Last week 150 eager GCSE history students attended a fascinating lecture by military historian Andy Robertshaw.
Historian, broadcaster and author, Andy, was the historical consultant for the film War Horse and is working on a book, Mud, Blood and Bandages, about medicine and surgery in the First World War. His talk was directly related to the Edexcel GCSE syllabus students are following and the specific module on the historical environment, in this case the unique medical conditions on the Western Front 1914-18.
Dr. Henderson, Head of History and Joint Head of Sixth Form, said: “Andy’s lecture was fantastic for the students because of his intricate knowledge of the issues surrounding medical advances during World War One. It was particularly fascinating for those who recently returned from the battlefields tour as he talked about many of the places they had visited.”
At the end of his lecture Andy told a remarkable story. He described how his own grandfather was injured in battle and recovered on three separate occasions during the conflict. Two years ago he was leading a history tour in France when an American tourist asked if he could help him research his own grandfather’s part in the war. The gentleman’s relative had been a surgeon on the Western Front in 1917. He was able to tell Andy where his grandfather had been stationed in May of 1917. Andy’s jaw dropped at this point as he realised that the American man’s grandfather had most probably saved his own grandfather’s life.
This story served to illustrate the central message of his lecture – that military advances did much to make the First World War a crucial period in the development of medicine. So much so that many of us would not be here today had our own relatives not been nursed back to health by the brave and talented men and women of the Royal Army Medical Corps.
A huge thank you to Andy Robertshaw for taking time out of his busy schedule to enlighten Teesdale's future historians.