Almeric Paget Massage Corps

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The Almeric Paget Massage Corps (later the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps) was a British physiotherapy service during the First World War.

History

On the outbreak of the First World War, Almeric Paget and his first wife, the American socialite Pauline Payne Whitney, offered the services of 50 trained masseuses to the British War Office. [1] The offer was accepted and by November 1914, 50 women had been placed in military hospitals. [1] At this time the demand for physiotherapy (or Massage and Electrical Treatment as it was known) increased and the Pagets were asked to open a day centre in London to relieve pressure on the military hospitals in London. [1] Lady Alexander Paget offered her house at 55 Portland Place and soon over 200 men were being seen at the clinic seen every day. [1] By now the number of women employed in the corps was over 200 and soon they became attached to the staff of most military hospitals with a further 120 masseuses employed. [1]

Almeric Paget, 1st Baron Queenborough British politician

Almeric Hugh Paget, 1st Baron Queenborough, GBE was a British industrialist and Conservative Party politician. He was a founder of the Military Massage Service and the Cambridgeshire Battalion of The Suffolk Regiment and treasurer of the League of Nations Union.

Pauline Payne Whitney, was an American heiress and a member of the prominent Whitney family.

War Office department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army

The War Office was a Department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence. It was equivalent to the Admiralty, responsible for the Royal Navy, and the Air Ministry, which oversaw the Royal Air Force. The name "War Office" is also given to the former home of the department, the War Office building, located at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue and Whitehall in central London.

In 1916 the work of the Corps was favourably inspected by Alfred Keogh, the Director General of the Army Medical Service. This inspection had two direct outcomes. Firstly the name of the Corps was amended to become the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps and, secondly, the Corps was asked to manage physiotherapy services in all military hospitals and convalescent camps. As part of the second the services provided would be paid for by a government grant, until then the Corps and the services it provided had been privately funded by the Pagets and by donations. [2]

Alfred Keogh British doctor

Lieutenant General Sir Alfred Henry Keogh, was a medical doctor in the British Army. He served as Director General Army Medical Services twice; from 1905 to 1910 and 1914 to 1918.

Army Medical Services

The Army Medical Services (AMS) is the organisation responsible for administering the corps that deliver medical, veterinary, dental and nursing services in the British Army.

Until 1917 all Corps members were UK based but from January 1917 onwards members could volunteer to work overseas and by the end of the war 56 members of the Corps had or were working abroad in Italy and France. [3]

By the end of the war over 2,000 masseuses and masseurs were at work and just under 3,400 had been engaged by the Corps at some point during the war. [3]

The Corps came to an end in January 1919 when a formal Military Massage Service was formed under the auspices of the Army and Pensions Massage Association. [4] All members of the Corps were given the option to join the new Service which was controlled jointly by the War Office and the Ministry of Pensions. [5]

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References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 French. & Account of the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps, p. 1.
  2. ↑ French. & Account of the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps, p. 2.
  3. 1 2 Account of the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corps, p. 2.
  4. ↑ ACI 65/1919, p. 1.
  5. ↑ ACI 65/1919, p. 5.
Sources
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