Old Photograph Lieutenant Archibald Browning Smith Drysdale Scotland

Old photograph of Lieutenant Archibald Browning Smith Drysdale, who was born on 14th October 1895 in Glasgow, Scotland. He was the eldest son of Robert Steele Drysdale, a colliery agent, and Annie McNeill Stewart. He studied medicine at Glasgow University from 1913, taking classes in surgery, pathology, anatomy and midwifery before graduating in June 1918. He was commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps the following September for a three-year period of service. Initially he was sent to the army camp at Squires Gate in Blackpool before being sent to Paris. One of his early duties was running a field hospital in Northern Italy in charge of 3 prisoners of war doctors and 300 patients. Two of the prisoner of war doctors were from Prussia and the other was a heart specialist from Budapest who he became quite close to. The two men continued to exchange Christmas cards and correspondence for a number of years after this posting. He was later stationed in Austria and Egypt. While in Egypt one of his roles was to accompany Turkish prisoners of war from Alexandria back to Constantinople. He found this job remarkably easy. The men were so glad to be returning home that they seldom bothered reporting any medical complaints. It was during his time in Egypt that he was promoted to the rank of Captain. He then moved onto his final appointment which was in a military hospital in Jerusalem. On finishing his commission on 10th September 1921 he returned home to Glasgow. While at home he met one of his old lecturers by chance and was told of a vacant position at the University. He applied and was appointed demonstrator in Anatomy on 6th October 1921. After his year at University he worked as an assistant for Dr Gray in Stanhope, Durham. It was during this time that he met his wife and got married. Archie was also active in the Second World War, running the St John's Ambulance Brigade in Cadishead, Lancashire. He continued working in the medical profession until retirement and then died in his eighties on 8th May 1980 in Lancaster.



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