Units
10th Canadian Field Hospital
Interior of a ward at a military
hospital in South Africa.
The third Canadian contingent was the only one to take a field
hospital with it to South Africa. The 10th Canadian Field Hospital (10
CFH), which departed Canada in January 1902, was quite small, numbering
only 61 all ranks and 29 horses. It was organized into a hospital staff
of five officers, a ward section of 35 other ranks, and a transport
section of 21 other ranks to pick up and transport the wounded. The
hospital was based on British practice with Canadian innovations,
including improved tenting, ambulances, water trailers, and an acetylene
gas lighting system. Many among the members of
10 CFH were
veterans of previous tours in South Africa.
In South Africa a section of the unit accompanied the 2nd Regiment,
Canadian Mounted Rifles into the western Transvaal. The remainder moved
to Vaalbank, 60 kilometres away on the Lichtenberg blockhouse line. Here
it received sick and wounded from the columns operating in the area.
This section of
10 CFH remained
at Vaalbank until 18 June 1902 during which time it treated over a
thousand patients, British, Boer and Black South African.
10 CFH
ambulances evacuated patients for longer-term care to Klerksdorp. By all
accounts, the 10th Canadian Field Hospital provided outstanding medical
services during its stint in South Africa.