Healers, Helpers and Hospitals, A History of Military Medicine in the Anglo-Boer War

Protea, Pretoria, 2008, two volumes, pp. 707 + 325, laminated hard covers in slip case, duotone plates.

This extensive work covers all military medical aspects of the conflict: from the influence of Red Cross societies, foreign aid from Belgium, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, the United States of America and the Netherlands to the clinical aspects of military medical care. Healers, helpers and hospitals contribute to our canon on this war which continues to intrigue readers and historians from all over the world.

.The Anglo-Boer War was the first military conflict to put the Geneva Convention to thorough testing. The civilian concentration camps adumbrated even more horrifying examples in the 20th century. Medically, there was the first use of radiology in warfare and early application of surgical specialisation, anaesthesia, immunisation (against typhoid), use of diagnostic pathology laboratories, and prevention and treatment of surgical sepsis. Highly mobile field-based medical care was introduced by both sides.

Drawing upon more that 3 000 sources of information, including memoirs, diaries, letters, medical articles, press reports, poems, books, official reports and university dissertations de Villiers has compiled meticulously this account from both the Boer and British perspectives. In doing so he has been scrupulously fair and admirably non-judgemental. He is not above adding a little gossip or gentle ironic humour when it adds to the story. No detail is too small. There are people mentioned in the book, some with a biographical note, who, were they alive, would be amazed that they had gained a place in the history of the war. This medical history is the work of a clinician who has applied meticulous attention to the story.

The author makes it clear that a medical history of the concentration camps falls outside the scope of the current work. One can hardly argue with that, given the more than 1 100 pages of the two volumes. But his strict avoidance of the subject leaves a hiatus in one's understanding of the full medical impact of the war. Moreover, there is scant mention of black people in the book. From the little that is said it seems clear that hospital apartheid was already well in place. Reading the book requires stamina it is extraordinarily comprehensive. A basic knowledge of the war on the part of the reader is assumed.

The result of Kay de Villiers' efforts, persistence and thoughtfulness is a permanent and irrefutable record. It is enhanced by many beautifully produced photographs. At least from the perspective of the medical record there is now no chance that the war will be forgotten. For that reason alone, we owe him a huge debt.