Army Nursing in the Boer War
History
85
Following the Crimea War and other military campaigns on the African continent, the health care provision for soldiers had become more formally structured. Shortly before the war in South Africa the Army Nursing Service had come into being, established to provide a body of trained and competent nurses to give care both at home and overseas.
By the start of the war in South Africa the Army Nursing Service had:
- 1 Lady Superintendent
- 19 Superintendent Sisters
- 68 Sisters
The organisation of medical care in South Africa was reasonably well standardised, although it had not been tested on any major scale. The main issue then (as now) was to be the transportation of the wounded back to the hosptals.
The plan was for each soldier to carry a field dressing. Each company was to have a Medical NCO and 2 Stretcher Bearers whose responsibility it was to carry the wounded back to the battallion aid post. The battallion aid post was manned by a Medical Officer and a Medical NCO. Wounded were moved from the battallions by stretcher bearers from a Bearer Company, to a Casualty Colecting Station. They were then transported to Field Hospitals by ambulance (if available) or by strtecher bearers.
The Field Hospitals were mobile and were equipped to deal with 100 casualties, There were no beds or stretchers so casualties lay on groundsheets. They were cared for by orerlies as nurses were not sent as far forward as this. Stationary Hospitals were positioned along the lines of communication and could take 100 casualties on stretchers. General Hospitals were initially placed at bases, but as more medical assets came into South Africa and the lines of communication grew longer they were also found further forward. They were equipped like any civilian hospital of the time and could take 500 patients (although some expanded beyond this). (see De Villiers) Movement between the hospitals was often via trains, or in ships down the coast from Durban to Cape Town. During the Boer War nurses were deployed to serve in Base, General and Stationary Hospitals, Hospital Ships, and Hospital Trains.
