Remarks on army surgeons and their works / by Charles Alexander Gordon.

Gordon, C. A. (Charles Alexander), Sir, 1821-1899.

Date:: 1870

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on army surgeons and their works / by Charles Alexander Gordon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

36/132 (page 18)

oacli hold to be entitled to vec(;ive prisoners and jjliiuder.* Xo doubt both of tliem were exemjtted from the rej^ulations that apidicd to the surgeons of inferior rank, for, in the niilitar>.'code drawn up to ensure disci])line in the army, the classes of ]>er- sons there enumerated as being subject to the constable in- cluded in their order “ soldiers, shoemakers, tailors, harhrrx, ‘physiciems^ and washerwomen.” But perhaps we need not wmnder so very much at this provision in the code, when we learn that all such were pressed men. The two principal sur- geons already mentioned, and Bredcwerclyn, who was the per- sonal attendant on the king, each w'cre directed to have und(ir them MtQQ.npressed assistants—Henry himself having ordered that they should press “ as many surgeons and oilier artisans as were needful to make certain surgical instilments which were re- quired.”! From some causes, the nature of wdiich does not appear, the 2oress does not seem to have been very successful, for it is stated that the assistants had not landed in France when Agincouit was fought. Had they done so, there wmuld have been forty- eight medical officers including the chiefs ; as matters were, there w’ere only fifteen. Adverting for a little to this battle of Agincourt, on the glory of w'hich so many historians have dwelt with pride, let us look hack to it from a departmental point of view. By so doing we find that no provision whatever on that occasion existed for the removal of the wmunded from the field, but that the following very effectual substitute was had recourse to, namely, “ On the morning following, the English troops, in marching off the field, killed all the hopelessly wounded, for the humane purpose of putting them out of pain.”j; To the more slightly wounded, a small sum of money was given, and each w'as told to find his way home as best he could. Piisoners were disposed of as wei-e the. severely wounded, and the reader who is curious on the sxtb- ject is referred to Shakspeare’s “ Henry the Fifth” for further details regarding it. In l-t61 the reign of Edward IV. began, and William Hobbes was appointed physician and surgeon to his IMajesty. Xo change was made in the position of the medic.al officers serving with the army. The proportion of surgeons to soldiers re- mained the same, as has been already mentioned, but some slight improvement took place in their rate of pay ; thus, while * Rymer’s “ Fcedera,” quoted by Sir George Balbingall, Militirv Sur^erv, p. 10. t Nfarsliall, quoted by Chever.^, “ Moral and Social Condition of llie British Soldier,” j). 48. t Cheveri? on the “ Moral and Social Condition of the British Soldier,” p. 7.