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Wellcome Library

Philps, (Frank) Richard, (1914-1995)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0120 GC/51

Held at: Wellcome Library

Title: Philps, (Frank) Richard, (1914-1995)

Date(s): 1942-1945

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 1 box

Name of creator(s): Philps | (Frank) Richard | 1914-1995 | doctor

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1914; volunteered for the Royal Air Force Medical Service after qualifying as a doctor in 1940; wrote this personal account of his experience (as a doctor) of life in several working POW camps in Indonesia during the Second World War. It is based on notes he made as soon as possible afterwards and written sometime later when he had 'settled sufficiently to be reasonably dispassionate and could be level-headed about it'. He also states that he was careful to avoid hearsay, trusting only his observations and those of fellow prisoner Leslie J Audus, then a RAF 'Radiolocation' or Radar Officer, later Professor Emeritus of Botany, London University, whose help is acknowledged. Philps died in 1995.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Dr Frank Richard Philps, comprising 'Prisoner Doctor', an account of his experiences as an RAF Medical Officer during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, 1942-1945; Chapter 1 Into the Bag Page 1; Chapter 2 Hippocrates Go Hang Page 17; Chapter 3 Haruku I Epidemic Page 33; Chapter 4 Haruku II Yeast Page 58; Chapter 5 Haruku III Coral Page 86; Chapter 6 Ambon Page 92; Chapter 7 Return to Java Page 96; Chapter 8 Return to Singapore Page 105; Chapter 9 Changi Gaol Page 115; Chapter 10 Return to Life Page 125.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

One item as set out above in Scope and Content.

Conditions governing access:

Open. The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Online Wellcome Library catalogue.

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Dr Philps presented his unpublished typescript 'Prisoner Doctor' to the Wellcome Institute in Oct 1983. Another copy has been placed in the Department of Documents at the Imperial War Museum.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Entry compiled from Wellcome Library online catalogue by Barbara Ball.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: September 2008


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Internment camps | Humanitarian law
Memoirs | Documents | Information sources
Prisoners of War | War victims | International conflicts
Tropical diseases | Diseases | Pathology
World War Two (1939-1945) | World wars (events) | Wars (events)
Primary documents

Personal names
Philps | (Frank) Richard | 1914-1995 | physician

Corporate names

Places
Indonesia | South East Asia