The following message appeared on another list and I felt it might be
worthwhile passing it on -
----- Original Message -----
From: "Glyn Davies" <glyn.davies(a)medwaywelsh.com>
To: <GLAMORGAN-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2004 2:48 PM
Subject: Amazing find of WW1 personnel records
Queen Mary's Hospital Sidcup, UK: The Gillies Archives of plastic
surgery
Purely by accident, I have discovered an amazing archive of WW1 personnel
material, which hitherto I have never seen listed as a source for
research.
For years I have been trying to locate the admission and discharge
records
of a particular Cottage Hospital in the 1930's. Two weeks ago, I
discovered
that they were located at The Gillies Archives of plastic surgery at
Queen
Mary's Hospital Sidcup, UK.
I had to make an appointment to view the records that I was seeking but to
my amazement I discovered the main contents of the archives were the case
notes of military personnel who suffered facial injuries during WW1. I
mentioned that I had a member of my family who had a war wound to his jaw
and within seconds of me giving his name, his medical records were
produced
with details of his age, rank, regiment, date of wound and the
battle,
together with the dates and nature of his operations. To my astonishment,
I
was then informed that they had further information on my relative,
in as
much that whilst he was in the hospital for treatment he had learned
embroidery and they showed me a photograph of his handiwork, which was
embroidery of his regimental cap badge and colours.
They have thousands of photographs of their WW1 patients, many taken
before
they were wounded, but mostly of their wounds and the result after
treatment. The archivist is keen to obtain photographs of ex-patients
after
they had settled back into civilian life.
Altogether the archives contain over 2500 records of UK, Australian and
New
Zealand personnel. Most of the case notes are in their original
folders
and
relate mostly to soldiers, with a small number of Navy and Flying
Corps
personnel, whom had suffered burns. The records include rank, number,
regiment and date of wounding so that the action in which they were
wounded
can often be identified.
I am informed that The Gillies and Macalister Archives are probably the
most
important and complete collection of facial surgery records of their
age
in
the world and they are available to researchers by application to
the
Curator, details of which are on the following website: -
http://website.lineone.net/~andrewbamji/>
I hope this information may of use to some WW1 researchers who are
currently
unaware of this research source.
Glyndwr (Glyn) Davies,
Chatham, Kent, UK.
BOB SANDERS
LLD2
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