Description
Object description
Ts transcriptions (3 volumes, 549pp) of his diary (June 1916 – February 1917 and December 1917 – December 1918) and extracts from his excellent letters (June 1916 – February 1919) to his wife, Grace, recording his experiences as a dentist with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) in France and Belgium, Macedonia, Egypt, and Palestine, including his active service as a Territorial officer with the 2/5th London Field Ambulance (180th Brigade, 60th (London) Division) as Section commander in the Mont Eloi sector (XVII Corps, Third Army) of the Western Front (June 1916 – November 1916); the voyage on SS IVERNIA (later sunk) from Marseilles to Salonika (November 1916 - December 1916); also as Sanitary Officer and acting Quartermaster at Salonika (December 1916 – June 1917), being invalided with typhoid fever to the 79th Field Ambulance, the 31st Casualty Clearing Station (31st CCS) at Jancs, the 4th Canadian General Hospital at the Salonika Base, and an officers' convalescent home at Hortackoy (March 1917 – April 1917), participating in the Battle of Dojran (April 1917 – May 1917) and evacuated to the 28th General Hospital having broken his collar bone falling off his horse (May 1917 – June 1917); the voyage on SS BRINY to Egypt (June 1917); near Ismailia in Egypt (June 1917 – July 1917); and at Shellal, the Turkish Hospital in Beersheba, and a monastery at Enab in Palestine (July 1917 – December 1917), including command of the Field Ambulance Immobile Section, 60th Division (September 1917 – December 1917) and taking part in the Third Battle of Gaza (October 1917 – November 1917), and the capture of Jerusalem (December 1917); and as Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services (DADMS), XX Corps at Latron, Jerusalem, Ram Allah and Nablus in Palestine (December 1917 November 1918) touring the Corps area inspecting the sanitation, notably his anti-malarial work, and participating in the capture of Jericho (February 1918), the Battles of Tell 'Asur (March 1918) and Nablus (Battles of Megiddo, September 1918) and near Cairo in Egypt (December 1918 – January 1919, he left Egypt and was demobilised in the UK in February 1919); and commenting on the weight of his equipment on embarkation overseas; the weather; Bedouin, Bulgarian, German and Turkish prisoners of war (POWs); the journey to France and the front; army life, notably his duties and routine; his fellow officers (his criticisms of the OC and praise of his replacement), the billets, the conditions, route marches, army red tape, the rations, Church parades, the chaplains and his off duty entertainment, including badminton, cards, chess, concerts, cricket, football, show jumping, sightseeing (notably in the Holy Land), walking and leave in Alexandria and Cairo; relations with and treating the local populations; French sanitation; bed bugs; the initiation to trench warfare; Bulgarian, German and Turkish air raids and shelling; aerial combats; British air raids; the British bombardment; the vermin, notably rats; examining and operating on patients (including a carrier pigeon), notably the diagnosis and treatment of wounds, shell shock, trench fever, carbon monoxide poisoning and the extraction of teeth, and his reactions to the suffering which he saw; the evacuation of patients over rough terrain; the serious problem of lice; the horrors of war; the burial of the dead; the bravery of the wounded; censorship regulations; German demoralisation; German gas shells and snipers; visiting the front line; malingering and the court martial and execution of men who refuse to fight; a visit by King George V (July 1916); the chaplains; the lack of sleep and insomnia; the war damage; the loss of friends; the post; mules; the desolation, poor sanitation and prevalence of disease (notably typhus, malaria, cholera, diarrhoea, plague, small-pox and various fevers) in Macedonia; the prevention of infectious diseases, notably cholera, malaria (the efficacy of quinine in Salonika; "our worst enemy" and "far, far more dangerous than the Turk"; training units "to hunt for and kill mosquito larvae" in their breeding areas in Palestine using paraffin oil to cover water surfaces; and the use of mosquito nets) and typhus; "the terrible Vardar wind"; life in the desert; the heat; the problems with flies and dysentery; bobby traps; witnessing Allenby's entry into Jerusalem (December 1917); planning for the evacuation of the wounded and dealing with problems arising during battle; poor sanitation in Jerusalem; visiting the German Lepers' Hospital, Jerusalem; Turkish atrocities; lecturing on VD; bilharzias; his promotion to Major; his admiration for the British soldier; infestations of insects and rats; his loathing of Germans; the influenza epidemic; domestic news and the progress of the war, notably his optimism; and mentioning Lieutenant General Sir Philip (later Field Marshal Lord) Chetwode (XX Corps) and Colonel R H (later Major General Richard) Luce (DDMS, XX Corps). Also included are ts transcriptions (1 volume, 48pp) of his correspondence with his father (January 1916 and July 1918), as well as Montague Hopson, Norman Bennett, and Sir Frank Colyer (March 1915 – June 1916), relating to his loss of income, financial troubles, and the hardships caused to his wife by his mobilisation at short notice for wartime service, the difficulties of maintaining his dental practice (Harley Street), the financial and personal implications of his signing on for active service overseas, receiving financial assistance from the Dentists' War Relief Fund, his promotion to Major and his anti-malarial work, and of his report (July 1916) on infestations with lice and the link to "Trench Fever" and of his last orders (December 1917) as OC Field Ambulance Immobile Section, 60th Division. Together with a later word-processed transcription of Steadman's diary and letters to his wife (199pp, 2012), edited by, and with additional information by, his grandson, S Miller.
Content description
Ts transcriptions (3 volumes, 549pp) of his diary (June 1916 – February 1917 and December 1917 – December 1918) and extracts from his excellent letters (June 1916 – February 1919) to his wife, Grace, recording his experiences as a dentist with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) in France and Belgium, Macedonia, Egypt, and Palestine, including his active service as a Territorial officer with the 2/5th London Field Ambulance (180th Brigade, 60th (London) Division) as Section commander in the Mont Eloi sector (XVII Corps, Third Army) of the Western Front (June 1916 – November 1916); the voyage on SS IVERNIA (later sunk) from Marseilles to Salonika (November 1916 - December 1916); also as Sanitary Officer and acting Quartermaster at Salonika (December 1916 – June 1917), being invalided with typhoid fever to the 79th Field Ambulance, the 31st Casualty Clearing Station (31st CCS) at Jancs, the 4th Canadian General Hospital at the Salonika Base, and an officers' convalescent home at Hortackoy (March 1917 – April 1917), participating in the Battle of Dojran (April 1917 – May 1917) and evacuated to the 28th General Hospital having broken his collar bone falling off his horse (May 1917 – June 1917); the voyage on SS BRINY to Egypt (June 1917); near Ismailia in Egypt (June 1917 – July 1917); and at Shellal, the Turkish Hospital in Beersheba, and a monastery at Enab in Palestine (July 1917 – December 1917), including command of the Field Ambulance Immobile Section, 60th Division (September 1917 – December 1917) and taking part in the Third Battle of Gaza (October 1917 – November 1917), and the capture of Jerusalem (December 1917); and as Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services (DADMS), XX Corps at Latron, Jerusalem, Ram Allah and Nablus in Palestine (December 1917 November 1918) touring the Corps area inspecting the sanitation, notably his anti-malarial work, and participating in the capture of Jericho (February 1918), the Battles of Tell 'Asur (March 1918) and Nablus (Battles of Megiddo, September 1918) and near Cairo in Egypt (December 1918 – January 1919, he left Egypt and was demobilised in the UK in February 1919); and commenting on the weight of his equipment on embarkation overseas; the weather; Bedouin, Bulgarian, German and Turkish prisoners of war (POWs); the journey to France and the front; army life, notably his duties and routine; his fellow officers (his criticisms of the OC and praise of his replacement), the billets, the conditions, route marches, army red tape, the rations, Church parades, the chaplains and his off duty entertainment, including badminton, cards, chess, concerts, cricket, football, show jumping, sightseeing (notably in the Holy Land), walking and leave in Alexandria and Cairo; relations with and treating the local populations; French sanitation; bed bugs; the initiation to trench warfare; Bulgarian, German and Turkish air raids and shelling; aerial combats; British air raids; the British bombardment; the vermin, notably rats; examining and operating on patients (including a carrier pigeon), notably the diagnosis and treatment of wounds, shell shock, trench fever, carbon monoxide poisoning and the extraction of teeth, and his reactions to the suffering which he saw; the evacuation of patients over rough terrain; the serious problem of lice; the horrors of war; the burial of the dead; the bravery of the wounded; censorship regulations; German demoralisation; German gas shells and snipers; visiting the front line; malingering and the court martial and execution of men who refuse to fight; a visit by King George V (July 1916); the chaplains; the lack of sleep and insomnia; the war damage; the loss of friends; the post; mules; the desolation, poor sanitation and prevalence of disease (notably typhus, malaria, cholera, diarrhoea, plague, small-pox and various fevers) in Macedonia; the prevention of infectious diseases, notably cholera, malaria (the efficacy of quinine in Salonika; "our worst enemy" and "far, far more dangerous than the Turk"; training units "to hunt for and kill mosquito larvae" in their breeding areas in Palestine using paraffin oil to cover water surfaces; and the use of mosquito nets) and typhus; "the terrible Vardar wind"; life in the desert; the heat; the problems with flies and dysentery; bobby traps; witnessing Allenby's entry into Jerusalem (December 1917); planning for the evacuation of the wounded and dealing with problems arising during battle; poor sanitation in Jerusalem; visiting the German Lepers' Hospital, Jerusalem; Turkish atrocities; lecturing on VD; bilharzias; his promotion to Major; his admiration for the British soldier; infestations of insects and rats; his loathing of Germans; the influenza epidemic; domestic news and the progress of the war, notably his optimism; and mentioning Lieutenant General Sir Philip (later Field Marshal Lord) Chetwode (XX Corps) and Colonel R H (later Major General Richard) Luce (DDMS, XX Corps). Also included are ts transcriptions (1 volume, 48pp) of his correspondence with his father (January 1916 and July 1918), as well as Montague Hopson, Norman Bennett, and Sir Frank Colyer (March 1915 – June 1916), relating to his loss of income, financial troubles, and the hardships caused to his wife by his mobilisation at short notice for wartime service, the difficulties of maintaining his dental practice (Harley Street), the financial and personal implications of his signing on for active service overseas, receiving financial assistance from the Dentists' War Relief Fund, his promotion to Major and his anti-malarial work, and of his report (July 1916) on infestations with lice and the link to "Trench Fever" and of his last orders (December 1917) as OC Field Ambulance Immobile Section, 60th Division. Together with a later word-processed transcription of Steadman's diary and letters to his wife (199pp, 2012), edited by, and with additional information by, his grandson, S Miller.
History note
Cataloguer SNR