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Unique chance to learn more about Naval operations
28 August 2024
The guardians of the Navy’s rich medical heritage are looking to open up their rich collections to a wider audience.
The Institute of Naval Medicine is home to the serving and civilian medical staff, academics and experts who conduct research at the leading edge of science supported by state-of-the-art laboratory and clinical facilities to advise all three Services on how personnel and operations might be impacted by medical issues or conditions.
But the establishment, tucked away in Gosport’s affluent suburb of Alverstoke, is also home to an unprecedented archive of literature, old surgical instruments, medals, ceramics and photographs, spanning half a millennium of naval history and medical knowledge/understanding.
In particular, the collection encompasses the lives and experiences of naval medical personnel and reflects changing knowledge and attitudes to medicine, particularly those impacting life at sea from the 18th to early 20th Centuries.
New entry medical officers, new INM staff and naval personnel as well as conference attendees are all offered introductory tours a look at the collections.
There is always something new to learn from these past records and the history they contain, from approaches to dentistry in Nelson’s Navy to hospital ships in World War 1.
Recently they have worked with local primary school children on Darwin and theories of evolution through to understanding the medical knowledge gained from WW2 Arctic Convoys and ongoing research into the extent and causes of scurvy in the age of sail – and there is still much to be gleaned from the collection.
“There is always something new to learn from these past records and the history they contain, from approaches to dentistry in Nelson’s Navy to hospital ships in World War 1,” said Dr Jan Conway, the historic collections’ librarian.
The core of the library’s collection is drawn from 19th Century naval surgeons and medical staff, with books from both principal naval hospitals, Haslar and Stonehouse which both survived encounters with the Luftwaffe during The Blitz (although bombs did destroy Haslar’s museum dating back to 1827 and left shrapnel embedded in Vol. 36 (1891) of The Edinburgh Medical Journal).
With both hospitals closed (Stonehouse in 1995, Haslar in 2009), their rich archives passed to the institute… alongside some items from the similarly-defunct naval hospitals in Gibraltar and Malta, plus personal donations from medical staff and families.
The archive tells both the story of the health of the Navy and the history of naval medicine over nearly 500 years, but it also touches broader subjects: exploration, evolution, botany, ornithology, and natural history.
The oldest volume held is a 1554 anthology of the works of the father of medicine, Hippocrates. Other gems include Darwin's Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, a 16th-Century text on reconstructive surgery, A Treatise on the Scurvy by the leading naval surgeon of the age, James Lind, and 20 volumes of John Gould's illustrated books of ornithology, including his Birds of Australia with illustrations by Edward Lear.
Also on display are a collection of surgical instruments, medical ceramics, medals, photographs, and paintings, as well as other naval medical memorabilia, including items from the archives of the Queen Alexandra Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS).
You will not, however, find service, patient and medical records nor medical officer’s journals – all those have all been transferred to the National Archives in Kew.
The wider public can view the collection once a year as part of the Gosport Heritage Open Days through advance booking - Gosport Heritage Open Days: Free to explore.