An elusive medical officer - Walter Harry YELD, tempy surgeon RN / British Red Cross and Order of St John

[seaJane]

I've been approached by this gentleman's great-grand-daughter, seeking assistance. She says he was ''a temp surgeon who was in Russia in WW1. I cannot find details of his service or what he did although I think he may have been in Petrograd'' and has the MIC from WO372 (attached below) which I think is almost certainly correct (can there have been two medics of his name?). The corps is given as the British Red Cross and Order of St John.  NB Theatre of War first served in 3, and date of entry therein 30.5.17.

 

He appears in Simon Eyre's Surgeons of the Royal Navy in the FIrst World War as Walter Harry Yeld, joining the RN as a temporary surgeon on 12 March 1915. Eyre has him serving on HM Yacht BERYL in 1915 but then notes 'Not appointed. Short term only - gone by 23 May 1915.'

 

For all that he appears in the Navy List all the way through from January 1916 to January 1920, although at no time does he appear to be borne by any ship or establishment (NB that I've only looked at the January issues for 1919-1920, not the intervening months as yet). He is not in the Navy List for January 1921.

 

I can't find a service record for him, and a cursory look at a volume of Service of Temporary Surgeons in ADM 104 didn't reveal his name in the alphabetical sequence (if there is more than one volume obviously I need to look again).

 

Can anyone help unravel, or perhaps unite, the two strands of service?

 

Many thanks,

 

sJ

[headgardener]

The MIC is indeed him. He has a card in the BRCS archives showing his address as 12 Welbeck St, London. He served with the BRCS in Russia as a Medical Officer in the 'Anglo-Russian Hospital' from 29 May 1917 to Jan 1918.

[headgardener]

I forgot to add that the Theatre shown on his MIC (3) corresponds to Russia. 

[ForeignGong]

Hi

His Red Cross card states

12 Welbeck St. W.

SERVICE FROM: 29/05/1917

SERVICE TO: 01/1918

Anglo-Russian Hosp

 

Use this http://rcnarchive.rcn.org.uk/cgi-bin/advanced_search.pl# type in Yeld and there is a short account of the Anglo Russia Hosp

 

This is the only mention of him in the LG that I can find.

 

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34348/page/8074

Edited 3 September , 2020 by ForeignGong

[seaJane]

Thanks both! After a bit of tracking around chasing BRC and OStJ of Jerusalem I have found the same card via https://vad.redcross.org.uk/Card?sname=Yeld&id=235306&last=true - but I am most grateful for the other details.

 

The puzzle now is how come the Navy List slipped up and kept him on the strength - unless it was some kind of administrative work-round? 

 

[ForeignGong]

He could have been a naval reservist 

[alf mcm]

Seajane,

  He is on page 322 of ADM 104/70. It's a very short entry, and he was posted to Yacht Beryl for a short time.

 

Regards,

 

Alf McM

[seaJane]

2 hours ago, ForeignGong said:

He could have been a naval reservist 

I wondered that, but he's in the main serving list at the front of each volume, not the RNVR list further on.

37 minutes ago, alf mcm said:

Seajane,

  He is on page 322 of ADM 104/70. It's a very short entry, and he was posted to Yacht Beryl for a short time.

 

Regards,

 

Alf McM

Thanks Alf!