‘As His was Not a Surgical Case it was Not My<i>Duty</i>to Attend Him’: The Surgeon’s Role in the Nineteenth-Century Royal Dockyards
Journal: Medical History
Year: 2013

Abstract Despite a varied historical literature on the nineteenth-century royal dockyards, very little has been written about the health issues associated with naval shipbuilding or the healthcare facilities that were provided for dockworkers in the period. This article focuses mainly on the latter. Drawing on archival sources from the home dockyards, an examination is made of the duties and responsibilities of dockyard surgeons. These are found to have expanded considerably as healthcare provis