What was wrong with medical services in the Crimean War?
The papers of Edward Mason Wrench indicate, as was suggested at the outset, a rather more complex situation in mid-19th century military medical services before the pioneering work of Henry Dunant than is sometimes assumed. The state of official medical services and, most particularly, of the medical supply system stands unequivocally condemned in Wrench’s writings. At the same time it is clear that he and other medical staff working at or near the front line were well aware of the defects and eager for improvement. A particularly interesting light is cast upon this by the attitude taken by Wrench, as a military surgeon, to the work of Florence Nightingale. In a letter written on 14 May 1855 from the camp before Sevastopol, Wrench wrote to his family: “Poor Miss Nightingale was landed today at 4 o’clock and carried up to the convalescent hospital at Balaclava on a stretcher, she has got fever. I hope she will get better, she has been the saving of many lives herself – I am disgusted wi
