The Evolution of the RAMC
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360 Years Of Service
Key Milestones in the RAMC
Medical support to Armies is as old as those Armies themselves but it seems sensible to start off the story of the evolution of the RAMC at the Restoration of Charles II and the establishment of Britain’s Standing Army. That wasn’t a blank canvas, of course, but it is a useful start line in that there was to be a clear stable organisation thereafter to give support to, it was about the time that wider medical science and medical careers started to develop, and the great expansion of the Army to build and sustain the Empire commenced. Running alongside all this is the relationship of medical with the chain of command, which is important on two grounds, non-combatant medical status on the one hand against advice to commanders who were, and still are, the determinants of the occupation, lifestyle and environment influences on the health of the Army on the other.
The timeline shows the progress of professional development, organisation and relationships, via 60 key occurences since the Restoration, which culminated in the formation of the RAMC in 1898 but, of course, has continued to evolve to the present day. It is the story of how, in a series of steps, the officers and soldiers of the RAMC have come together over the last 360 years. It tracks the relationship between Regular and Auxiliary Forces. Whether this has meant that we have progressed and advanced every 6 years over the era, one leaves the reader to make his or her own mind up as they scroll through the chronology.
Regimental Surgeons already established
Commissioned, one per regiment/battalion
Post of Surgeon General (SG) created
Surgeons’ Mates established in Guards and Infantry units
Warranted
Post of Physician General created
Post of Apothecary General created
Apothecaries and Apothecaries Mates appointed to fixed hospitals from 1690
Purveyors appointed to fixed hospitals
From within the Staff Surgeons (until 1798) alongside Hospital Mates and Physicians
First Cavalry Surgeons’ Mates appointed
Warranted
First medical officer appointed to the Artillery
Post of Inspector of Regimental Infirmaries created
Army Medical Board (AMB) created
For governance of the medical services, stands down 1763, under Secretary at War
AMB reconvened
Composed of SG, Physician General & Inspector of Regimental Infirmaries
Ordnance Medical Board formed
Surgeons’ Mates commissioned
As Assistant Surgeons
Hospital Mates commissioned
As Hospital Assistants, then Assistant Surgeons from 1830
Army Medical Department (AMD) first described
After the 5th Report Military Enquiry into the Medical Department of the Army.
Post of Director General (DG) created
With two Deputies; previous AMB membership, plus Apothecary General post, abolished
Ordnance Medical Board merged into AMD
Hospital Conveyance Corps formed
Other ranks, subsumed into the Land Transport Corps in 1855
Medical Staff Corps (MSC) created
Other ranks, commanded by an Officer of Orderlies, organised into companies
AMD moves under Secretary of State for War
Army Hospital Corps (AHC) formed from MSC
Other ranks, some Officers of Orderlies
Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) formed
From amalgamating the AMS with the MSC, proper military rank given to Medical Officers
Territorial Force (TF) formed
Incorporating Volunteer and Yeomanry RAMC plus Volunteer Brigade Bearer Companies
First uniformed dental officers recruited
Dental officers leave to form an Army Dental Corps in 1921
TF becomes the Territorial Army (TA)
Stretcher Bearer Officers established
Not medically qualified, becoming the Admin cadre - today’s Medical Support Officers (MSO)
Female medical officers get full status and rank of officers
Permanent commissions from 1961
TA becomes Territorial and Auxiliary Volunteer Reserve (TAVR)
Thus incorporating AER, TAVR reverts to TA again in 1982
DG becomes SG in a new Defence Medical Services Directorate
Absorbs AMD; SG post to rotate between the Three Services thereafter
TA becomes the Army Reserve
Post of DG abolished
And AMD dismembered