Pte George Standing RAMC diary October 1914

[David_Blanchard]

I have been working on the role of the RAMC in 1914, particularly the 23rd Field Ambulance of the 7th Division. Foolishly I have forgotten where I found the the reference below recorded in George Standing's diary. Any help recovering this source appreciated. 

 

 

"The first casualty treated by the 23rd Field Ambulance was a German Dragoon officer, ‘dangerously wounded’. Private George Standing, RAMC, records his experience of his first day in Ypres in a diary entry for 14 October 1914:

 

‘Marched on to Ypres (formerly a very important place). Slept in St Martin’s church a magnificent place inside. Turned out at 10 30 pm with ambulance to fetch in a wounded German Dragoon shot by a Northumberland Hussar. Patrol found him lying in a very dark place near the Hotel de Ville. Had two bullet wounds in abdomen and right arm broken, could have finished him off.’'

 

David 

[David_Blanchard]

Just pushing this up to the top again.

 

David 

[Bob Davies]

On 25/01/2023 at 13:38, David_Blanchard said:

Marched on to Ypres (formerly a very important place). Slept in St Martin’s church a magnificent place inside. Turned out at 10 30 pm with ambulance to fetch in a wounded German Dragoon shot by a Northumberland Hussar. Patrol found him lying in a very dark place near the Hotel de Ville. Had two bullet wounds in abdomen and right arm broken, could have finished him off.’'

David,

I have read these words before, probably quite some time ago when you were researching 'Railway dugouts', 'Transport Farm' and the series of posts related to that.

Where the heck it was is a mystery to me at the moment.

Was it in a War Diary?

Scarlet Finders?

Was it George Swindell?

I should post these words on Who is This ??? and let the great minds of @Knotty, @neverforget, @Uncle George, @ilkley remembers, @tankengine888, @Fattyowls and others , the list is in no particular order, have a look.  So, "where where these words seen?" Marched on to Ypres (formerly a very important place). Slept in St Martin’s church a magnificent place inside. Turned out at 10 30 pm with ambulance to fetch in a wounded German Dragoon shot by a Northumberland Hussar. Patrol found him lying in a very dark place near the Hotel de Ville. Had two bullet wounds in abdomen and right arm broken, could have finished him off.’'

[neverforget]

Could it be from "Amble remembers the First World War"?

I haven't had chance to read through the whole 170 pages yet...

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:dde748dd-037f-4bee-8d50-d3e8d1ffe013

[Bob Davies]

1 hour ago, neverforget said:

Could it be from "Amble remembers the First World War"?

I haven't had chance to read through the whole 170 pages yet...

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:dde748dd-037f-4bee-8d50-d3e8d1ffe013

Thank you NF. 

If it is not in that, then in might be in some web pages on line, associated with Bedford House Cemetery or one of the other Cemeteries close to Ypres? @David_Blanchard

[David_Blanchard]

What makes you think it is from Amble Remembers the First World War.

 

David 

[neverforget]

1 minute ago, David_Blanchard said:

What makes you think it is from Amble Remembers the First World War.

 

David 

I entered the words "Marched on to Ypres (formerly a very important place). Slept in St Martin’s church a magnificent place inside. Turned out at 10 30 pm with ambulance to fetch in a wounded German Dragoon shot by a Northumberland Hussar." into Google, and that's what came up.

[David_Blanchard]

Ok, definitely worth going through- no real easy search on this, sadly!

 

Thanks,

 

David 

[David_Blanchard]

Had a look at Amble site. Nothing there as far as I can see. I didn't get a hit on google for that website when I used the words you did. Still a puzzle.

 

David 

[neverforget]

Oh well, sorry it wasn't more helpful. Good luck in finding your source.

[David_Blanchard]

No, thank you very much for your help. Didn't mean to sound rude,

 

David 

[neverforget]

6 minutes ago, David_Blanchard said:

No, thank you very much for your help. Didn't mean to sound rude,

 

David 

You didn't come across that way at all. I hope you get to the bottom of your mystery. All the best with it.

[Bob Davies]

4 hours ago, neverforget said:

Oh well, sorry it wasn't more helpful. Good luck in finding your source.

Thank you for looking NF, I am sure it will turn up when we are looking for something else, I hope.

Here is an extract from the 23 FA war diary (WO 95 1648/1)  for that morning which mentions a dangerously wounded German prisoner. So at least we have some sort of proof that we did not dream it up! ***.

Courtesy of the National Archives.

[Bob Davies]

David, it is in this somewhere.

[David_Blanchard]

Yes, that is probably it! I have a copy. How did you find it?

 

I will check now.

George Harding Diary! Page 128 of Markovitch thesis.

Excellent find! Thanks Bob.

David 

Edited 20 May , 2023 by David_Blanchard

[Bob Davies]

14 minutes ago, David_Blanchard said:

Yes, that is probably it! I have a copy. How did you find it?

 

I will check now.

George Harding Diary! Page 128 of Markovitch thesis.

Excellent find! Thanks Bob.

David 

I typed in the words;

Ypres 1914 Patrol found him lying in a very dark place near the Hotel de Ville. Had two bullet wounds in abdomen and right arm broken, could have finished him off.

A few hits down there it was on page 2 of google.

I have seen it written somewhere else but where does not matter now.

At least his name was George

[neverforget]

Well done Bob.

[Bob Davies]

Just now, neverforget said:

Well done Bob.

Cheers NF

Looking for George Hardings Diary on the net shows up this from the IWM. Screen shot courtesy of IWM.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030022053

[David_Blanchard]

Looks interesting. Have sent an email to Liana Markovich, to see if she has a digital copy of the diary.

 

David