Pte Harold McCulloch

[nshighlander]

Hi

I have a quick ?I have a war medal and a mothers cross to this young man.Today

I found at the flea market the book CEF Roll of Honour for 20.00 CDN.So I started through and found this out.I always though at he died of the flu.But then I found that he died of haemophilia.This is a blood disorder if I`m right?How did this young

man get into the army with this?He must of known?Wouldn`t that show in test?

So I`m asking the pros.What do you think?

901223 Pte Harold McCulloch 193rd Bn JAN 10/17 AGE 20

Bramshott(St Mary)Churchyard,Hants.

Cheers

Dave

[Guest Brock]

As a haemophiliac I find this interesting. Haemophilia is an inherited blood disorder usually affecting males in which a vital clotting factor is lacking. This medical condition used to be found in the royal families of England and Russia.

I don't know if they did blood tests when a person enlisted in the military back then. Even if they did do a blood test I'm curious if it would be sophisticated enough to detect haemophilia.

There are different levels of severity for haemophilia-severe, moderate and mild. A person with severe haemophilia in those days before they had any treatment would probably appear quite crippled. A moderate or mild case probably wouldn't appear any different that anyone else-until an injury occurred. I suppose a person with a moderate or mild case of haemophilia could have enlisted in the military without being detected if he desired to do so.

The main concern for haemophiliacs is internal rather than external bleeding. Most likely Harold McCullouch died of a head injury or internal bleeding in another part of the body.

I remember reading about a haemophiliac that enlisted in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam war era. He managed to complete basic training before his medical condition was discovered.

HTH

Brock

[gem22]

Dave

Brock's reply has covered all the salient points regarding haemophilia. it is a shortage of one of the many factors involvd in the "clotting" process. A person with mild haemophilia may not realise he has the problem even today.

Most bleeding caused by this problem would be internal rather than external. The most obvious occasion on which the problem surfaces is when the individual has a tooth extracted, or, some similar minor surgery. They just don't stop bleeding as quickly as normal people.

As for why it didn't show up in a blood test the answer is very simple. Blood tests didn't exist then. We were only just beginning to understand about bacteria never mind anything else. We didn't know about blood groups until the 1930's. So there was no way this young man could have been diagnosed with any accuracy if he was only a mild case. Even so the doctors would have been unable to treat him as no treatment was available. A far cry from modern medicine.

Garth

[christine liava'a]

Blood tests didn't exist then. We were only just beginning to understand about bacteria never mind anything else. We didn't know about blood groups until the 1930's. So there was no way this young man could have been diagnosed with any accuracy if he was only a mild case. Even so the doctors would have been unable to treat him as no treatment was available. A far cry from modern medicine

Which was one reason for the Russian revolution. The young prince was a haemophiliac, and, to my understanding, his mother, the Tzarina, held herself resposible and was all the time looking for help and treatment for her son. Enter the mad monk- Rasputin, who promised miracles and gradually brought her to believe in him, and under his influence, in other regards, political , as well.

this helped to stir up feeling against the Royal family, and various Russians plotted to remove him, and eventually came the Russian revolution of 1917.

[jhill]

It seems the army medical examinations in 1916 were reamrkably superficial. If we look at the Medical Officer's report on the back of Pte. McCulloch's Attestation Paper (from the admirable on-line archive), we see that the total observations are as follows:

Height: 5ft. 7 1/2 in.

Chest girth: 34 in.

Range of expansion: 3 in.

Complexion: clear.

Eyes: brown.

Hair: auburn.

130 pounds.

The 'comments' section is totally blank, except for his weight. Normally, the only items recorded here would be scars, deformations, and other immediately visible items. The recording of weight was not universal, as not every recruitment facility was equiped with scales.

The whole examination could not have taken more than a few minutes.

[Robert Dunlop]

I agree that significant haemophilia is unlikely. He would have had problems with bleeding in the joints from childhood, which leads to the appearance of being quite crippled as Brock mentioned.

What will have prompted the diagnosis would have been prolonged bleeding in a situation where this was not expected. Obviously, major wounds will bleed vigorously and a person may die in minutes if a large artery is severed. Prolonged bleeding from a very minor wound would be a problem but not necessarily life-threatening, especially with 'mild' haemophilia. However, a moderate wound or a significant operation could well have caused excessive bleeding, enough to cause him to die.

Just to complicate things slightly, the lack of blood tests meant that the diagnosis of haemophilia would not have been made as accurately as now. There are other conditions that can cause excessive bleeding. It is possible that the/a flu'-like illness could have caused the problem. Platelets are small fragments of cells that are present in the blood stream and help cause clotting. These can be destroyed by infection or other causes. Similarly, there are other secondary causes of blood disorders, including exposure to some of the gases used in the war, notably mustard gas.