GUTHRIE’S WAR A Surgeon of the Peninsula and Waterloo

‘The precepts laid down are the result of the experience acquired in the war in the Peninsula, from the first battle of Rolica in 1808, to the last in Belgium, of Waterloo in 1815…They have been the means of saving the lives, and of relieving, if not even of preventing, the miseries of thousands of our fellow-creatures throughout the civilised world.’ George GuthrieGeorge James Guthrie is one of the unsung heroes of the Peninsular War and Waterloo, and of British military medicine. He was a guiding light in surgery. He was not only a soldier’s surgeon and a hands-on doctor, he also set a precedent by keeping records and statistics of cases. While the innovations in the medical services of the French Republic and Empire have been publicized, a military surgeon of the calibre of Guthrie has been largely ignored by students of the period – until now. Michael Crumplin, in this comprehensive and graphic study of this remarkable doctor, follows him through his career in the field and recognizes his exceptional contribution to British military medicine and to Wellington’s army.Michael Cumplin is a retired surgeon who has made a special study of medicine in the Republican and Napoleonic Wars for over 30 years. His historical research has resulted in two books: A Surgical Artist at War (co-written with Peter Starling), a study of Sir Charles Bell’s illustrations of battle injuries from Corunna and Waterloo, and Men of Steel, a comprehensive account of military surgery in the Republican and Imperial French wars. He has lectured internationally, acted as an advisor for media programmes and films, including Master and Commander, and he is curator and archivist at the Royal College of Surgeons.