Dundee War Records

The First Hospital Train from France into Dundee 1914

The Story

One hundred wounded British heroes direct from the fighting line arrived in Dundee this morning.
The men belonged to various British regiments including the London Scottish, which was the first of the Territorials to be drafted for active service.
Seventy-five of the men were able to walk and the remaining 25 were transferred from the train to motor ambulances on stretchers.
This was the first hospital train to reach Dundee, and a glance at the interior was sufficient to show that Britain had made all possible preparations for the comfort of her sons who had been wounded. The rolling stock was that of the Great Western Railway and the train formed a complete hospital. It consisted of ten coaches with six wards, each containing 18 beds, while there was accommodation for the medical staff and orderlies, with kitchen and dining saloon complete.
The train left Southampton at six o’clock last night, the men having been brought over from Boulogne. This was the first time that they had enjoyed the comfort of a bed for many weeks, and Sisters Bennet and Thain told a ‘Telegraph and Post’ representative that the men could not help falling asleep even though many of them were suffering great pain. The journey north was without incident and about twenty minutes to nine the train steamed into Dundee West Station.
News of the arrival of the Hospital Train had been received in the City at a late hour last night, and the arrangements were at once made for notifying the large staff of ambulance workers to be in attendance. The sight of a large fleet of motors and ambulance waggons with the Red Cross and white shield emblazoned upon them attracted the attention of citizens as they were going to work, and a great crowd gathered in Yeaman Shore and at the entrance to the station.
Immediately the train stopped, Lieutenant Colonel Warrack, of the R.A.M.C. Territorials, who was in charge, was met by Colonels Wyville Thomson, who is senior medical officer of the Tay Defences; and William Gordon Thomson, Red Cross Commissioner, of the Central Eastern District of Scotland, and who has supervised the provision of accommodation for wounded soldiers in the city.

Distributing the wounded

The work of distributing the men to the various hospitals was at once started. Those who were able to walk were not long in leaving the train. They were the first to be attended to, and a number of motor cars, each flying the Red Cross flag, bore them away to the Caird Home and the Lodge, Broughty Ferry, while the most serious cases amongst them were removed to the Eastern Hospital. The sight of so many cars and the state of the wounded men on board brought home to the spectators as nothing else as hitherto done, the terrible realities of this war of the nations.
But it was while watching the removal to the Royal Infirmary of the Tommies who had been most severely hit in the great fight that the heart strings of the spectators were gripped. The men were withal a cheery lot, and with very few exceptions lay calmly smoking a cigarette.
The work of removing the soldiers was taken in hand by members of the Army Medical Corps and voluntary stretcher bearers. Their task in the narrow confines of the carriages was a most difficult one, especially s they desired to save the brave fellows the least jolt or jar. The soldiers themselves assisted as much as they could.

A Lancer’s Pluck

An evidence of the real pluck of the British Soldier was seen in the case of a lancer who had been wounded in the leg with a piece of shrapnel. The stretcher upon which he was borne was too long for the private ambulance which was to convey him to the Infirmary. The ambulance men were proposing to transfer him to another stretcher, when he remarked “Never mind, I’ll manage, and the plucky fellow climbed with assistance into the vehicle, and soon was made comfortable on the seat. He then lit a cigarette and waited until another case was brought forward to accompany him.
One of the most serious cases was that of a men who had his lower lip and teeth shot away. Poor chap! He could not ‘woo my lady nicotine’, but he lay quite contentedly although the whiteness of his face was intensified by the swathing bandages.
The majority of the men were from the battles of the Rivers, and bore evidence of having seen desperate fighting. They were unanimous that it was not war, but murder. Their clothing was in many cases in tatters; one soldier had the greater portion of the right leg of his trousers clinging to his nether garments by means of a suspender. Their boots were a study. Once black, they were now caked with yellow mud, and in many cases had been cut to ease the pain of a wounded foot.
Of caps there seemed to be a scarcity. Many of the men wore woollen helmets, and on being questioned as to the reason of the absence of the regimental headgear, one explained that a favourite trick of theirs was to place a row of caps in an empty trench and attract the fire of the enemy.
One London Scottish man remarked “They have not been long me.” He was wounded in the knee by a bullet. He had read with great pride in today’s newspaper of the glorious work of his gallant regiment at Ypres, and bemoaned his fate in having been “nicked” so soon.
By ten o’ clock the train was cleared.

Casualties

Iain D. McIntosh, Friends of Dundee City Archives