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Medical Practices in World War 1 Africa - An Overview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2022

Anne Samson
Anne Samson*
Affiliation:
Great War in Africa Association
*
[email protected]
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Extract

The centenary of the Great War has led to a widening of interest in aspects of the African theatre. Until 2013 the focus was mainly military. Since then, social and cultural aspects have come more to the fore with particular emphasis on the diversity of the participants. Focusing on East Africa as the main African theatre of conflict, the works by Michelle Moyd, Edmund Yorke and Jan-Bart Gewald amongst others are examples of the recent trend.

More recently, working with the diaries of medical officers, such as Norman Parsons Jewell, who served in Africa, highlighted the value of medical records to understanding the conditions faced by the military authorities in fulfilling their task. References to medical services and interactions between forces in memoirs of German participants suggest that rich comparisons can be made between the various imperial powers which saw service in Africa.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Research and Documentation , Volume 129: African Medicine Matters: Documenting Encounters in Medical Practice and Healthcare , 2016 , pp. 22 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2016

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References

Notes

1 Michelle Moyd (2014). Violent Intermediaries: African soldiers, conquest, and everyday colonialism in German East Africa. Athens, OH: Ohio University; Edmund York (2015). Britain, Northern Rhodesia and the First World War: Forgotten colonial crisis. London: Palgrave; Jan-Bart Gewald (2015). Forged in the Great War: People, Transport, and Labour, the Establishment of Colonial Rule in Zambia, 1890-1920. Leiden, ASC, available online https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/36480/ASC-075287668-3709-01.pdf?sequence=2)

2 N.P. Jewell. (2016). On Call in Africa in war and peace, 1910-1932 Hove, Gillyflower.

3 The National Archives (TNA): WO 141/31, Pike Report; South African Medical Record available online http://archive.samj.org.za; Ann Crichton-Harris (2001). Seventeen letters to Tatham: A World War 1 surgeon in East Africa. Toronto: Keneggy West.

4 W.G. McPherson (1921). Medical Services General History: Medical services in the United Kingdom, in British Garrisons overseas, and during operations against Tsingtau, in Togoland, The Cameroons, and South West Africa, vol. 1 (Official Medical History). London: HMSO

5 William Boyd (1983). An Ice-Cream War. London: Penguin; Maya Alexandri (2016). The Celebration Husband. London: TSL.

6 Cf. Edward Paice (2007). Tip and Run: The untold tragedy of the Great War in Africa (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson), Ross Anderson (2004): The Forgotten Front: The East African campaign 1917-1918 (2004, Stroud: Tempus), Anne Samson (2013), World War 1 in Africa: The forgotten conflict of the European powers, (London: IB Tauris)

7 Kenya was known as British East Africa, Malawi was Nyasaland and Zambia was Northern Rhodesia.

8 TNA: AIR 1/1250/204/7/23, 26th South African Squadron War Diary, May-June 1916

9 For example, Sir Edward Grey's brother, fighting at Kisamu, “walked 27 miles alone in 9 hours with his arm in ribbons” to get medical attention. Imperial War Museum: MSS PP/MCR/62 GB Buxton, f. 98

10 TNA: WO 141/31 Administration of Medical Services in German East Africa.

11 TNA website: Legal Obligations for Transfer, <online> http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/manageinformation/selection-and-transfer/legal-obligations-transfer/ (accessed 4 January 2017)

12 TNA: WO 141/31 p. 3

13 TNA: WO 141/31 p. 3

14 TNA: WO 141/31 p. 3

15 TNA: WO 141/31 p. 4

16 TNA: WO 141/31 p. 6

17 TNA: WO 141/31 pp. 6-7

18 R.D.A. Douglas, ‘Experiences in the East African campaign’, part 1, South African Medical Record, 12 June 1920, pp. 203-204, available <online> http://archive.samj.org.za/1920%20VOL%20XVIII%20Jan-Dec/Articles/06%20June/1.3%20EXPERIENCES%20IN%20THE%20EAST%20AFRICAN%20CAMPAIGN.%20R.D.A.%20Douglas.pdf (accessed 31 Jan 2017)

19 R.D.A. Douglas, ‘Experiences in the East African campaign’, pp. 204-205

20 R.D.A. Douglas, ‘Experiences in the East African campaign’, p. 205

21 R.D.A. Douglas, ‘Experiences in the East African campaign’ in South African Medical Record, June 1920, p. 224, available <online> http://archive.samj.org.za/1920%20VOL%20XVIII%20Jan-Dec/Articles/06%20June/2.2%20EXPERIENCES%20IN%20THE%20EAST%20AFRICAN%20CAMPAIGN.%20R.D.A.%20Douglas.pdf (accessed 31 Jan 2017)

22 R.D.A. Douglas, ‘Experiences in the East African campaign’, pp. 205-206

23 Herbert Wynne Vaughan-Williams, Medical Services in the East African Campaign, 1916-1917 in South African Medical Journal, 11 January 1941, p. 9

24 See the list at the end of N.P. Jewell, On Call in Africa in war and peace, 1910-1932 (Hove, Gillyflower, 2016)

25 Foetus Abortus as discussed by N.P. Jewell, On Call and Pike Report findings

26 TNA: Unit War Diaries <online> https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/first-world-war/centenary-unit-wardiaries/ (accessed: 31 Jan 2017)

27 N.P. Jewell, On Call in Africa in war and peace, 1910-1932 (Hove, Gillyflower, 2016)

28 William Boyd (1983) An Ice-Cream War (London: Penguin), Maya Alexandri (2016), The Celebration Husband (London: TSL), William Stevenson (1980), The Ghosts of Africa (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Javonovich)

29 Brian Duncan (2016) The Lion and the Leopard (Raasay: Raasay Publishing Ltd.)

30 Francis Brett-Young (1917), Marching on Tanga (London: Collins), (1930) Jim Redlake (London: Heinemann); (1918). The Crescent Moon (London: Martin Seeker); Jacques LeClaire (2006), Letters to Jessie, written by Francis Brett Young to his wife from German East Africa 1916-1917 (Halesowen, Francis Brett Young Society)

31 Gertrude Page (1915), Follow After (London: Hurst & Blackett); (1918) Into the Limelight and other tales (London: Cassell)

32 The Great War in Africa Association, at the time of writing, is embarking on a project to transcribe the Pike Report and supplement it with other sources of information providing a central hub of medical information on African involvement in World War 1.