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Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

CUMMINS, Col Stevenson Lyle (1873-1949)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Cummins

Held at: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

Title: CUMMINS, Col Stevenson Lyle (1873-1949)

Date(s): 1898-1917

Level of description: Collection level

Extent: 1 box, 1 oversized file or 0.02m3

Name of creator(s): Cummins | Stevenson Lyle | 1873-1949 | Colonel

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1873; educated at St Faughnan's College, Roscarbery and Queen's College, Cork; entered Royal Army Medical Corps, 1897; employed with Egyptian Army, 1899-1909; took part in Nile Expedition, 1898; served in the Sudan, 1900-1904; awarded the Ottoman Imperial Order of Osmanieh, 1907; worked as Professor, Royal Army Medical College, Feb-Aug 1914; Assistant Director of Medical Services, 16 Division, British Armies in France, Jul-Sep 1917; Assistant Director of Medical Services, British Armies in Italy, Oct 1917-Apr 1918; Professor of Pathology, Royal Army Medical College, Jul 1919; retired from Army, 1921; David Davies Professor of Tuberculosis, Welsh National School of Medicine, 1921-1938; died May 1949.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Colonel Stevenson Lyle Cummins comprising memoirs of service in Africa and France 1873-1918, and war diaries and other papers, 1914-1916. Copy memoir, 1873-1904, detailing service with Medical Service Corps in Egypt and the Sudan, including accounts of medical work handling wounds and cases of typhoid, diarrhoea, malaria, fevers, dehydration and scorpion stings at locations including: Genetti Fort, Sudan, Darmali Camp, Sudan; Omdurman Camp, Sudan; Waw Garrison, Sudan and the Kassala District, Sudan; also accounts of Battle of Omdurman, 1898; an expedition to recapture the town of Gallabat, Sudan, from Abyssinian forces; expeditions in the Bar el Ghazal region, Sudan, to capture cattle and burn huts in Dinka villages and visit friendly Dinka chieftains; and an attack on Ibrahim Wad Mahmud, slaver, at Jerok, Sudan. Includes detail of hunting expeditions and daily life for troops. Copy memoir of World War One service, 1914-1918. War diary kept by Cummins as Deputy Assistant Director General, Medical Services, British Expeditionary Force, France, 1 Jan - 31 Dec 1915, with appendiced reports, memoranda and correspondence on: treatment of cerebro-spinal meningitis, trench foot (described as `chilled feet' or frost-bite) and the supply of waterproof paper stockings, gum boots and whale oil as preventatives, anti gas precautions; logistical reports concerning personnel, evacuations, ambulance trains and barges; reports of an enquiry into an enemy chlorine and bromine gas attack to the south of "Shell Trap Farm" (village of St Julien, near Ypres), 24 May, 1915; report on captured German trenches, 16 June 1915; copy letter from General Sir Cecil Frederick Nevil Macready to the War Office regarding the establishment of a Central Laboratory for experimental work on prevention of gas asphyxiation; copy letter from Sir Arthur Sloggett to Sir Alfred Keogh, 9 Dec 1915, on the possibility of researching improved personal armour at Imperial College London. War diary for Report Centre GHQ, Hazebrouck, 10-17 March 1915, detailing logistics of transportation of wounded from Clearing Stations. War diary for Advanced GHQ, 8-23 May 1915, including casualty figures at Gas Clearing Stations; routine orders issued by General Sir Cecil Frederick Nevil Macready, Adjutant General, British Expeditionary Force, 18 Aug 1914, concerning procedures if taken prisoner, if a white flag should be hoisted by the enemy, the speed at which to drive motor-cars, and the correct procedure for saluting; report on the provision and stocking of ambulance trains, 9 March 1916; report on provision of extra personnel for Casualty Clearing Stations during heavy fighting, 9 March 1916; undated casualty figures at Casualty Clearing Stations for the 1 Army, 2 Army and 3 Army.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

As set out above in Scope and Content.

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archives and Information Management.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Summary guide entry on-line.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated to the Centre by the family, Jan 2006.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Original copy of memoir remains with family.

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

CMG, CB

Archivist's note: Entry compiled by Katharine Higgon

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: June 2007


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Battle of Omdurman (1898) | Second Sudan Campaign (1896-1898) | Wars (events)
Gas warfare | Warfare | Military engineering
Military medicine | Medical sciences
Nile Expedition (1897-1898) | Wars (events)
War | International conflicts
World War One (1914-1918) | World wars (events) | Wars (events)

Personal names
Cummins | Stevenson Lyle | 1873-1949 | Colonel

Corporate names

Places
Egypt | North Africa
France | Western Europe | Europe
Sudan | East Africa