Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace. Together with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps and the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, the RAMC forms the British Army' essential Army Medical Services.
The RAMC does not carry a Regimental Colour, Queen's Colour and battle honours, as elements of the corps have been present in almost every single war the army has fought.
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History
Medical services in the British military go as far back as the formation of the Regular Army after the Restoration in 1660; each regiment had its own Regimental Surgeon and Assistant Surgeon. In 1898, officers and soldiers providing medical services were incorporated into one body known by its present name, the Royal Army Medical Corps.
The RAMC began to develop during the Boer War, but it was during the First World War that it reached its apogee both in size and experience. During Britain's colonial days the RAMC had set up clinics and hospitals in countries where British troops could be found. In modern times it has once again contracted and its main bases, the Queen Alexandra Hospital Millbank, and the Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot, are now closed, with the majority of work concentrated at Haslar, near Portsmouth.
Colonels-in-chief
- HRH The Duke of Connaught (1919-1942)
- HM Queen Mary (1942-1953)
- HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (1953-2002)
- HRH The Duke of Gloucester (2003- )
Successive changes in title
- Medical Staff Corps (1855-1857) (other ranks only)
- Army Hospital Corps (1857-1884) (other ranks only)
- Army Medical Department (1873-1898) (officers only)
- Medical Staff Corps (1884-1898) (other ranks only)
- Royal Army Medical Corps (1898-present)
See also
References
- Blair, J.S.G. Centenary History of the Royal Army Medical Corps, 1898-1998. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1998.
- Brereton, F.S. The Great War and the RAMC. London: Constable, 1919.
- Lovegrove, P. Not Least in the Crusade. A Short History of the RAMC. Gale and Polden, 1955.