British Army Medical Personnel in Post-war Ireland, 1918–1925

Abstract

On 11 November 1918, the Allies and Germany signed the Armistice of Compiegne signalling the end of hostilities in Western Europe. This chapter examines the process of medical demobilisation and the return of Irish doctors in the British Army to medical services in Ireland. The careers of Irish doctors were heavily influenced by the time that they spent in the army and this chapter explores their career trajectories during the years immediately after the war, up to 1925. Those who returned to Ireland after the war witnessed considerable political change in a partitioned Ireland that was to influence employment structures for public medical appointments. This chapter focuses particularly on the participation of returning British Army doctors in the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War.