Open all access for First World War veterans’ families

Erskine Hospital admissions join the digital age

Historical records featuring admissions registers of ex-serviceman cared for by veterans’ charity Erskine after the First World War have gone online.

Erskine teamed up with the University of Glasgow to catalogue and preserve the records of the more than 100-year-old institution.

Thanks to the university archives service and a team of volunteer indexers, the data from the 1916- 1936 Erskine Hospital admissions has been fully digitised.

And Erskine has incorporated them into an online resource on their website.

Erskine chief executive Steve Conway said the details of every soldier and sailor admitted to the Princess Louise Scottish Hospital for Limbless Sailors and Soldiers during the First World War were recorded in leather-bound books.

“This included the nature of their injury, where they were serving when injured and their unit, so we have a fascinating insight into the history of the patients admitted to the hospital,” Conway said.

“We can also see that many had return visits for treatment or the fitting of artificial limbs as their wounds healed.

“We are delighted that, thanks to the painstaking work by the university, relatives can now research our records about members of their families injured in the First World War from the comfort of their own home.”

Erskine Hospital – then called the Princess Louise Scottish Hospital for Limbless Sailors and Soldiers – was set up in 1916 to treat soldiers who had suffered loss of limbs during the war.

Sir William Macewen, one of Scotland’s most pre- eminent surgeons, helped bring the hospital about.

The Erskine/ University partnership to digitise the hospital admissions is the result of research into Sir William Macewen’s connections with Erskine by Professor Tony Pollard.

Professor Pollard, the university’s Professor of Conflict History and Archaeology, said: “The Erskine records are quite remarkable and we are absolutely delighted that we could help to bring them to a wider audience.

“This online database is a portal to the past for many families and researchers. There are hundreds of personal stories of ordinary men who came back from war injured and broken.

“These are tales of endurance, rehabilitation and retraining to return to civilian life.

“And the admissions records also provide an insight into the development of prosthetics and care of war casualties post conflict.”

Families searching out their ancestors First World War story will now have online access to their relatives’ admissions records, including details of injuries, recovery and in retraining at the hospital workshops.

Moira Gallie, from Canonbie in Dumfries and Galloway, accessed the records of James Henderson, her maternal grandfather. He lost his right leg during the First World War in 1918.

And she believes the digitised archive will be a wonderful resource for other families to easily access for themselves their own relatives’ records.

She said: “I am delighted to hear that the database of Erskine admissions is now being put online for anyone to access. It is a great resource.

“It meant so much to my family and I to find out more about my grandfather’s time at Erskine Hospital.

“It was fascinating to put another piece of the puzzle back into his life story.”