Important information
Images in this blog list severe injuries from the First World War including gunshot wounds.
Within our archives, there are 2,389 boxes of medical records from the First World War (1914–1918), catalogued as the MH 106 series.
Records within this series were first brought together by the Medical Research Committee and the British Museum during and immediately after the First World War. They were used in statistical studies of the treatment for injuries sustained, and diseases contracted, by British troops. The records were later used by the Ministry of Pensions, and its successor departments, to verify claims for war disability pensions.
The records in this series are a surviving sample from a larger collection. The wider set of First World War medical records were sent for pulping between April and July 1975, weighing 275 tons. In comparison, the remaining records stored in our archive only weigh 2.5 tons.
Interestingly, although our sample mostly contains records of servicemen, we do hold some documents relating to servicewomen (approximately 1.5% of the MH 106 series) and a small number of civilian records that are associated with the war effort.
Preserving these documents
The MH 106 series is stored in individual boxes each containing upwards of 750 folios. These usually hold one page per serviceperson, but more complex cases can include additional pages. A large amount of the paper in these records is made from poor quality materials and needs to be handled with care. Due to this, we've looked into how we can limit document handling without restricting access to our records.
Additionally, each page has been marked in the upper right-hand corner, while ensuring no information is damaged. We've also made sure that, if a folio has been missed, the use of an ‘A’ number (for example, 107, 108, 108A and 109) has been used. In many cases the individual pages have creases and folded corners but, wherever possible, these have been carefully unfolded and stored in a flat condition.
Indexing this series
The series was identified as containing previously unavailable medical information relating to First World War service personnel whose service records had been destroyed during the Second World War.
In cooperation with The Welcome Trust funding was provided to commence a three year project to provide enhanced catalogue descriptions to item level including detailed medical information – this project was completed in 2020 and the funding ceased. During this project, under the leadership of Laura Robson-Mainwaring, three experienced volunteers undertook a feasibility study to see if volunteers could index the rest of the series for inclusion in Discovery, our cataloguing system.
Catalogue description
Folio(s): 203.
Name: Alfred Smithers.
Rank: Private.
Unit/Battalion/Regiment: 2 The Yorkshire Regiment.
Service number: 8001.
Age: 30.
Hospital(s): 3rd Southern General Hospital, Oxford.
Condition/Injury/Disease: Gunshot wound, leg and head (temple); compound comminuted fracture, left fibula.
Details and Outcome: Patient wounded 31/10/1914 near Ypres; injuries also suffered in left temple, right ear, left arm, right foot and left great toe. All wounds healed on admission except the one leading to the fracture of the left fibula. No further details.
Number of Pages: 1.
Date: 1914 Nov 29
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Closure status: Open Document, Open Description
Example of Discovery catalogue entry created during the Wellcome Trust project for item MH 106/2126/162
The trial study concluded in 2020 and found that indexing the medical information in detail could take up to 17 years to complete. As a result of this, we decided to reduce the amount of medical detail collected while ensuring relevant personal information was still indexed.
Our Discovery Board agreed and decided to begin a five-year project on this basis. Fortunately a larger group of volunteers, with experience in cataloguing military archives, became available at that time to join the three volunteers already familiar with the series. This project is expected to be completed by December 2025 and, during this time, the volunteer team will have catalogued more than 160 thousand individual documents from the MH 106 series.
Catalogue description
Folio(s): 508-514.
Name: B Ashwin.
Rank: Private.
Unit/Battalion/Regiment: The Devonshire Regiment.
Service number: 14195.
Age: 21.
Hospital(s): 19th British General Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt.
Condition/Injury/Disease: Gunshot wound to left foot.
Outcome and Documents Included: Recommended for convalescence. Includes one medical case sheet, one field medical card, one X-ray report, one diet sheet and three clinical charts.
Number of Pages: 7.
Date: 1917 Dec 8 - 1918 Mar 7
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Closure status: Open Document, Open Description
A modified catalogue entry on Discovery for item MH 106/2310/225
Supporting readers to access MH 106
The aim of the project has been to produce a ‘finding aid’ for readers that can be accessed via Discovery. By displaying important information – such as Name, Unit and Condition/Injury/Disease – a researcher will be able to identify the correct document they are looking for. This will direct them to the correct folio number without needing to sort though fragile documents.
We hope this project will ultimately support The National Archives’ work in preserving our shared history while ensuring everyone can access it.
Catalogue description
Folio(s): 740-742.
Name: L Ayres.
Rank: Staff Nurse.
Unit/Battalion/Regiment: Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve.
Service number: [Unspecified].
Age: 29.
Hospital(s): The Queen Alexandra’s Military Hospital, Millbank.
Condition/Injury/Disease: Appendicitis.
Outcome and Documents Included: Outcome not stated. Includes medical case sheet and two clinical charts.
Number of Pages: 3.
Date: 1919 May 24 - 1919 June 21
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Closure status: Open Document, Open Description
A modified catalogue entry on Discovery for item MH 106/2267/742
