Photo leads to appeal for info on WW1 Belgian soldiers
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A RESEARCHER has appealed to the people of the Highlands for information after discovering a photograph dating back to World War I.
Michael Turnbull found the picture online, which depicts a group of Belgian soldiers recuperating at the auxiliary hospital at St Benedict’s Abbey in Fort Augustus after being wounded in the conflict.
Also present are a number of nurses, as well as local abbot and writer Sir David Oswald Hunter Blair.
Mr Turnbull is keen to trace what happened to some of those in the photo and believes reaching out to the community may be key.
"There is not much information at all about the hospital or the soldiers who were treated there," he said.
"However, it must have been quite a big operation.
"I actually found the photograph on eBay. It shows the abbot, Sir David Oswald Hunter Blair, who was a renowned writer.
"A lot of the doctors and nurses from the hospital must have come from Inverness and the surrounding area. There could be someone in the area whose aunt was one of the nurses or something like that.
"I have looked online for more information but although there’s a little, there’s not very much.
"Some of the soldiers might even have married nurses and settled in the area."
According to local historian James Leslie, the hospital at St Benedict’s was established in November 1914 by the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), and welcomed its first group of Belgian patients the following February.
It also initially accommodated the Gordon Highlanders, but the branch requested that preference be given to the local Cameron Highlanders and by mid-1915, the patients were entirely from that regiment.
The hospital could accommodate 50 patients at any one time and by the end of the war had treated more than 400 soldiers.
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