Page 45 - Who Was Sapper Brown
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A Medical Burial
No 2504, Private Stephen Troubridge, Army Hospital Corps, died 30 September 1878.
Nothing further is known about him, but he is remembered still.
Two more of his colleagues from the Army Hospital Corps died in Cyprus in 1878,35
Privates Charles Gladwin and Robert Gee,36 but their burial place is now lost.
A brief overview of the Army Hospital Corps.37 In 1854 a hospital corps consisting of 370 pensioners
was raised to serve as hospital orderlies and ambulance wagon drivers during the Crimean War. The men
were unfit for the rigours of active service and the Corps proved ineffective. In 1855, they were replaced
by the Medical Staff Corps which consisted of the rank and file of the army medical services. The staff
medical officers and regimental officers did not form part of this establishment.
35 Army Medical Department Annual Report (1878).
36 The deaths of Private Charles Gladwin 2721 (on 13 August 1878, at Chifflik Pasha Camp) and Private Robert Gee 3189
(on 15 September 1878, at Larnaca) are recorded in the War Office Army Hospital Corps Muster Book 1878 – 1879 (The Na-
tional Archives, WO 16/2699). They would both have been buried in simple graves under plain wooden crosses in the region
of Chiflik Pasha Camp. The exact site of burial is unknown.
37 Army Hospital Corps information largely quoted from Colonel Walter Bonnici’s website. British Army Medical Services
and The Malta Garrison 1799 – 1979, www.maltaramc.com
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