Navy Surgeons and Scheduled Occupations

[Guest]

My grandfather was in the Royal Navy and served as Ship's Surgeon on a battleship patrolling the S. Atlantic in the latter stages of the WW1, having previously been in medical practice on the Home Front in the Liverpool area. He was then in his 30s, married, with an infant son (my late father). I was aware that doctors were a "reserved occupation" when conscription came in, in 1916. So, does that mean that Grandad would have volunteered and would he have needed permission to serve, rather than continue his practice? Or would the Royal Navy have called him up to boost their numbers of serving medics and he decided not to claim exemption?

DB 

[alf mcm]

David,

  Welcome to the forum.

  If your grandfather was Frederick James Breakell, then you can get his service record online for free. He was a Temporary Surgeon Probationer and his record is included on the bottom half of page 54 of ADM 104/170  https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10853381    This file is free to download, without registering, and is quite big. 

Your grandfather would have volunteered, but if there hadn't been enough volunteers then Doctors may have been conscripted.

 

Regards,

 

Alf McM

[KizmeRD]

Temporary Surgeon Probationers were generally speaking third and fourth year medical students recruited into the navy for wartime service, a qualified GP would normally have joined as a Temporary Surgeon Lieutenant. (All doctors in the navy are given the title of surgeon).

[KizmeRD]

Just looked at his record from TNA download and according to that he joined the navy as a Temporary Surgeon Lieutenant 5.4.17. and was demobilised 12.7.19.

 

[alf mcm]

Thanks KizmeRD,

  I had assumed he was a Temporary Surgeon Probationer because that is what is written on the front of the ledger which holds his records. On having another look I can see that Probationers has been scored out and the ledger is re-named 'Temporary Surgeons'.

 

Regards,

 

Alf McM

 

[seaJane]

According to Simon Eyre's Surgeons of the Royal Navy in the First World War Frederick James Breakell qualified in 1907 having studied at Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh. He served on HMS AFRICA in 1917 and 1918, and HMS ARLANZA in 1918. He was entitled to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. If I recall correctly he would have been a Temporary Surgeon at first, not entitled to use Surgeon Lieutenant until the Admiralty Order of mid-November 1918 changed the Medical branch from a Civil to an Executive one.

 

(NB may be no relation but there was also a Walter Breakell who did join as a Surgeon Probationer RNVR on 3 April 1918. He took his medical degree at University College Hospital London.)

 

sJ

[KizmeRD]

His two ships were HMS Africa (a pre-Dreadnought battleship), sent out to join the 9th Cruiser squadron in 1917.  Then at the very end of the war he joined HMS Arlanza, an armed merchant cruiser.

 

* When the Spanish flu first emerged in West Africa August 1918, the speed at which it ravaged Freetown (Sierra Leone) was staggering. 4% of the population died in just 3 weeks. HMS Mantua is thought to have been responsible for introduced the influenza into Africa, she arrived at Freetown for coaling on 15th August with 200 of her crew already sick. HMS Africa pulled into Freetown on 27th August and by then 500 of the 600 labourers employed by the Sierra Leone Coaling Company were already off work. HMS Africa’s crew worked alongside the remaining local labourers to complete coaling, however 600 of her 779 crew soon went down with the flu and 51 subsequently died. Surg. Lt. Breakell and the ship’s medical team would have been overwhelmed by the outbreak. Both ships then returned to the UK (with Breakell apparently temporarily attached to HMS Mantua for the voyage home).

 

 

 

Edited 3 September , 2020 by KizmeRD
Added a note about Spanish flu outbreak.

[KizmeRD]

Above account of Spanish flu outbreak inSierra Leone was taken from ‘The Great Influenza’ by John M. Barry, however having now read the ship’s logs for both HMS Mantua and HMS Africa, it appears that the information written in the book is not entirely accurate. According to log book entries HMS Mantua arrived Freetown (from Plymouth) on 15th August 1918 with 132 of her crew sick (none were listed as sick on departure from UK). Ten crew members were buried in Sierra Leone according to CWGC. HMS Africa provided burial parties for HMS Mantua. HMS Mantua then sailed for return voyage to UK (convoy escort) on 30th August. Crew members from HMS Africa started getting going down with flu symptoms from 2 September onwards, and by 9th September there were 476 listed aboard as being unwell. 53 died and were buried ashore according to CWGC. No mention in ether log book regarding temporary transfer of Surg. Lt. Breakell from Africa to Mantua for passage home (but this was recorded in ADM 104/170). HMS Africa sailed to return home to UK on 5th October (with Capt. Allen RAAMC embarked for passage to England).

 

 

 

 

Edited 3 September , 2020 by KizmeRD

[abbrover]

Many thanks KizmeRD.