Dr. Conan Doyle in Bloemfontein - Revision history

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	\|author=John D. Crouch		\|author=John D. Crouch
	\|topic=Medicine		\|topic=Medicine
			\|summary=The article reconstructs Arthur Conan Doyle's medical service in Bloemfontein during the Boer War, detailing his work in the Langman Hospital amid epidemic disease, logistical strain, and military bureaucracy. It shows how this experience shaped both his humanitarian outlook and his later public interventions on wartime medical reform and British military policy.
	}}		}}
	''The Medical Conan Doyle III. Dr. Conan Doyle in Bloemfontein'' is an article written by [[John D. Crouch]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 1, No. 3; Vol. 2, No. 1 and No. 2) in september 1990, spring and autumn 1991.		''The Medical Conan Doyle III. Dr. Conan Doyle in Bloemfontein'' is an article written by [[John D. Crouch]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 1, No. 3; Vol. 2, No. 1 and No. 2) in september 1990, spring and autumn 1991.

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TCDE-Team at 18:06, 12 February 2026

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TCDE-Team at 22:36, 10 February 2026

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	: ''"It was ~~momine~~ when I wakened, and it seemed to me that instead of coming out into a world of sanity I had emerged into some extraordinary nightmare. The African sun flooded through the big, ~~cunainless~~ windows, and every detail of the great, bare, whitewashed dormitory stood out hard and clear."''		: ''"It was morning when I wakened, and it seemed to me that instead of coming out into a world of sanity I had emerged into some extraordinary nightmare. The African sun flooded through the big, curtainless windows, and every detail of the great, bare, whitewashed dormitory stood out hard and clear."''


	[[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Conan Doyle]] subsequently found time. whilst in South Africa, to commence his popular ~~histon~~ of The Great Boer War. The first edition was published by Smith. Elder later in the year 1900. Enlarged and revised, it went through some seventeen editions. A sixpenny leaflet entitled The War in South Africa. Its cause and conduct. published by [[Smith, Elder & Co.\|Smith, Elder]] and [[George Newnes Ltd.\|Newnes]] in 1902 as a propaganda piece, helped [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Conan Doyle]] get his knighthood. A Dutch language edition De Oorlog in Zuid Afrika was published in London, and further editions were published in New York, Toronto, Paris, Berlin, Zurich, Madrid, Christiana, Lisbon, Cardiff, India, Budapest, Odessa and Milan.		[[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Conan Doyle]] subsequently found time, whilst in South Africa, to commence his popular history of [[The Great Boer War]]. The first edition was published by Smith. Elder later in the year 1900. Enlarged and revised, it went through some seventeen editions. A sixpenny leaflet entitled The War in South Africa. Its cause and conduct. published by [[Smith, Elder & Co.\|Smith, Elder]] and [[George Newnes Ltd.\|Newnes]] in 1902 as a propaganda piece, helped [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Conan Doyle]] get his knighthood. A Dutch language edition De Oorlog in Zuid Afrika was published in London, and further editions were published in New York, Toronto, Paris, Berlin, Zurich, Madrid, Christiana, Lisbon, Cardiff, India, Budapest, Odessa and Milan.

	The Typhoid epidemic had first been brought to the attention of the British Public by Mr. William Burdett-Coutts, (5) the Unionist M.P. in his reports in [[The Times]], to the British Parliament, and to The Reform Club. He wrote that:		The Typhoid epidemic had first been brought to the attention of the British Public by Mr. William Burdett-Coutts, (5) the Unionist M.P. in his reports in [[The Times]], to the British Parliament, and to The Reform Club. He wrote that:
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	1. Hodgson, Pat: ''The War Illustrators''; Osprey, 1977		1. Hodgson, Pat: ''The War Illustrators''; Osprey, 1977

	2. Carter, A.C.R.: ''The Work of War Artists in South Africa''; The Art Journal, 1900, pps 26-29		2. Carter, A.C.R.: ''The Work of War Artists in South Africa''; The Art Journal, 1900, pps. 26-29

	3. Menpes, Mortimer: ''War Impressions: Being a record in colour by Mortimer Menpes''; Adam & Charles Black, May 1901, pps 152-154		3. Menpes, Mortimer: ''War Impressions: Being a record in colour by Mortimer Menpes''; Adam & Charles Black, May 1901, pps. 152-154

	4. Burdett-Coutts: quoted in ''The Times History of The War in South Africa'', Vol. VI, The Medical Services in the War, pps. ~~$23~~-524		4. Burdett-Coutts: quoted in ''The Times History of The War in South Africa'', Vol. VI, The Medical Services in the War, pps. 523-524

	5. [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Doyle, A. C.]]: ''[[The Great Boer War]]''; Final (17th) Edition, September 1903		5. [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Doyle, A. C.]]: ''[[The Great Boer War]]''; Final (17th) Edition, September 1903

TCDE-Team at 22:28, 10 February 2026

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TCDE-Team at 11:01, 8 February 2026

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	: ''Hitherto, I had rather shunned hospitals as being ~~inanistic~~ and unnecessary for my work: but I was induced to pav a visit to this hospital in the first place in order to make a sketch of [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Dr. Conan Doyle]], its superintendent; in the second place from a real desire to see what was going on. I found Dr. ~~Dovle~~ with his sleeves tucked up working like a nigger. It was difficult to associate him with the Author of Sherlock Holmes; he was a doctor pure and simple, an enthusiastic doctor too.''		: ''Hitherto, I had rather shunned hospitals as being inartistic and unnecessary for my work: but I was induced to pav a visit to this hospital in the first place in order to make a sketch of [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Dr. Conan Doyle]], its superintendent; in the second place from a real desire to see what was going on. I found [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Dr. Doyle]] with his sleeves tucked up working like a nigger. It was difficult to associate him with the Author of [[Sherlock Holmes]]; he was a doctor pure and simple, an enthusiastic doctor too.''
	: ''"You'll make yourself ill," I said, as he came up to me: "You're overworking yourself."''		: ''"You'll make yourself ill," I said, as he came up to me: "You're overworking yourself."''
	: ''"Yes, 1 am overworked," said he. "We are all overworked just now. We have such a tremendous incursion of patients that it is almost impossible to cope with them, and we are bound to work night and day. Sometimes I have to drag myself to the top of a kopje in order to stir up a little energy to go on with my work."''		: ''"Yes, I am overworked," said he. "We are all overworked just now. We have such a tremendous incursion of patients that it is almost impossible to cope with them, and we are bound to work night and day. Sometimes I have to drag myself to the top of a kopje in order to stir up a little energy to go on with my work."''
	: ''But [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Dr. Doyle]] did not seem to lack energy. 1 never saw a man throw himself into duty so thoroughly, heart and soul.''		: ''But [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Dr. Doyle]] did not seem to lack energy. I never saw a man throw himself into duty so thoroughly, heart and soul.''
	: ''"And are ~~vou~~ writing a book of ~~vour~~ experiences out here as a doctor?" I asked.''		: ''"And are you writing a book of your experiences out here as a doctor?" I asked.''
	: ''"How can 1? What time do I have to think of it. You have no idea what a tremendous amount of work we have to do! In the midst of all this agony, \| couldn't settle to literary work. For instance, look at this inferno!"''		: ''"How can I? What time do I have to think of it. You have no idea what a tremendous amount of work we have to do! In the midst of all this agony, I couldn't settle to literary work. For instance, look at this inferno!"''
	: ''As he spoke. he threw open the door of one of the principal wards, and what \| saw baffles description. The only thing I can liken it to is a slaughter house. \| have seen dreadful sights in my life; but I have never seen anything quite equal to this — the place was saturated with enteric fever, and patients were swarming in at such a rate that it was impossible to attend to them at all. Some of the cases were too terrible for words. And here in the midst of all these horrors, you would see two or three black-robed Sisters of Mercy going about ~~silenth:~~ and swiftly, doing work that would make a strong man faint; handling the soldiers as though they were infants; bandaging and dressing and attending to a thousand little details, all in a calm ~~uunruffled~~ way, never appearing in a ~~hury~~.''		: ''As he spoke. he threw open the door of one of the principal wards, and what I saw baffles description. The only thing I can liken it to is a slaughter house. I have seen dreadful sights in my life; but I have never seen anything quite equal to this — the place was saturated with enteric fever, and patients were swarming in at such a rate that it was impossible to attend to them at all. Some of the cases were too terrible for words. And here in the midst of all these horrors, you would see two or three black-robed Sisters of Mercy going about silently and swiftly, doing work that would make a strong man faint; handling the soldiers as though they were infants; bandaging and dressing and attending to a thousand little details, all in a calm unruffled way, never appearing in a hurry.''
	: ''"What superb women!" I exclaimed involuntarily. [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Dr. Doyle]] smiled as he watched them. "They are angels" he said simply.''		: ''"What superb women!" I exclaimed involuntarily. [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Dr. Doyle]] smiled as he watched them. "They are angels" he said simply.''

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	: ''The greatest misfortune of the campaign, one which it was obviously impolitic to insist upon at the time, began with the occupation of Bloemfontein. This was the great outbreak of enteric amongst the troops. For more than two months the hospitals were choked with sick. One general hospital with five hundred beds held seventeen hundred sick, nearly all enterics. A half field hospital with fifty beds held three hundred and seventy cases. The total number of cases could not have been less than six or seven thousand — and this not of an evanescent and easily treated complaint but of the most persistent and debilitating of continued fevers, the one too which requires the most assiduous and careful nursing. How great was the strain, only those who had to meet it can tell. The exertions of the military hospitals, and of those others which were fitted out by private benevolence, sufficed, after a long struggle, to meet the crisis. At Bloemfontein alone, as many as fifty men died in one day, and more than 1,000 new graves in the cemetery testify to the severity of the epidemic. No men served their country more truly than the officers and men of the medical service, nor can any one who went through the epidemic forget the bravery and unselfishness of those admirable nursing sisters who set the men around them a higher standard of devotion to duty. Enteric fever is always endemic in the country, and especially at Bloemfontein, but there can be no doubt that this severe outbreak had its origin in the Paardeberg water. All through the campaign, while the machinery for curing disease was excellent, that for preventing it was elementary or absent. If bad water can cost us more than all the bullets of the enemy, then: surely it is worth our while to make the drinking of unboiled water a stringent military offence, and to attach to every company and squadron the most rapid and efficient means of boiling it — for filtering alone is useless. in incessant trouble it would be, but it would have saved a division for the army. It is heart-rending for the medical man who has emerged from a hospital full of water-~~bome~~ pestilence to see a ~~reaumenial~~ water cart being filled, without protest, at some polluted wayside pool. With precautions and with inoculation all those lives ~~mught~~ have been saved. The fever died down with the advance of the troops and the coming of the colder weather.		: ''The greatest misfortune of the campaign, one which it was obviously impolitic to insist upon at the time, began with the occupation of Bloemfontein. This was the great outbreak of enteric amongst the troops. For more than two months the hospitals were choked with sick. One general hospital with five hundred beds held seventeen hundred sick, nearly all enterics. A half field hospital with fifty beds held three hundred and seventy cases. The total number of cases could not have been less than six or seven thousand — and this not of an evanescent and easily treated complaint but of the most persistent and debilitating of continued fevers, the one too which requires the most assiduous and careful nursing. How great was the strain, only those who had to meet it can tell. The exertions of the military hospitals, and of those others which were fitted out by private benevolence, sufficed, after a long struggle, to meet the crisis. At Bloemfontein alone, as many as fifty men died in one day, and more than 1,000 new graves in the cemetery testify to the severity of the epidemic. No men served their country more truly than the officers and men of the medical service, nor can any one who went through the epidemic forget the bravery and unselfishness of those admirable nursing sisters who set the men around them a higher standard of devotion to duty. Enteric fever is always endemic in the country, and especially at Bloemfontein, but there can be no doubt that this severe outbreak had its origin in the Paardeberg water. All through the campaign, while the machinery for curing disease was excellent, that for preventing it was elementary or absent. If bad water can cost us more than all the bullets of the enemy, then: surely it is worth our while to make the drinking of unboiled water a stringent military offence, and to attach to every company and squadron the most rapid and efficient means of boiling it — for filtering alone is useless. in incessant trouble it would be, but it would have saved a division for the army. It is heart-rending for the medical man who has emerged from a hospital full of water-borne pestilence to see a regimental water cart being filled, without protest, at some polluted wayside pool. With precautions and with inoculation all those lives might have been saved. The fever died down with the advance of the troops and the coming of the colder weather.

TCDE-Team at 10:56, 8 February 2026

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	The article reconstructs [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s medical service in Bloemfontein during the Boer War, detailing his work in the Langman Hospital amid epidemic disease, logistical strain, and military bureaucracy. It shows how this experience shaped both his humanitarian outlook and his later public interventions on wartime medical reform and British military policy.		The article reconstructs [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s medical service in Bloemfontein during the Boer War, detailing his work in the Langman Hospital amid epidemic disease, logistical strain, and military bureaucracy. It shows how this experience shaped both his humanitarian outlook and his later public interventions on wartime medical reform and British military policy.

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TCDE-Team at 10:54, 8 February 2026

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TCDE-Team: TCDE-Team moved page Dr Conan Doyle in Bloemfontein to Dr. Conan Doyle in Bloemfontein without leaving a redirect

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TCDE-Team moved page Dr Conan Doyle in Bloemfontein to Dr. Conan Doyle in Bloemfontein without leaving a redirect

← Older revision	Revision as of 12:37, 8 February 2026
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TCDE-Team at 10:35, 8 February 2026

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← Older revision		Revision as of 12:35, 8 February 2026
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	\|topic=Medicine		\|topic=Medicine
	}}		}}
	''The Medical Conan Doyle III. Dr Conan Doyle in Bloemfontein'' is an article written by [[John D. Crouch]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 1, No. 3) in september 1990.		''The Medical Conan Doyle III. Dr Conan Doyle in Bloemfontein'' is an article written by [[John D. Crouch]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 1, No. 3; Vol. 2, No. 1 and No. 2) in september 1990, spring and autumn 1991.

	The article reconstructs [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s medical service in Bloemfontein during the Boer War, detailing his work in the Langman Hospital amid epidemic disease, logistical strain, and military bureaucracy. It shows how this experience shaped both his humanitarian outlook and his later public interventions on wartime medical reform and British military policy.		The article reconstructs [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s medical service in Bloemfontein during the Boer War, detailing his work in the Langman Hospital amid epidemic disease, logistical strain, and military bureaucracy. It shows how this experience shaped both his humanitarian outlook and his later public interventions on wartime medical reform and British military policy.