Impression sketch
of Latchmere House, leased
by the War Office in October1915 - by Jamie. From an original image that can be
seen at: <http://www.66squadron.co.uk/biogs/hume.htm>
[Accessed: 15 February 2016]
[Accessed: 15 February 2016]
In work of a
career over twenty years,
John Wilfred
Stokes qualified in studies
Of medicine 1895,
from university
College London;
attaining letters MRCS
And LRCP, to
become a house surgeon.
With his career
based in Sheffield,
John Wilfred
Stokes, first a physician
Then an anaesthetist, for the Royal
Infirmary and
anatomy demonstrator
At Sheffield University,
till war broke.
Into August 1914,
John Wilfred Stokes
Became commander
of the 3rd West
Riding Field
Ambulance - to reach
The frontline 14
April 1915, aged 43 -
In good health he
left behind a wife
At home, at 124
Crooke-side Sheffield.
With August leave
Lieutenant-Colonel
John Wilfred
Stokes returned home
From the front - a
very different man.
His wife Doris learned
how unwell
He was, in
hearing shrieks of shells.
The commander was
to be invalided
Home on two
occasions, to receive
Treatment at
Lachmere Ham Military
Hospital - here
Nurse McIntyre looked
After the officer
- Thursday 10 February
McIntyre went walking in the garden.
The time was one o’clock
- fifteen
Minutes later a
passing witness
Stopped to look
into the Colonel's
Room - the
physician was lying
On his face
within a bloody trail.
A small pocketknife
had been laid
On the dressing
table stained with
The officer's
blood - John Wilfred
Stokes must have
slit his throat -
To fall, dying alone
on the bed.
14 February A Kingston Inquest
heard
His relatives described, how John
had
Suffered from shellshock; in
exploding
Sounds in his head - Captain
Oliver said
Death was due to cut of carotid
arteries
And shock from resultant
hemorrhage.
A medical man, the
front was too much
For Lieut-Colonel
John Wilfred Stokes -
Subjected to
harsh shrieks of continual
Shells, the
verdict of temporary insanity
Had led to his distressed act of suicide.
Had led to his distressed act of suicide.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Lieut-Colonel's
Suicide - Suffering From Shell-Shock. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 15 February 1916. P.4. Col.4.
Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12154556/Daily-Telegraph-February-15-1916.html
[Accessed: 15 February 2016].
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