Captain B A West

4 ms diaries for 1914 - 1917 covering his service as a medical officer in the RAMC in the United Kingdom at Brighton (November 1914) and then Newhaven (March 1915), before embarking for Gallipoli (October 1915), where he was attached first to the 3rd Lowland Field Ambulance (52nd Division), then the 1st Battalion Kings Own Scottish Borderers (87th Infantry Brigade, 29th Division), and finally the 17th Siege Battery RGA, with which he was evacuated on 6 January 1916, proceeding via Lemnos to Egypt (January - April 1916) before embarking for France (April 1916) and being posted to 24 Heavy Artillery Group at Poperinghe where he was successively attached to the 39th, 35th, 118th and 158th Siege Batteries RGA, until he began to suffer from neurasthenia (October 1916), and was evacuated to Ulster to convalesce, his 1917 diary recording his gradual return to full health so that by November he was able to take up a civilian position at Aberdeen hospital. A small number of original documents, including a medical notebook, the telegram ordering his embarkation in the hospital ship AQUITANIA for Gallipoli, his diary notes for January - February 1916 and a BEF travel pass (September 1916), are held separately from the microfilm.

Unrestricted

West was the son of an Elder in the Presbyterian faith who became Moderator of the Church, Ireland in 1916. He was brought up at the Manse, Antrim and read medicine at Queen's University Belfast qualifying in 1909. In 1912 he obtained his Diploma in Public Health and on the outbreak of war offered his services to the War Office.

Microfilms