Family history
This month, Ken Nisbet takes a look at the procedures for treating soldiers injured in the Great War and what records might be found for individual cases
How to find records for WWI casualty ancestors
Having had treatment by the NHS for a broken humerus earlier this year, I would have described myself as suffering from, in Great War terms, a ‘Blighty’ wound.This was the term used to describe a wound that required a soldier to be sent back to Great Britain, with an injury that was not fatal or permanently disabling.
So, what was the medical procedure for the treatment of wounded soldiers in World War I? If an individual was wounded in an attack, in ‘no man’s land’ or on the frontline trenches, communication trenches or support trenches, he would usually be treated at the regimental aid post by the regimental medical officer, who normally held the rank of captain and was a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC).
From there, the soldier would go to an advanced dressing station (ADS) and then a field ambulance; the latter being a term used to describe a larger-scale medical unit normally commanded by a RAMC lieutenant colonel and an infantry brigade.
At a field ambulance, a serviceman who had been treated for a minor injury or illness could then be returned directly to his unit. If the case was more serious, then he would be sent to a casualty clearing station (CCS). The CCSs were generally of a more permanent nature, with specialised surgeons treating particular kinds of wounds and where army nurses could be found.There was a cluster of CCSs around Poperinghe in Belgium and over 50 such stations were to be found across Belgium and France.
From the CCS, a man might be returned to his unit or be sent by hospital barge or train to a general hospital or base hospital. Such sites had specialised sub units and were found at locations such as Rouen in northern France, or on the northern coast of France, for example at Etaples. General or base hospitals were for more long-term treatment, but if you were ‘lucky’ and got a ‘Blighty’, you could be sent back by hospital ship to the UK. During periods with large numbers of casualties, such as July 1916 or April 1917, the system might be truncated and a wounded soldier be sent directly from an ADS back to the UK.
How to trace an injured World War I serviceman
If your relative’s service papers have survived and are found on Ancestry or FindMyPast, the papers should mention any field ambulance or CCS the person was treated at. FindMyPast also has a number of hospital records from the M.H.106 medical records of World War I service personnel, covering various CCSs, hospital trains, ships and base hospitals.
The Long Long Trail website www. longlongtrail.co.uk has excellent information on the treatment of the wounded. An example from my own family history is Private Alexander M. Arnold, 25th Battalion A.I.F, 1916. He was wounded with a severe gun-shot wound to the back and right side of his body on 14 October 1916. He was treated by 5th field ambulance and at 10th CCA; and was sent to England on the hospital ship Glengorm Castle on 27 October 1916. He was admitted for treatment at 3rd London general hospital on 28 October 1917 and discharged to Bulford hospital on 5 February 1917. He returned to Australia on 4 May 1917 and was discharged on 13 August 1917.
Ken Nisbet is secretary of the Scottish Genealogy Society and of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies and is on the user group for the Family History Centre in Edinburgh. He is a regular lecturer to Scotland’s family history societies. He has written a number of books, all of which are published by the Scottish Genealogy Society, and tutors some of the classes the society runs.