 1918.

ends

Notes to editors:

Top 20 Conditions:

Were compiled and analysed in September 2014 from 3,000 of the first 25,000 records to be transcribed.

“War Office: First World War Representative Medical Records of Servicemen”is a collection of records of soldiers’ admission to, or discharge from, hospital in the First World War.

After the war most medical and hospital records were destroyed.  The rest were given by the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) to the Ministry of Health.  Just a representative selection (no more than two per cent of the total) remain, housed at The National Archives, where they are coded MH106. These are the records that are being digitised by Forces War Records for searching on its site by the public.

The collection includes data from a range of field ambulances, casualty clearing stations, general hospitals and stationary hospitals, ambulance trains and medical transport ships, as well as both civilian and military hospitals back in Britain.

Each entry includes the name, rank, regiment and sub-unit of patient, age and completed years of service, completed months with Field Force, date of admission and discharge.  It shows what they were treated for (injury or disease) and any additional observations made by the medical practitioner, plus details of movement back to the front or to another hospital, or in some cases of the soldier’s death.

For further media information, interviews, photography and / or a PDF of the e-book Trench Traumas & Medical Miracles, please contact us