The War Office Consultant, 1914–19

Abstract

With the outbreak of the First World War it became obvious, even to military minds, that the treatment, and prevention, of malaria in the army was important for the running of efficient campaigns in areas of malarial endemicity, such as in the Mediterranean region and in what was then German East Africa. It was natural therefore that Ross with his by then impressive reputation as a practical malariologist should be brought in as a consultant. In July 1908 Ross joined the RAMC Territorial Force and was given the rank of Major (Memoirs, p. 518). As a Territorial officer Ross would expect to be called for active duty in the event of war. By 1913 Ross was elevated to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Not long after the outbreak of the war in December 1914 Ross was appointed to ‘advise the director general in connection with malaria’ (Macpherson et al, 1921–4, i, p. 64) Ross was also consulted at the time of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign as the Peninsula was ‘notoriously malarial’ and his brief was to advise on prevention (Macpherson et al, 1921–4, iv, p. 59), however it seems that no special measures were taken. One could speculate that this front line area was not the milieu in which long-term sanitary programmes were appropriate and probably the simplest approach would be to ensure that troops were given quinine prophylactically.