Wellington's Doctors:
The British Army Medical Services
in the Napoleonic Wars
Book Review:
reviewed by Paul Chamberlain, UK
 |
by Dr Martin Howard
Wellington’s Doctors is a long overdue account of the medical services in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars, with a particular emphasis on the Peninsular Campaign. Sir James McGrigor features in most accounts of Wellington's Army in the Iberian theatre, but this book also looks at all the medical officers great and small, their successes and failures, skills or lack of them. As Dr Howard states: ‘... Wellington’s doctors are easily overlooked. They feature little in conventional histories of the Napoleonic Wars’. This new work redresses the balance. It begins by examining the complex and often haphazard way in which the medical services of the army evolved during the latter part of the 18th century. The author uses journals written by the doctors themselves to discuss how they were appointed and how they learnt their job. In fact, much of their training was in the field, practicing on sick and wounded soldiers. The author examines the subject from all angles to build a picture of the British Army's medical arrangements, be they for officers or men, on the battlefield or in camp. The effects of battle are examined, looking at how wounds were initially treated on the field (if and when possible), prior to the casualty being transferred to the nearest dressing station. The chapter on the transportation of the sick and wounded in the Peninsula is enlightening, as most histories condemn the ox-carts used as being noisy and uncomfortable. The author argues the advantages of such vehicles. They were light, easy to repair, built to withstand poor roads and available in large numbers. Dr Howard uses diaries and journals of surgeons and their soldier-patients to examine all facets of the subject in detail. The chapter on hospitals examines the many structures used for that purpose, in the Peninsula, during the Waterloo campaign and in England. Surgery is dealt with by examining the types of wound incurred by the soldiers and their prognosis, plus bleeding as a treatment, and the ever-present dangers of gangrene and tetanus. More soldiers died of disease than battlefield wounds, and this subject is described along with the treatments available at the time. The prevalent theories of the contagion are discussed. There is a chapter on the life of sur-geons on campaign, examining their life both professional and at leisure. From this work it is evident that there were many doctors who were well educated, hard-working and conscientious, but were often overwhelmed by the numbers of sick and wounded they had to treat. The author however, argues that ‘Wellington’s doctors did make real contributions to the health of the Napoleonic soldier and his successor in later wars’. Wellington’s Doctors is a comprehensive study of the subject. The extensive bibliography and references show that Dr. Howard has left no stone unturned in his search for information on all aspects of the medical story. This is the definitive source on the medical arrangements in the British Army of the Napoleonic Wars. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire # 72 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com |