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Remembering World War 1 Doctors
BY SUSAN KNOSS, LADYSMITH ARCHIVES
I started researching doctors who served in the Ladysmith area a couple of years ago as a volunteer at the Ladysmith & District Historical Society. I was initially surprised at how many of the doctors who worked in Ladysmith were also involved in World War 1 as medical officers. But as I started digging into this a little more, I discovered that over half of the doctors in Canada served in the Great War.
Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC)
There were two main units that Vancouver Island men and women mustered in. These were the Canadian Army Medical Corps, which operated Canadian Salonika Hospital No. 5, near the Balkans Front in Greece, and the 13th Field Ambulance, which provided front line medical assistance at numerous battles in France.
Here’s a few of the doctors who had a Ladysmith connection.
Dr. A.C. Frost
Anson Carr Frost attended McGill Medical School and graduated in 1903. Following this, he travelled to Ladysmith, where he was hired as an assistant to Dr. Wasson as a doctor for Dunsmuir Collieries. In 1907, Frost married a local schoolteacher, Lila Coburn, and the couple had four sons and a daughter. Following his training completion in 1915, Frost travelled to Salonika, Greece, as part of the Army Medical Corps. Here, he served as a medical officer for two years before returning to Ladysmith in November 1917.
After settling back into civilian life, Frost helped establish a local branch of the Great War Veterans’ Association, now known as the Legion. He served as Ladysmith’s first Legion president.
Dr. Frank Porter Patterson
Frank Porter Patterson was born on December 24, 1875. He worked as a mine doctor in Ladysmith in 1904–1905.
During World War 1, Patterson served in the Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC) from 1914–1918. He was a major at the Salonika Canadian Field Hospital No. 5, specializing in orthopedics – a rapidly developing field due to the need for artificial limbs and facial, hand and back reconstruction. Patterson became the first orthopedic surgeon in BC.
Dr. Darrell Hanington
Darrell Peters Hannington was born on July 10, 1884. After graduating from McGill’s medical school in 1906, Hannington worked on the east coast of Vancouver Island, then travelled to Edinburgh for further medical training. Following this, he settled in Windemere, BC, and established the town’s first hospital.
By September 10, 1915, Hanington joined CAMC and was on active duty at the Salonika Canadian Hospital No. 5. He returned to England in 1917, where he was attached to the Canadian Convalescent Hospital.
The family moved to Ladysmith in 1928, where Hanington practised until the start of WW2.
CAMC in Salonika and Liverpool
Dr. Frost, Dr. Porter Patterson and Dr. Hanington mustered from Victoria and began their journey with their unit on May 30, 1915. After landing in England, they trained in Shorncliffe Army Camp for two months before heading to the Balkan theatre, where they set up a hospital for British soldiers in the Salonika area of Greece. The port is now known as Thessaloniki.
The medics at the Salonika hospitals faced extreme temperatures and poor supply lines, reportedly treating more soldiers for diseases than for battle wounds. Malaria and dysentery “thinned the ranks of enlisted and officers alike.” After two years at the hospital in Salonika, the unit returned to England, where they served soldiers returning to a Canadian Hospital in Liverpool.
Dr. John Montgomery
John Edward Montgomery enlisted with CAMC. He was attached to the 13th Field Ambulance and served at several active battle sites, including Ypres, where he supervised two dressing stations and the clearing of wounded from the front lines.
As a result of his frontline work, Montgomery suffered a hernia, which caused jaundice and hepatitis. After his recovery, he spent the remainder of his service in England, where he trained battlefield medics. He finished his active service at a convalescent hospital in New Westminster and was then sent to Ladysmith, where doctors were required due to the influenza outbreak.
In September 1919, Montgomery was appointed by the Department of Soldiers’ Re-Establishment to address the medical needs of returned men in the area.
In 1923, Montgomery became infected with diphtheria while treating sick children, dying as a result. His wife and three sons survived him. A daughter was born several months after his death.
13th Canadian Field Ambulance
This unit mustered in Victoria following a couple of months of active recruitment. The original contingent that landed in England on July 9, 1916, included 10 officers and 80 enlisted men. Montgomery and several enlisted men from Ladysmith were included in this original group. Following some orientation and training in England, the 13th Field Ambulance arrived in France on August 13, 1916.
Newspapers in BC report this unit being active in the battles at Ypres, the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Lens, Beaumont-Hamel and Passchendaele. There were reports of casualties among stretcher bearers, the wounded and those suffering from being gassed or diseases.
After the War
According to the Canadian War Museum (www.warmuseum. ca), 21,453 men and women served with CAMC during WW1, and 1,325 members of this branch died in their service to Canada. Because of the damage done to the human body during war, medical and surgical advancements were encouraged and necessary.
Some of these great advancements from WW1 include triage systems to deal with the most urgent patients first; the creation of mobile field hospitals near front lines to provide immediate surgical care; plastic and reconstructive surgery for facial and burn damage; blood transfusions and preservation; antiseptics and equipment sterilization to prevent infections; and rehabilitation and prosthetics development to replace limbs and to assist in daily functioning.
In the aftermath of WW1, there was a need for treatment for returning veterans to address their medical and mental health issues. Many of the doctors who served in WW1 were also active in working with the veterans in the years that followed.
