Royal Naval sick-berth staff practice lifting patients onto canvas stretchers on board the hospital ship H.M.S. Warrior. Glass negative, ca. 1919.

Practice drills were essential on board hospital ships to ensure things ran efficiently in the event of an emergency

Negative number 132 in Knapp's original exhibition list

Sick-berth attendants were reponsible for the lifting of patients on and off the ship as well as other menial tasks. Knapp devoted much of his time in retirement to the welfare of the men who served in the sick-berth branch of the Royal Navy. He fought for their right to be automatically admitted to the state register of nurses (SRN)

One of a series of glass negatives collected by Surgeon Commander Montague Henry Knapp, Hon. Director of the Naval Medical Section of the Imperial War Museum and exhibited at Crystal Palace in June 1920. Correspondence in the Wellcome Archives indicates that Knapp (as Hon. Director and organiser for the IWM) was involved in the transfer of surplus naval and military medical material from the Imperial War Museum to the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, in setting up exhibits, and in acquiring other materials for the Wellcome collections. Material specifically relating to Knapp's activities in setting up the Naval Warfare Section in the Imperial War Museum have been transferred to the IWM.

[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [1919]

1 photograph : glass photonegative ; glass negative 8.2 x 11 cm

Wellcome Collection 586184i