World War I and Robertson Stewart Smyth
As today is Armistice Day, it seemed an appropriate time to look at some of the material in the College archive relating to the First World War. Of the material already catalogued the papers of Dun's Hospital probably offer the biggest concentration of material.
During the First World War Dun's open a special ward to treat wounded soldiers, although there are no separate records of this ward the patient registers for the hospital survive for the first two years of the war, and the hospital minute books are another source of information. As well as the hospital's contribution to the war effort, the archive also contains details of individual's contribution. Many of the medical staff and former students of the hospital joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, and the hospital kept a record of their careers. The Book of Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital (PDH/5/3/4) contains a printed 'roll of honour' of the names of all current and former members of staff who served in the First World War. There is also a manuscript roll of honour mounted on a board containing the names of over three hundred who served in the War. (This item is currently undergoing conservation work.)
More poignant is the collage of 29 photographs of those who were killed, this includes a number of students who had left the hospital before completing their medical degrees to enter the army, from their photographs it is clear they were very young men.
Behind each of the 29 photos is the story of a young, or in one case, old man who gave his life to fight for King and Country, one example is Robertson Stewart Smyth. Robbie Smyth was born in Banbridge, County Down in 1879. Educated at Dungannon Royal School; he went on to study medicine at Trinity College Dublin. As a Trinity student he worked at Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, and after graduation was appointed House Surgeon in 1905. A keen rugby player Smyth played on the Dun's Hospital Rugby team in the Dublin Hospitals Rugby Cup for six years from 1900-1905; the team won the cup on all but one of those years. Smyth was also capped twice for Ireland in 1904.
Smyth joined the Royal Army Medical Corps after his year as house surgeon at Dun's Hospital, serving in India. On the outbreak of War in 1914 Smyth was sent to France, were he rose to the rank of Major and was mentioned in dispatches by Lord French, commander of the British Expeditionary Forces, for his gallant and distinguished action in the field. In December of 1915 Smyth was caught in a gas attack, he returned to the front the following month, where he was again gassed. While recuperating in hospital in London, Smyth resigned his commission and died two months later in April 1916, at the age of only 36. Smyth's body was taken back to Banbridge and buried in the municipal cemetery there.
In an obituary in the Lancet, an unnamed friend stated that 'His lovable disposition and engaging personality gained him many friends … His death will be deeply regretted by all who knew him, and he will always be held in affectionate remembrance by the friends he made in his all too short life'.[1]
[1] Envelope on Robertson Stewart Smyth, from the Kirkpatrick Index, RCPI.
Images:
* Roll of Honour of Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital PDH/5/2/6
* Photographic Roll of Honour, PDH/6/5/1
* Dun's Hospital Rugby Football Team 1902-3, PDH/6/4/12
* Detail of Robbie Smyth from PDH/6/5/1