Doctored Uniforms

During the First World War, the dirty and mud-filled environment of trench warfare spurred the onset of various medical conditions. Yet, when soldiers fell ill, it was not immediately recognised that some maladies stemmed from their uniforms. It is well known that medical professionals developed a body of knowledge on the prevention of uniform contamination. It is far less known, however, that soldiers also developed a set of medical ideas and practices. This talk and paper employs soldiers’ voices not only to highlight their reliance on vernacular medicine, but also to reformulate the boundaries of medical practice, and ask who can be considered a medical practitioner?