Medals awarded to surgeon probationer to go up for auction

It was probably not greatly comforting for a naval battle casualty to find out that the 'surgeon' treating his wounds was a medical student who hadn’t even finished his college course. On the other hand things could definitely have been even worse.

- By JESSICA TARVER of David Duggleby Auctioneers

In 1914, the Royal Navy found itself entering a world war with a desperate shortage of surgeons available for service at sea. There was the real danger that fighting ships would be sent into battle with only the most basic first aid medical skills available on board.

Recognition of the critical situation resulted in the implementation of what today seems a scarcely believable idea: Third and fourth year students from the country's medical schools were recruited into the Royal Navy Voluntary Reserve, got a month’s practical training at the Royal Naval Hospital at Haslar in Hampshire, given the rank of 'Probationer Surgeon' and despatched around the fleet.

Among the first volunteers was Norman Jennings, a 23-year-old Cumbrian medical student who (spoiler alert) a couple of decades later would become a prominent figure in the medicine and legal worlds of our region - His Majesty's Coroner for Hull no less.