Report upon the conditions of work in flax and linen mills as affecting the health of the operatives employed therein / Hamilton P. Smith.
- Smith, Hamilton P.
- Date:
- 1904
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Report upon the conditions of work in flax and linen mills as affecting the health of the operatives employed therein / Hamilton P. Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
28/658 (page 22)
![Enteric fever appeared among the troops at Modder River towards the end of December. A small hospital was established in the school-house for the accommodation of cases, or suspected cases, and for this Sisters were sent up as soon as practicable. At the Orange River there were four hospitals : two of the permanent Cape establishment (one of which was staffed by the Cape Medical Staff Corps, and the other mainly by the Royal Army Medical Corps), two formed by detachments from No. 3 General and No. 2 Stationary Hospitals. Huts of a portable type supplemented by marquees and bell tents gave accommodation for 550 patients by January fst, and nursing Sisters were sent up as soon as accommodation for them could be arranged. The accommodation at De Aar was also further increased. General Gatacre, with his base at Sterkstroom, continued to oppose the invading columns advancing through Bethulie and Stormberg, while General French, with a base at Arundel, held the second hostile force in check round Colesberg. General Gatacre had with him the units already mentioned, and a small hospital was opened at Sterkstroom, to which Sisters were sent. In addition to the local accommodation, evacuation to the coast at East London was systematically carried out, where in addition to No. 2 Stationary Hospit^, established early in December, the hospital ship Trojan was acting aS'a base hospital. A hospital train was also prepared to work on the line from East London. General Krench received the whole of the units of the cavalry division by the beginning of January ; these were sent forward to him-as opportunity for their employment arose. The 2nd Cavalry Brigade Field Hospital had established a temporary hospital in a house at Naauwpoort; this was added to and developed into the Stationary Hospital, being at a later date merged in No. 6 General Hospital. Evacuation to De Aar and Cape Town was systematically carried out by Nos. 2 and 3 Hospital Trains. At the base the enlistment and training of men for the Cape Medical Staff' Corps continued; 100 men were obtained during the week ending December 18th. As the want of trained orderlies for hospital duties was already making itself felt, it was arranged in the end of December that 10 men of the Royal Army Medical Corps should be withdrawn from each bearer company for these duties, their places being taken by the men of the Cape Medical Staff Corps. A small detention hospital was established in Maitland Camp to replace the cavalry brigade units which had previously looked after the local sick. About the middle of December Natal asked for more personnel, and it -was arranged in response to this to send a draft of two Officers and 30 N.C. Officers and men from the staff of No. 4 General Hospital which had arrived on December ] 0th. At this date there was an objection to sending the whole hospital to Natal (for which indeed a site had been sought at De Aar without success), as it was stated that for military reasons it would probably have to be brought back again to the Cape side. But within a week Sir Redvers Buller asked that a general hospital should be sent to Natal, and the whole of No. 4 was then despatched, where it opened at Mooi River early in January, 1900, its accommodation being increased from 520 to 920 beds. The 5th Division arriving in the end of December went on to Natal, where it disembarkod with its field units complete by the beginning of January. The 6th Division staff arrived on January 10th, the battalions and field units of the 12th Brigade having arrived a day or two before. The 13th Brigade with its field units and the divisional hospital arrived between January 14th and 20th. These dates are important, as the detail of personnel of the 6th Division practically exhausted the whole of the trained N.C. Officers and men of the Royal Army Medical Corps (including those of Section D of the Reserve), available for service in South Africa, and further reinforcements were either partially trained or untrained men. Indeed, of the 226 N.C. Officers and men with the 6th Division 80, or 35 per cent., had less than one year's service, while 10 were reservists. ^](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21461442_0028.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
