Link request to Naval Medical Service History of 1914-18

[KizmeRD]

When I wasn’t even looking for it, I stumbled across the following obituary…

Captain John Hugh Secker was born in 1874 and educated at Uppingham School, and at schools in France and Switzerland. He then studied for three years at the City and Guilds Engineering College, and after serving his apprenticeship with Messrs. Davey and Paxman, Ltd., of Colchester, from 1896 to 1898, he remained in the employment of the firm as superintendent in charge of the erection of boilers and engines. During 1900 and 1901 he was assistant engineer to the Slough Waterworks Company and was engaged in superintending and erecting new works. In the latter year he went to Folkestone and was appointed by the local electric supply company as assistant engineer in charge of the central station. He returned to the Slough Waterworks Company in 1903 as assistant engineer and in the following year he was appointed manager and engineer. In 1912 he joined Durable Roads, Ltd., road contractors, as engineer and was appointed a director.

During the war of 1914-18 he served with distinction in France, being mentioned in Army Corps orders, French army, and received the Croix de Guerre; later he was granted a commission in the R.A.F. He served in the balloon section with the rank of captain and was mentioned in dispatches. On demobilization in 1919 he returned to his former position with the Durable Roads, Ltd., and after a period of five years, from 1931 to 1936, as director of Trough Decking, Ltd., he became chairman and managing director of British Surgical Instruments, Ltd.
Mr. Secker was elected an Associate Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1908. His death occurred on 11th September 1941.

MB

[williywonker]

That's amazing Nico; but who are WE? Are you part of an historical group?

Mal

[KizmeRD]

I have Lt.Col. Clark-Hall listed as ‘Staff of General Officer Commanding RM Brigade - Acting Brigade Major’.*

MB

* The brigade major was chief of staff the brigade and was head of the brigade's "G - Operations and Intelligence" section. His role was to expand on, detail and execute the intentions of the General Officer Commanding..

Edited 6 March , 2023 by KizmeRD

[williywonker]

H2 and KizmeRN.

Could I have your 'take' on the attached please? It's a screen shot from one of the first few pages of the Admiralty 1914 Star Roll. It appears to show a supplementary roll for the two hospitals which includes an RM Staff Officer (highly decorated it seems) albeit his medal was not issued. I'm not sure if his 1914 Star is listed elsewhere or whether his service on land did not qualify him? Could he have been a staff liaison officer for the hospitals by any chance?

Mal 

Edited 6 March , 2023 by williywonker

[Niko]

1 hour ago, williywonker said:

That's amazing Nico; but who are WE? Are you part of an historical group?

Mal

I am a guide in Fort2!

[KizmeRD]

Brigade Major would have had a minor supplementary role in looking after the health and welfare of the battalions, so as a bare minimum I would have expected him to have made himself aware of the surgical capabilities, capacities and locations of the auxiliary hospitals in his area of operation. Although during such a short and intense period, I wouldn’t expect that it occupied much of his time (better spent on operational planning).

MB

Edited 6 March , 2023 by KizmeRD

[KizmeRD]

Nico is too modest!

Here’s a link to the website…

https://www.fortengordels.be/forten/fort-2-wommelgem#visit

MB

 

[horatio2]

Another 1914 Star mix-up, I fear.

"Lt Col RH CLARK-HALL" appears elsewhere in the Roll,  as described by @KizmeRD. However, Robert Hamilton CLARK-HALL was not an RM officer. He was a Lt Cdr RN (15 October 1911), later Squadron Commander RNAS (1 July 1914). Nor was he ever in the post of Brigade Major in the RM Bde RND at Antwerp.  That appointment was held by Major EFP SKETCHLEY RMLI (later GSO2 RND and relieved as 3/Bde Major by Captain MC FESTING RMLI.).

C-H was, however, loaned by the RNAS to Genral ASTON RM for the period of the "Flying Column RM" (aka RM Bde) sortie to Ostend at the end of August 1914. C-H was, as noted below in Gen ASTON's report , the only Staff Officer at first ("doing the work of Brigade Major") but Gen ASTON soon appointed the Adjutant of Portsmouth Bn, Maj SKETCHLEYto be his  'properly qualified' Bde Maj for this operation. Ther whole episode at Ostande took place 27-31 August, inclusive.

 

His appearance in the 1914 Star Roll is, I believe, partly in error in showing the wrong rank.. C-H appears in the Admiralty Medal Roll as Wing Commander RNAS with the 1914-15 Star (another error), Victory & BW medals, these Issued to Air Ministry for disposal to the officer. His 1914 Star is shown as "Returned to Mint March 1934". His 1914 Star should appear in the 1914 Star Roll under 'Where served  and Clasp issued' as 'O - Service at Ostend; not entitled to Clasp.'

Records of service (x4) here  -  https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9747401  and Wiki here  -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Clark-Hall  Described by Wing Cdr Samson as "one of my old Eastchurch officers" and later CO HMS ARK ROYAL at Gallipoli and Wing Captain RNAS. Among his many accomplishments "Could he have been a staff liaison officer for the hospitals by any chance?" I think not.

Edited 7 March , 2023 by horatio2

[KizmeRD]

30 minutes ago, horatio2 said:

However, Robert Hamilton C:ARK-HALL was not an RM officer. He was a Lt Cdr RN (15 October 1911)

That makes more sense, as Lt. Colonel RM would have been too senior for such a position.

MB

[horatio2]

A bit more background to C-H being at Ostend. Wing Cdr SAMSON (Fights and Flights, p.6) records "On the night of August 25th 1914 I received a message ordering me to come up to London to se the Director of the Air Department at the Admiralty. ... I got to his room at about 10p.m. and found there Commander Clark-Hall. The Commodore gave me orders to take my squadron to Ostend and start first thing in the morning. ... after discussing arrangements with Clark-Hall who was going over on General Aston's staff, I set off back to Eastchurch.

C-H was obviously an important staff link between Samson and  General Aston, who used the RNAS  armoured cars for forward recce towards Bruges on 29 August. An early naval aviator (the seventh to qualify in August 1911) C-H was close to Samson and an asset to General Aston, as he reported.

[KizmeRD]

Full details of C-H’s naval and RAF career can be found here…

https://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Clark-Hall.htm

As it turns out, the RAF commissioned him in the rank of Lt. Col. on its formation in 1918 (which was probably his rank when he applied for his 1914 Star - hence recorded as such in the Admiralty medal roll).

MB

Edit - Although we don’t believe that the medal was ever issued? Did he opt for the 1914-15 Star instead? (In view of his service during the Gallipoli Campaign, which was obviously far more significant to him).

Edited 8 March , 2023 by KizmeRD

[williywonker]

I don't recall the exact terms, but there were certain restrictions on Admiralty personnel who landed for shore duty at Antwerp relating to their role and length of stay. I will check the 1914 Star Case Files.

Mal

[KizmeRD]

C-H’s 1914 Star was ‘Returned to Mint, March 1934’ (i.e. produced but not issued).

MB

 

There must have been some sort if exchange of correspondence in order for the Admiralty Medal Roll to refer to him as ‘Lt. Col.’ (His rank in 1918/19).

Edited 8 March , 2023 by KizmeRD

[KizmeRD]

Looking down the list of names on the Admiralty 1914 Star medal roll, I was very interested in seeing the name of Grace Ashley-Smith (later to become Mrs McDougall) who worked as a nurse with the British Field Hospital to Belgium during the Siege of Antwerp. After evacuating to Ghent, she stayed behind tending to a dying RND officer*, then (under German occupation) she successfully fled across the border to Holland and onwards via Calais to England. She then made a speedy turn around and was back in France with a FANY unit by the end of October, establishing the first FANY hospital at Calais (Lamarck Hospital) in addition to dressing station at Oostkirke, only one mile behind the trenches. She later established a typhoid hospital, a convalescent camp for British soldiers, and a convoy of ambulance drivers for the British Red Cross.

Grace was highly active throughout the war, becoming FANY Commandant. In addition to her 1914 Star, she was decorated with the Belgian Order of the Crown, the Order of Queen Elizabeth, and Knight of Leopold II, and the French also awarded her the Croix de Guerre.

Born Aberdeen 1887 and educated at Albyn School and Aberdeen University. Also won an Empire Medal for shooting at Bisley in 1911.

MB

Edit *Richard Christopher Gorges FOOTE RMLI Chatham Bn. Died 15 Oct 1914 aged 20.

 

 

Edited 8 March , 2023 by KizmeRD

[MartH]

On 28/02/2023 at 23:36, seaJane said:

Sorry to be so late to picking this up. The (Royal) Naval Medical History of the War was collated from various articles that appeared in the JRNMS in the 1920s into a single volume, with some small additions, which was distributed within the RN Medical Service units including RNH Haslar, RNH Plymouth, etc. 

The separate parts of Sir Arthur Gaskell's History of the RM Medical Unit were combined to form one section; there was also First aid work on shore with the Royal Naval Division / by J.N. MacBean Ross. 

This is the catalogue record of INM's copy, with the contents detailed: https://discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk/search?q=Medical history war Admiralty &rn=24

The JRNMS.com site is now closed, as the BMJ has taken over the Journal, along with the Journal of the RAMC, and the two are now published in tandem as BMJ Military Medicine.* The JRAMC archives are free to read but not, as yet, those of the JRNMS. However the BMJ archives site can be used to identify article details, and individual volumes can be searched for and read on archive.org using JRNMS 1915, for example. That was the year of vol. 1, so there is no 1914 volume.

*Unfortunately this means that some of the JRNMS links on my Medicine and Healthcare of the GW bibliography are now defunct - I will try to replace them soon. 

PS: by the way, I now have a successor in post as Historic Collections Librarian (much to my relief).

 

You are correct, I have been so busy it passed me by, apologies

However better late than never, I have a copy and here is the section on the Antwerp Division copied from the copy in my collection, and it is a somewhat large volume, so hard to scan.

Hoepfully it gives some information on the subject people want

Before you ask Alan, only ever seen one for sale in 40 years of collecting.

 

 

RNOHDOA.docx.pdf

[seaJane]

On 10/03/2023 at 18:24, MartH said:

only ever seen one for sale in 40 years of collecting

I think the quota was one per naval hospital, so I'm quite surprised you've even seen one!

sJ

[MartH]

7 minutes ago, seaJane said:

I think the quota was one per naval hospital, so I'm quite surprised you've even seen one!

 

Seajane I don't know how many naval hospitals there were, please enlighten me. Tom said he wasn't aware of it....

The copy in my collection IRC has a library stamp on it, I will check and revert.....

[seaJane]

1 hour ago, MartH said:

how many naval hospitals there were

The collection I used to work in had two copies - as I recall one from RNH Haslar and RNH Stonehouse (Plymouth). Now I'm retired I don't have the same access to resources, but I think the UK hospitals would have been Chatham, Greenwich, Haulbowline (Cork), Great Yarmouth, Portland, Pembroke and South Queensferry. If the foreign hospitals were included that would probably be Simonstown (Cape of Good Hope), Hong Kong, Gibraltar, Bermuda, Georgetown (Ascension), Bighi (Malta), Trincomalee (Ceylon/Sri Lanka), and possibly Yokohama (Japan). There would probably also have been at least one copy somewhere in the Admiralty.

I'll be interested to know whether you manage to identify the library stamp on your copy!

[MartH]

Interesting circa 20 copies identified by you. This copy comes from the British Medical Association Library. Original binding, spine repaired and relaid. One of the articles IRC explains how an Admiral asked for the book to be produced. Will look further.

[MartH]

I am correct it was commisoned in 1919 by Sir W H Norman Medical Director General, the man in charge of medicine in the navy. One of the Articles explains the commisioning of that article especially for the book.

[seaJane]

7 hours ago, MartH said:

I am correct it was commisoned in 1919 by Sir W H Norman Medical Director General, the man in charge of medicine in the navy. One of the Articles explains the commisioning of that article especially for the book.

Thank you for the information Mart - I'd never got as far as reading that bit.

All the best,

Jane

[Niko]

Well, on my way to see Morrissey in Antwerp yesertday evening, I took the tram passing harmonie and Belgielei.....

There is a school in an old building about halfway up Belgiëlei between harmonie and the railroad. My best guess it's that building that was used as hospital, but it's still a guess, because quite a lot has changed in the area.

That makes it the building on the extreme right on the postcard I posted already a few weeks ago, or just a little furter down the road toward the railroad. It is very much this area.

Edited 16 March , 2023 by Niko