Were traumatized soldiers ever sent to their homes to recuperate?

[Chemin Des Dames]

Does anyone know if people were ever sent to recuperate at home after hospital treatment, or would this require them to be invalided out?

 

My great uncle Lance Corporal Christopher Ryan (2034 King's Liverpool Regiment, 8th "Irish" Battalion) was sent back to Blighty with "vision" problems in I think July 2015. In fact he had shell shock and was extremely traumatized. He'd apparently gone over the top in mid-June near Bethune in a very bloody engagement, then been shelled in July. After that his vision seemed to fail, and he was sent to a hospital in Arques, then back to Britain. 

 

Once there - and at this point family stories are all I have to go by - he was sent to a hospital in Fazakerley on the outskirts of Liverpool, either the First Western General or "Sparrowhall" although these may have been the same place. He was then sent on to a "shell shock hospital"  for a while, which was supposedly located up the road in Maghull. But after this he was sent home to recuperate at his mother's house in Liverpool, still apparently with his "hospital blues", which he detested.  

 

Anyway, he was in Liverpool in civvies one day in early 1916 and a young woman presented him with a white feather. He was humiliated and went straight back to the King's regiment, where initially he kept the same regimental number. He was then transferred with a job lot of King's Liverpool men to the 2/7th Royal Warwickshires, was duly assigned a new number 20871, and was promptly killed at Fromelles. His service records were destroyed in the WW2 bombing.

 

This family account has always confused me, because I can't see why someone would be sent home to convalesce, with their hospital blues, rather than either kept in hospital or returned to the regiment. I wonder if in fact he was invalided out of the army, then chose to return to the regiment and got his old number back.

 

Anyway, if anyone knows about whether soldiers with shell shock or "vision" problems were sent home for long periods, without being invalided out of the service, I'd appreciate your thoughts! Cheers.

[kenf48]

31 minutes ago, Chemin Des Dames said:

He was then sent on to a "shell shock hospital"  for a while, which was supposedly located up the road in Maghull. 

 

Maghull was the first dedicated hospital for other ranks suffering from 'shellshock'  it used pioneering techniques for treatment many of which were carried forward to the more well known officers hospital st Craiglockhart.

https://www.theatkinson.co.uk/2018/11/armistice100-history-first-military-hospital-treat-soldiers-shell-shock-revealed/

 

The regime at Maghull was compassionate and caring, men would have been relatively free to come and go and may have been granted some form of convalescent leave, especially if he lived nearby.  Alternatively, he may have just gone home during the day.   After treatment he would usually have gone either to a Command Depot to regain full fitness, or a reserve battalion of his existing regiment. 

It is unlikely he would have left the army but in April 1917 the Military Sevice (Review of Exceptions) Act meant some men who were discharged were recalled to the colours. 

I doubt if he was in this category he would have retained his number.

 

 

[Chemin Des Dames]

Thanks for this - very interesting. It makes sense of the family stories that he was in a place that "Cut him some slack." Interestingly, he would quite likely have come across William Halse Rivers, who was at Maghull at that time, seeing mainly rank and file cases, before moving on to Craiglockhart and focusing on officers.

 

[aconnolly]

RE "shell shocked" in UK:

 

As a general rule only the most severe "shell shocked" / neuraesthenic cases were transferred to UK hospitals.  These made up around 10% of all such diagnoses from the Western Front  and a proportion of such men were able to maintain some form of Active service, albeit not necessarily at the Front.   Of the remaining 90% who were all treated in France, around 60% returned to Front line duties and 30% were retained in non-front line roles.  Obviously the degree of illness was the key determinant of where a case was treated and for how long

 

Re severe cases:  A 2014 analysis of the records of 462 admissions to the National Hospital in London for severe mental disturbance as a result of active service during the war (of whom 382 were Private soldiers) showed 186 were said to be "cured" and a further 212 were "improved".  These men had an average duration of symptoms preceding their transfer to London of 37 weeks and interestingly around half came to the National from other UK hospitals or convalescent homes.  Of the 462, "military decisions" were clear in 215 cases and of these 215, just over half (121) were deemed unfit for any further military service, but the remaining 94 were able to go into roles ranging from Home service to Light duties through to full Active Service.

 

These men all received a very comprehensive treatment regime which fits with Ken's reply above - the developments in treatment during the war were actually impressive.

 

RE: other illness/injury:  It was not uncommon for men to recuperate in UK and then return to the Front; it appeared that for those with an anticipated long, but full recovery, the UK was an option  - at least that was the case for quite a number of troops from New Zealand. 

 

Andrew

Edited 5 August , 2020 by aconnolly

[brianmorris547]

On 08/07/2020 at 19:14, Chemin Des Dames said:

Does anyone know if people were ever sent to recuperate at home after hospital treatment, or would this require them to be invalided out?

 

My great uncle Lance Corporal Christopher Ryan (2034 King's Liverpool Regiment, 8th "Irish" Battalion) was sent back to Blighty with "vision" problems in I think July 2015. In fact he had shell shock and was extremely traumatized. He'd apparently gone over the top in mid-June near Bethune in a very bloody engagement, then been shelled in July. After that his vision seemed to fail, and he was sent to a hospital in Arques, then back to Britain. 

 

Once there - and at this point family stories are all I have to go by - he was sent to a hospital in Fazakerley on the outskirts of Liverpool, either the First Western General or "Sparrowhall" although these may have been the same place. He was then sent on to a "shell shock hospital"  for a while, which was supposedly located up the road in Maghull. But after this he was sent home to recuperate at his mother's house in Liverpool, still apparently with his "hospital blues", which he detested.  

 

Anyway, he was in Liverpool in civvies one day in early 1916 and a young woman presented him with a white feather. He was humiliated and went straight back to the King's regiment, where initially he kept the same regimental number. He was then transferred with a job lot of King's Liverpool men to the 2/7th Royal Warwickshires, was duly assigned a new number 20871, and was promptly killed at Fromelles. His service records were destroyed in the WW2 bombing.

 

This family account has always confused me, because I can't see why someone would be sent home to convalesce, with their hospital blues, rather than either kept in hospital or returned to the regiment. I wonder if in fact he was invalided out of the army, then chose to return to the regiment and got his old number back.

 

Anyway, if anyone knows about whether soldiers with shell shock or "vision" problems were sent home for long periods, without being invalided out of the service, I'd appreciate your thoughts! Cheers.

 

Just to confuse things there was another Christopher Ryan 2035 Liverpool Regt 8 Bn. There is a service record for him under his later number 305366 but one of the pages (Ancestry Filmstrip 3602) is for 2034 Christopher Ryan. There is also the July 1915 Hospital Admission for 2034 in to 4 S H (MH 106/1411) with def vision.

Brian

[T, Fazzini]

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1768329/CHRISTOPHER RYAN/