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'Mesopotamia Commission. Report of the Commission Appointed by Act of Parliament to Enquire into the Operations of War in Mesopotamia, together with a Special Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP, and Appendices. London: HMSO, 1917.' [‎82r] (163/248)

The record is made up of 1 volume (122 folios). It was created in 1906-1918. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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161
5
162. We were much impressed by the successful efforts
of Surgeon-General Sir Pardey Lukis, ably seconded in
Bombay by Brigadier-General Knight, in grappling so
promptly and effectively with a dangerous situation. In
the case of the Victoria Hospital this work was much
furthered by the assistance given by Major Hepper, R.E.,
on behalf of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. The
provision for the Indian wounded calls for less comment.
Nearly 3,000 beds were available in hospitals at Bombay,
Poona, Secunderabad and Karachi on April 1st, and the
number has since been increased by about 300. In
addition there are now over 2,000 beds in special war
hospitals throughout India, while some 400 more are
being got ready. Accommodation for 8,000 Indian con
valescents is also in course of preparation, and the general
improvement in the situation is manifest. We cannot
refer to this matter of hospitals for Indian troops without
instancing the “ Lady Hardinge ” and “ Marine Lines
Hospitals, Bombay, as examples of the high standard of
efficiency which can be attained in favourable circum
stances, when the officers commanding take a keen
interest in their work. The activity of charitable organ
isations is a great feature in Bombay, and under the
energetic and popular leadership of Their Excellencies
the Governor and Lady Willingdon, an immense amount
has been done for the comfort of our invalids, British
and Indian, by the sympathetic and well directed benevo
lence of a generous and united community.
163. Gifts and charitable organisations .—A very large
number of comforts and medical accessories of various
kinds have been supplied to the sick and wounded of
the force by various charitable organisations. The
principal of these are the Indian Council of the Order
of St. John, Lady Carmichael’s Bengal Women’s Fund,
the Women’s Branch Bombay Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. War and Relief
Fund, the Madras War Fund, the Indian Soldiers’ Fund,
and the Joint Committee of the British Red Cross Society
and the Order of St. John ; but a great deal of assistance
has also been rendered by a number of smaller charitable
associations. These organisations have done excellent
if independent work, and the medical arrangements in
Mesopotamia have been greatly helped by their assistance,
the money value of which in the aggregate has amounted
to very large figures. Unfortunately, at the beginning of
the war a system, since abolished, was in existence, under
which gifts either in money or kind for the assistance of
the medical organisation of the force had to be offered,
in the first instance, through the Director, Medical Ser
vices, India. This led to delay and to the further unfor
tunate result that there was a temptation to use such
gifts in substitution of Government supplies, rather than
in supplementing the latter. The provision of motor
boats is an instance in point. Whenever an offer of a
Red Cross motor boat from a private source was received
by the Director, Medical Services, India, the vessel was
described and tendered to the General Officer Command
ing, Mesopotamia, but no suggestion was made that
Government was prepared to take any action to supply
these boats. Once it was known that such boats were
required, we should have thought that the number and
types of launches needed would have been ascertained
and the vessels provided by Government. But from
first to last it would appear that not a single Red Cross
motor boat, either of a runabout or ambulance character,
has been provided by the Government of India. The
demand for these boats is still very urgent. Ten have
already been provided by the Joint Committee, and
15 more are being sent out by that body, while the
Indian Council of the Order of St. John has sent out
four such vessels, besides two river boats and two barges.
Without this assistance the medical work on the river
could not, in our opinion, have been carried on satis
factorily. One of these vessels, the officer of which has
kept a log, had carried over 10,000 patients before the
Commission left Mesopotamia. The neglect to procure
sufficient motor boats is, in our opinion, the more regret
table in view of the splendid work done by the “ Aerial,”
a motor vessel of unusual type provided and personally
worked by a private gentleman, Mr. T. A. Chalmers of
Jorhat, Assam. Witness after witness has borne testi
mony to the invaluable work done by this boat in evacuat
ing wounded from the front to the vessels in the river
acting for the time being as hospital steamers. Mr.
Chalmers, in undertaking this self-imposed duty, was
constantly within the zone of Turkish fire; but the
enemy, recognising the nature of his work, have, as we
are informed, respected the Red Cross under which he
was working and refrained from shelling the vessel. As
another example of the reliance of the authorities upon
charitable effort, we may mention that the wounded
were evacuated to India upon ordinary transports until
the hospital ship “ Madras ” was provided by the Madras
War Fund of which His Excellency the Governor is
President. At one stage there would seem to have been
a disinclination on the part of Sir John Nixon to accept
help from Great Britain, and little advantage was taken
of offers made by the Indian Soldiers’ Fund, and by the
Joint Committee of the British Red Cross Society and
Order of St. John. The final reply to the offer of assist
ance by the Indian Soldiers’ Fund when it was at last
accepted under a renewed telegram from the Secretary
of State indicated, among other things, that of bandages
and surgical dressings “ as many as possible ” would be
useful.
164. In our opinion this failure to utilise the offers of
charitable organisations to the full extent is not a little
to be ascribed to the system, then in vogue, which stipu
lated that all offers of Red Cross assistance should go
through the office of the Director, Medical Services, India,
and that the gifts should be distributed in consultation
with the military medical authorities, to prevent over
lapping. It is true that charitable assistance should
mainly be employed in providing the sick and wounded
with extra comforts over and above those considered
necessary by Government, but if it is to be of real help
to the medical services in a crisis, experience has shown
it must also be prepared to meet deficiencies in articles
which are normally supplied by Government. I he Red
Cross organisation cannot step in and help in this way
during an emergency unless it has prepared a surplus
over and beyond the official estimates. This preparation
may take the form of accumulated supplies on the spot,
or, if advisable, arrangements for rapid acquisition and
delivery may take the place of actual purchase. Over
lapping of this character, entered into deliberately and
with discrimination, is a necessary and helpful form of
Red Cross assistance. If the military medical services
were perfect and could foresee every event, Red Cross
organisations would be largely superfluous ; it is when
the unexpected happens that the value of a well con
sidered overlap becomes apparent. For these reasons
we are pleased to find that Government control of volun
tary effort has now been abandoned.
165. There is another kind of overlap, however, which
consists in the multiplication of charitable organisations
pursuing the same aims. The unregulated overlap pro
duced in this way is wasteful, and in the Red Cross
assistance which India has so prodigally afforded to the
Mesopotamian force, the disadvantage of unco-ordinated
effort has been at times apparent. We are glad to learn
that this has now been taken in hand, and that under
the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. of His Excellency the Viceroy, an Indian
branch of the Joint Committee of the British Red Cross
Society and Order of St. John has been formed with a
view to co-ordinating all Red Cross work in India. The
parent body is possessed of very large funds, and the
extension of its organisation should prove of considerable
value in the future.
166. We cannot leave this subject without referring to
the fine services of the Young Men’s Christian Association
in Mesopotamia. While the main work of this organisa
tion has lain with the troops, its members have on many
occasions been of great service in distributing comforts
to the sick and wounded and in helping to make the lot
of the convalescent soldier comfortable.
167. Turkish prisoners.—The Turkish wounded and sick
taken prisoner by our forces seem, on the whole, to have
been looked after satisfactorily. Opportunity was taken
of the existence in Basra of the Lansing Mission Hospital,
supported by an American society, to utilise the building
and the services of the missionary in charge, Dr. Bennett,
in order to provide for Turkish sick and wounded prisoners
of war. From the beginning of the campaign this hos
pital was so utilised, convalescents being sent with the
other prisoners of war to India. I he advantages secured
by this arrangement were twofold : in the first place it
relieved the overworked medical establishments of the
force of a duty which would otherwise have fallen on
them ; and, secondly, Dr. Bennett’s knowledge of Turkish

About this item

Content

A signed proof, folios 1-100, plus additional material, folios 101-124. The cover bears the signature of Sir Arthur Hirtzel, Assistant Under-Secretary of State. The report has been annotated in blue pencil at various points.

Contents:

  • 'Part I. Preface.
  • 'Part II. Origin of Mesopotamia [Iraq] Expedition.'
  • 'Part III. Advance from Basra to Kurna.'
  • 'Part IV. The Advance to Amara [Al-'Amārah] and Kut [Al-Kūt].'
  • 'Part V. Correspondence and Telegrams as to Advance on Baghdad.'
  • 'Part VI. The Advance from Kut to Ctesiphon.'
  • 'Part VII. Operations for Relief of Kut.'
  • 'Part VIII. Armament, Equipment, Reinforcements, &c.'
  • 'Part IX. Transport.'
  • 'Part X. Medical Breakdown.'
  • 'Part XI. Causes Contributing to the Errors of Judgement and Shortcomings of Responsible Authorities.'
  • 'Part XII. Findings and Conclusions. Recommendations.'
  • 'Separate Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP.'
  • 'Appendix I. Vincent-Bingley Report.'
  • 'Appendix II. Memorandum by Sir Beauchamp Duff.'
  • 'Appendix III. Colonel Hehir's Account of the Siege of Kut-el-Amara.'

Additional material:

  • Folio 101. Manuscript note [by Arthur Hirtzel] on net military expenditure.
  • Folios 102-109. Copy of the East India (Army Administration), Further Papers regarding the Administration of the Army in India , 1906.
  • Folios 110-115. Manuscript notes, titled 'Suggested redraft & amplification of second half of parag 1' [unknown hand].
  • Folio 116. A clipping from the Daily Telegraph , Wednesday 4 July 1917, featuring an article titled 'Mesopotamia. Ex-Viceroy's Statement. The Medical Breakdown.'
  • Folios 117-124. An expanded typescript version of Hirtzel's manuscript notes (folio 101).
Extent and format
1 volume (122 folios)
Arrangement

A table of contents can be found at folio 4v.

An index can be found at folios 93-97.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 124; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 110-115; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence. The volume comprises a stitched pamphlet, and other stitched and loose-leaf material.

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English in Latin script
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'Mesopotamia Commission. Report of the Commission Appointed by Act of Parliament to Enquire into the Operations of War in Mesopotamia, together with a Special Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP, and Appendices. London: HMSO, 1917.' [‎82r] (163/248), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/257, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100036338403.0x0000a4> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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