Hello!

This hybrid event organized by the Modern History Research Centre (MHRC) at the University of Winchester, UK may be of interest to some you….

Date: Wednesday 6 December, 16:30-18:00

Location: St Alphege Building 202, King Alfred quarter, University of Winchester and on Teams / Book your tickets HERE

New insights into the paradigm shift in battlefield medicine in WWI

Speaker: Dominic Hodgson (University of Winchester)

Medicine, it has been said, progressed more in the four years of the First World War than at any other time. In the early stages, antiquated care and ill-preparedness resulted in many deaths from delayed surgery following lengthy transfers, inadequate initial wound care, rudimentary anaesthetic techniques and understanding of the physiological consequences of injuries. This talk will focus on the experience of the surgeon Kenneth Walker (1882-1966) who started his career in the British Hospital of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and later in life became an author and sexual reformer. In 1914, he volunteered to practise in a base hospital in Le Touquet (France) where he was appalled at the condition of men who had endured prolonged evacuation. Later enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps, he ran an advanced operating centre close to the Somme battlefield. He transformed the trench management of shattered thighs by improving splinting, which stabilised painful injuries crucially reducing blood loss and resultant shock. From 1917 he was a visiting member of the Shock Committee in London through which study of the physiology of acute wounding and trialling of corrective techniques were co-ordinated. He ran a “shock centre” on the Western Front and working with colleagues from North America he introduced blood transfusion into the army, with subsequent benefits for post-war civilian practice.

Dominic Hodgson is currently a PhD student in History at the University of Winchester, but he is coming from a career in medicine, sharing the same specialty (urology) as Walker whom he has chosen to investigate as a vehicle to throw new light on a wide range of innovations in 20^th century medicine, social attitudes, and masculinity.

Chairs: Prof. Chris Aldous (University of Winchester) and Dr Graciela Iglesias-Rogers (University of Winchester).

Everybody is welcome. Book your tickets HERE (including for accessing the Teams link). 

Tickets are FREE for all members of the University of Winchester (please register with your university email address) and MHRC subscribers (information on how to subscribe HERE ). Otherwise, Individual entry cost £6 and £3 for concession.

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Dr Graciela Iglesias-Rogers, Leading Convener

Prof. Chris Aldous, Co-Convener

Dr Emily Stiles, Co-Convener