2/1st Wessex Ambulance

[Peter Woodger]

Hi

I have a digital copy of the Story of the 2/1st Wessex Field Ambulance 1914-1919. There is a total of 45 scanned pages which include 7 photos. This may be very common in which case forget it. The scanned pages are between 250 and 500 Kb (total size 20Mb) so it is not easy to email. I can put it onto a CD and send a copy to someone with an interest who can then send it to others.

If someone will act as first receiver then PM me with an address.

Peter

[Ian Riley]

Peter,

I have sent a PM

Ian

[Ken Lees]

Peter/Ian,

I would be very interested in a copy.

Many thanks,

Ken

[nthornton1979]

Me too. Nice gesture !

Should I PM details ?

Neil

[Ali Hollington]

Who do I contact? Peter or Ian?

Many thanks in advance.

Ali

[Ian Riley]

Oh dear! They all want one now. Peter, I will e-mail to Ken and to Ali (whose addresses I have - indeed the last week seems to have been spent [willingly, I hasten to add] as Ali's research assisant - gizzus a job?). Your two e-mails to me seemed to be about 10 Mb each. Can Ken and Ali accept this much on their e-mail addresses? CHAPS could you e-mail or pm to let me know - much less hassle than burning a disk and posting. I haven't got an address for Neil (and it might be faster to walk from here to Runcorn with it!)

Ian

[Peter Woodger]

Hi

Aas Ian said the whole thing came to 45 pages, a total 20mb. Isplit it into 2 emails and it sent OK although it takes 5 mins to downlaoad each email.

If anyone not covered by Ian wants a copy then PM your E mail address and I will copy it to you.

Peter

[Mark Abbott]

Ken

When when you receive a copy, would you do one for me?

Thanks

Mark

[Ian Riley]

Peter,

My transmission to Alistair failed for the second installment, I think because of the file size and his mail programme. I will split this and send again after the weekend for him.

Ian

[Ian Riley]

Hi

Aas Ian said the whole thing came to 45 pages, a total 20mb. Isplit it into 2 emails and it sent OK although it takes 5 mins to downlaoad each email.

If anyone not covered by Ian wants a copy then PM your E mail address and I will copy it to you.

Peter

Peter,

I should (in public) express my thanks to you for the excellent scans of this document.

Ian

[Ken Lees]

Peter,

Many thanks for making this available.

Mark,

No problem.

Ken

[nthornton1979]

Peter,

Many thanks for going to the trouble to do this. Ian, thanks again for sending it

Neil

[Kate Wills]

Peter,

Many thanks for my copy too. Very useful indeed and a good read.

[wanderingqa]

Peter, Have PM'd with my email. If you can email rather than send CD then my account should be able to deal with it. Many thanks!

PS: Anyone reading this who has an interest in this unit, could you contact me please as I am Unit Historian for the TA unit which now supersedes it and would be interested in any information that anyone would like to contribute!

Regards

Elaine

[Morris]

Hi

I've been off the forum for a while due to health related problems.

I already have a copy of the history of the 2/1 Wessex FA. As I understand it only a few hundred were printed just after the war and mainly for the benefit of those who served in the 2/1 WFA.

My copy was my father's as he served with them in 1918, notable during the April 1918 offensive. He is in fact mentioned in the booklet in Chapter VI (It says Lieut. Morrison, but should say Morris.)

He knew many of the Doctors from civilian life.

Elaine, having been away I can't remember how to send a PM, but if I can work it out, then I could perhaps find a way to pass on more info, as I have the letters he wrote home when he was with the 2/1 WFA. I also have the red cross (flag) that he flew outside his Aid Post in April 1918!

Alfred

[Morris]

I have been able to get in touch with Elaine

[DaveR]

Peter, Have emailed you. If you can email rather than send CD it should be ok.

Many thanks

Dave

[Morris]

I have also pieced together some biographical stuff on Major Watson-Williams who also wrote several parts of the History (the bits signed E.W.W.)

Mr ERIC WATSON-WILLIAMS, M.C. M.CHIR., M.D., F.R.C.S.ED.

Eric Watson-Williams was born Bristol on 18th September 1890. His father was Mr Patrick Watson-Williams a distinguished ENT Surgeon and his mother was Margaret Long-Fox.

He was educated at Clifton College; Bristol University; Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; King's College Hospital, where he gained the Jelf and Todd Medals; and the Middlesex Hospital.

During the First World War he served in the R.A.M.C. (S.R.) in France with the 14th, 49th, and 55th Divisions with the rank of major, and won the M.C. at the battle of Lys while with the 2/1 Wessex Field Ambulance.

“Capt. (A./Maj.) Eric Watson Williams,, R.A.M.C., S.R.

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He maintained advanced dressing stations under heavy shell fire until the last possible moment, and personally superintended the evacuation of the wounded.

Through his energy and devotion to duty all cases were cleared without delay.”

After the war he had a distinguished career as an ENT Surgeon. He was appointed surgeon to the E.N.T. Department of the Bristol Royal Infirmary in 1926, and on the amalgamation of the infirmary with the Bristol General Hospital in 1939 to form the Bristol Royal Hospital he transferred with the E.N.T. department to the Bristol General Hospital and became senior surgeon in 1946.

He was a surgeon of the old school, most of his work having been done before the days of antibiotics and microscopic surgery, and he is probably best known for his work on the nasal sinuses. He devised many instruments, a number of which are in daily use in his old hospital. He also invented an ingenious operating table with special adaptations for endoscopy. His method of exploring all the nasal sinuses with trocar and syringe, which is now chiefly confined to exploration of the maxillary antra and sphenoid sinuses, is the most precise method as yet devised and is undoubtedly the method of choice.

He died in Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, on 26th January 1964 aged 73.

I couldn't find a photograph of him in Uniform, but this one accompanied his BMJ obituary

Alfred

[Morris]

I have also pieced together some biographical stuff on Major Watson-Williams who also wrote several parts of the History (the bits signed E.W.W.)

Mr ERIC WATSON-WILLIAMS, M.C. M.CHIR., M.D., F.R.C.S.ED.

Eric Watson-Williams was born Bristol on 18th September 1890. His father was Mr Patrick Watson-Williams a distinguished ENT Surgeon and his mother was Margaret Long-Fox.

He was educated at Clifton College; Bristol University; Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; King's College Hospital, where he gained the Jelf and Todd Medals; and the Middlesex Hospital.

During the First World War he served in the R.A.M.C. (S.R.) in France with the 14th, 49th, and 55th Divisions with the rank of major, and won the M.C. at the battle of Lys while with the 2/1 Wessex Field Ambulance.

“Capt. (A./Maj.) Eric Watson Williams,, R.A.M.C., S.R.

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He maintained advanced dressing stations under heavy shell fire until the last possible moment, and personally superintended the evacuation of the wounded.

Through his energy and devotion to duty all cases were cleared without delay.”

After the war he had a distinguished career as an ENT Surgeon. He was appointed surgeon to the E.N.T. Department of the Bristol Royal Infirmary in 1926, and on the amalgamation of the infirmary with the Bristol General Hospital in 1939 to form the Bristol Royal Hospital he transferred with the E.N.T. department to the Bristol General Hospital and became senior surgeon in 1946.

He was a surgeon of the old school, most of his work having been done before the days of antibiotics and microscopic surgery, and he is probably best known for his work on the nasal sinuses. He devised many instruments, a number of which are in daily use in his old hospital. He also invented an ingenious operating table with special adaptations for endoscopy. His method of exploring all the nasal sinuses with trocar and syringe, which is now chiefly confined to exploration of the maxillary antra and sphenoid sinuses, is the most precise method as yet devised and is undoubtedly the method of choice.

He died in Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, on 26th January 1964 aged 73.

I couldn't find a photograph of him in Uniform, but this one accompanied his BMJ obituary

Alfred

[Morris]

This is some info about another Doctor who served with the 2/1 WFA, but who was killed before my father joined the unit.

I found this info at the University of Toronto Roll of Service:

EDGAR HAROLD McVICKER RAMC

Born Oct. 12, 1892

Killed Sept. 9, 1916

Lieutenant, Royal Army Medical Corps.

Only son of Samuel McVicker; b. Toronto; ed. Gladstone Avenue P.S., Parkdale c.i., Toronto; Medicine 1910-15, M.B.; House surgeon, St. Michael s Hospital; C.O.T.C.

In October 1915 he was appointed to the R.A.M.C., and reached France in January 1916. The next month he went to the front with the 2/1st Wessex Field Ambulance, 55th Division. He served in the Abbeville, Armentieres and Arras areas, and then on the Somme front. In the battle of the Somme he was present at the fighting round Longueval, Guillemont, Delville and Ginchy Woods. Here the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers, to which he was attached as Medical Officer, had made an attack, and he was dressing the wounded at the regimental aid post at Waterloo Farm, when a shell exploded nearby and instantly killed him.

Buried near Mametz.

He is recorded at the CGWC site, and also at the Canadian Veterans site, where there is a photograph:

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/virtualmem/Detail&casualty=548000

Alfred

[rendellers]

A public thank you to Peter for forwarding this to me. I found my man- A J Adams on the Roll of Honour and within the text;

“We then marched, by a very devious route to West Péronne, seeing the ruins of Mametz and Fricourt on the way. Within a day or two we moved slightly forward into a trench, and it was here that we had our first fatal casualty. Alfred Adams, a miner, was buried by a section of the bank, which gave owing to the concussion of the neighbouring big guns.”

Am I reading this correctly i.e. that he was killed from the effect of firing our own guns? An ironic death for a Cornish miner to be buried alive.

At least Ii think he is my man who is listed as being with the DCLI on the war memorial but there is no casualty on the CWGC. Have yet to find the link to Highweek, Newton Abbot for this man from Cambourne.

Regards

Lindsey

[Morris]

Lindsey,

Is this your man?

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=24400

Barbara also has a profile for him on her RAMC website:

http://www.ramc-ww1.com/profile.php?cPath=274_280_205_498&profile_id=6289

In fact, given that this thread is about the 2/1 WFA, it might be worth pointing out that Barbara has to date 14 profiles of members of that unit on her site.

http://www.ramc-ww1.com/index.php?cPath=274_280_205_498

(She is endeavouring to get as many RAMC personnel as possible on her site, both casualties and survivors.)

Alfred

[Morris]

Lindsey

Is it Alfred John Adams?

If so, then is the link to Highweek/Newton Abbot that he was married to a girl from Highweek, I ask as the Births Marriages & Deaths indexes have a marriage for an Alfred John Adams registered Newton Abbot district in 2nd quarter of 1892 (Volume 5b page 297) bride's name was either: Sarah Ann Coates or Mary Jane Horwill.

Alfred

[DavoT]

Hi all,

I've just noticed this thread and it caught my eye. Does 457211 Private Walter Robert STILE MM get a mention at all?

Cheers,

David

[Morris]

Yes Pte WR Stile is one of those listed on page 10 "Honours and Awards"in the MM section!

While I could read through the Histpry looking for other references this query makes me think that it would be an idea to scan my copy of the History but save it as a multi-page pdf document so that it should be possible to search through it with ease to do look-ups

Note that the history contains loads of group photos of members of the unit (mostly taken in November 1918) plus poems etc