Women as army surgeons

by Flora Murray

The silence which fell was almost as penetrating as the voices had been.

But while they retained their independence of mind and their vivacity, they gave very real service to the hospital; and the Doctor-in-Charge and the Matron were not less grateful than the orderlies who owed so much to the students and others who set them temporarily free.

During the winter months which followed the Armistice there was little change in the work coming into the hospital. Men arrived in large numbers from France and from the East, and the hospital was full to overflowing for Christmas 1918. It was to be the last Christmas at Endell Street, and the Entertainment Committee and the staff decided that it was to be the best, and festivities and gaieties were organised on a special scale. As the new year advanced, men began to arrive from every part of the world; the hospital ships brought them from India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Turkey, Salonika and Russia, Italy and Africa. Some were recovering from wounds; some were repatriated prisoners of war; and others were suffering from diseases contracted in the East.

The surgical work became less pressing, and more wards were set aside for medical patients. Cases of pneumonia and acute appendicitis were as frequent as ever, but there was less night work; the convoys were fewer and came at reasonably early hours, and there were no air-raids to get every one out of bed. Innumerable men on demobilisation leave reported or were brought in for accidents or illness, and the ‘Johnny Walker’ Ward was in constant use at night.

The returning soldier was strangely unmoved by the countries he had visited, and seemed to have learnt little of their geography and inhabitants, and to care not at all what became of them. Palestine, perhaps, had interested him most, for the familiar Biblical stories and names of places had made it real for him. A Scotsman, who was wounded two miles distant from Jerusalem, never ceased to regret that he had not entered that city. He had been thrilled by the waters of Jordan and moved by the sight of Gaza and Beersheba, and it was a bitter disappointment to be carried back and to miss the Holy City. Others spoke of the Mount of Olivet and the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, of Joppa and of Lebanon, with an interest and an appreciation which was very different from that shown for Italy or Greece. But the general feeling was one of relief at being back in England, combined with an intense eagerness to be demobilised.

Regulations for demobilisation were issued at first in pamphlet form, and later as thick books in more than one volume. They were supplemented by conferences held at Headquarters, at which most confusing discussions took place, and the blind attempted to lead the blind to their mutual embarrassment. The regulations were amended, altered, or amplified almost week by week, and the frequent small changes in procedure had to be observed and noted. It was easy to make a slip among the complicated rules for the disposal of patients. The men did not themselves understand the regulations for demobilisation, and each one was inclined to think himself entitled to ‘get out first,’ or failed to see how his position differed from that of his more fortunate neighbour. Convoys of convalescent hospital cases arrived from Russia or Italy or India, all eager to get home, and anxious not to be detained long in the home hospital. The staff applied itself with energy to the task of holding Boards and making up documents, and many were the compliments received from N.C.O.’s and men upon the rapidity with which their demobilisation was completed. Men from various units who were about to be demobilised, or men who had been demobilised, attended by hundreds in the casualty room, for medical examination and report, and the task of examining them and assessing their disabilities made heavy demands on the time of the doctors.

As the summer months passed, the tone of the men in the wards gradually changed. They only wanted to get out of the army: to be rid of discipline, to get back their former work, or to be pensioned. They craved for liberty and plenty of amusement, and above everything they desired to see restrictions of every kind removed. The inevitable reaction had set in, and they were filled with half-understood desires and a dissatisfaction which they could not explain.

As other hospitals in London closed, their patients were transferred to those that remained open, and many such transfers were sent to Endell Street. Apart from further treatment, which might or might not be required, numbers of these men were ready to be demobilised, others to be invalided; and many asked to be transferred to the neighbourhood of their own homes. The Scots would wish to be sent to Scotland, the Irish to Ireland, the Welsh to Wales; and for all such local accommodation was obtained. The tone and manner of men transferred from other hospitals, where discipline was slack, were unpopular with the staff; but after a few days, the civilising influences of the nurses triumphed and the men adopted more gentle ways. There were times when eighty or a hundred men arrived with the intention of giving trouble, and those in charge found it necessary to exert their authority and take a firm stand. It was especially during these latter months that the work of the doctors would have been much easier if they had been wearing badges of rank.

In October 1919, an order was issued to evacuate and close the hospital; and though this instruction had been more or less expected, it was nevertheless received with regret; for it meant the termination of the work and the dispersal of those who had been united so long and so happily in the Women’s Hospital Corps.

No more convoys came in, and as the disposal of the present cases was systematically proceeded with, the wards gradually fell vacant. There was stock-taking to do and equipment to be returned to store before the nursing staff could be released. Deficiencies and breakages were disclosed, and the unaccountable disappearance of scissors and bath-towels clouded the last days. By the end of the month, the remaining patients had been passed over to other hospitals. The doctors dined together and spent a festive evening at the Alhambra. They held their last staff meeting and separated, with a pleasant sense of work accomplished, many happy memories and the knowledge that the ties of friendship would not be readily broken.