Repatriation -how long would it take?

[Kiegsien]

My great uncle George CRICKMORE was admitted to St Barts. on 31/12/1914 and died there 2 weeks later. Looking at the War Diaries for the 2nd Suffolks there are several dates showing wounded in December so I was wondering am I looking at days or weeks for him to reach home?

His injuries were serious - Shrapnel wound in skull; cerebral septo-meningitis streptococcal; broncho pneumonia.

I'm amazed he survived the journey home!!

[Matlock1418]

On 04/06/2021 at 14:36, Kiegsien said:

I was wondering am I looking at days or weeks for him to reach home?

His injuries were serious - Shrapnel wound in skull; cerebral septo-meningitis streptococcal; broncho pneumonia.

Days or weeks? - I think it generally depended on the type and seriousness of the injury(ies)/infection(s)

If relatively straight-forward then I think days was a possibility, but ...

In more serious/complicated cases I believe they kept casualties in hospital in order to stabilise them enough to allow for further transportation to the UK, so perhaps into weeks.

I think head injuries might perhaps have not always been so straight-forward so perhaps on the longer side, but I can't confirm.

In George Crickmore's case you don't say when/where his infections were encountered [think we can presume where the shrapnel wound in skull originated].

A serious head injury could perhaps have kept him in hospital on the continent for a time before transport - but perhaps the infections initially grew there and/or of course they might have alternatively been acquired/developed in the UK and perhaps only later/recorded at time of death.  Either way they look like post-wounding complications.

???

Have you any more info?  Where did you get your info on his UK admission, wound & infections?

It might be possible that a field Hospital Admissions and Discharges Book record(s) does exist and may note him with dates

[but unfortunately I am not skilled enough to find such specialised documents as HA&DB]

Hope another member(s) can help you with that.

:-) M

[Kiegsien]

Thanks for the interest Matlock. I found out George had died at Barts from his death cert. so I wrote to the Archives. This is all they had:

From death register SBHB/MR/5/22, p101; words in square brackets indicate that the handwriting is unclear and I am not certain what it says:

When died: 14 January 1915

Name of patient: George Crickmore

Age: 34

Ward: Casualty (Capt. Ball)

Admitted: 31 December

Inquest: -

Examination: PM

Disease: Shrapnel wound in skull; cerebral septo-meningitis streptococcal; broncho pneumonia

Civil state: Single

Occupation: Private, 2nd Suffolks, 9237

Supposed residence: 8 New St, Ipswich

Friend or undertaker by whom body is removed: [Vigers]

This is all the information we hold about George, I do hope you find it helpful.

 

I found out from the thread below that TNA doesn't have Medical Records for the Suffolks.

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/185407-medical-records/?tab=comments#comment-1804281