Royal Army Medical Corps
Cap badge since the coronation of HMKing Charles III
Active	1898 – 15 November 2024
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Medical arm of the British Army
Role	Medical support
Part of	Army Medical Services
Garrison/HQ	Staff College, Camberley, traditionallyKeogh Barracks
Nickname	The Med Corps
Patron	Saint Luke
Mottos	In Arduis Fidelis (Faithful in Adversity)[1]
Colors	Dull cherry, royal blue, old gold
March	Quick:Here's a Health unto His Majesty (arr. A.J. Thornburrow) Slow:Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still (J Campbell arr. Brown)
Anniversaries	Corps Day (23 June)
Commanders
Colonel-in-Chief	Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
Colonel Commandant	Brigadier Christopher Parker
Insignia
Tactical recognition flash

TheRoyal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialistcorps in theBritish Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace.

On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with theRoyal Army Dental Corps andQueen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps to form theRoyal Army Medical Service.

Medical services in the British armed services date from the formation of theStanding Regular Army after theRestoration ofCharles II in 1660. Prior to this, from as early as the 13th century there are records of surgeons and physicians being appointed by the English army to attend in times of war;^[2] but this was the first time a career was provided for a Medical Officer (MO), both in peacetime and in war.^[3] For much of the next two hundred years, army medical provision was mostly arranged on aregimental basis, with eachbattalion arranging its own hospital facilities and medical supplies. An element of oversight was provided by the appointment of three officials: aSurgeon-general, a Physician-general and anApothecary-general.^[4]

In 1793 an Army Medical Board was formed (consisting of the Surgeon-general, Physician-general and Inspector of Regimental Infirmaries),^[4] which promoted a more centralised approach drawing on concurrent civilian healthcare practices.^[5] The Board set up five General (as opposed to regimental) Military Hospitals: four in the naval ports ofChatham,Deal,Plymouth andGosport (Portsmouth), and one (known as York Hospital) inChelsea. These hospitals received large numbers of sick and injured soldiers from theFrench Revolutionary Wars (so much so that by 1799 additional General Military Hospitals were set up inYarmouth,Harwich andColchester Barracks);^[6] the Board, however, was criticised, for both high expenditure and poor management. By the end of the century the Board had been disestablished, and most of the General Hospitals were closed or repurposed not long afterwards.^[7] By 1807 the only General Hospitals in operation were York Hospital (which was close to theRoyal Hospital, Chelsea, where invalided soldiers were routinely sent forpension assessment) and the hospital atParkhurst (which was attached to the army's Invalid Depôt on the Isle of Wight, where soldiers invalided home from service overseas were initially sent).^[8]

In 1810 the offices of Surgeon-general and Physician-general were abolished and a new Army Medical Department was established, overseen by a board chaired by a Director-General of the Medical Department.^[4]James McGrigor served in this role from 1815 to 1851:^[5] McGrigor, who has been called the Father of Army Medicine,^[9] had served as principal medical officer under theDuke of Wellington during thePeninsular War. During that time he had introduced significant changes in the organisation of the army's medical services, placing them on a far more formal footing:^[10] together withGeorge Guthrie, he instituted the use of dedicated ambulance wagons to transport the wounded, and set up a series of temporary hospitals (formed of prefabricated huts brought over from Britain) to aid the evacuation of wounded soldiers from the front line.^[2]

After the end of the Peninsular WarFort Pitt inChatham became thede facto headquarters of the Army Medical Department^[11] (the Invalid Depôt having relocated to Chatham from the Isle of Wight). A General Military Hospital was established on the site, which took on many of the functions (and most of the patients) of the old York Hospital.^[12] The influence of the Director-General grew, and from 1833 he was given sole charge of the department. That same year the (hitherto separate) Irish Medical Board was merged into the department, as was theOrdnance Medical Department twenty years later.^[4]

TheCrimean War, however, would lay bare the inadequacies of the Army Medical Department (and many others). In 1854 there were only 163 surgeons on the Department's books; the Army had just two ambulance wagons, both of which were left behind in Bulgaria, and it relied forstretcher bearers on the Hospital Conveyance Corps (which was made up of pensioners and others deemed too infirm to fight). Two base hospitals were set up inScutari, more than 300 miles from the front. Within weeks of arriving, more than half the British force had been incapacitated by disease (mainlytyphus,dysentery andcholera); and in the space of seven months some 10,000 British servicemen out of a total of 28,000 had died.^[2]

In June 1855 aMedical Staff Corps was established (in place of the Hospital Conveyance Corps, which had by then been merged into theLand Transport Corps). It was formed of nine companies, overseen by a single officer, and had its headquarters at Fort Pitt. The Medical Staff Corps was set up to provideorderlies and stretcher bearers (later it was renamed the Army Hospital Corps, but reverted to its original title in 1884). The officers known as purveyors, who were responsible for medical provisioning, were formed into a separate Purveyors' Department by a Royal Warrant of 1861;^[13] nine years later it was merged into the Control Department, and later became part of theArmy Service Corps.^[14] In 1857, in response to the Crimean debacle, a Royal Commission had been appointed for the improvement of sanitary conditions in Army barracks and hospitals; it recommended (among other things) the establishment of an Army Medical School, which was set up in 1860 atFort Pitt Hospital before moving in 1863 to the newRoyal Victoria Military Hospital atNetley outside Southampton.^[15]

Netley functioned as a general hospital, but much of the army's medical work continued to be carried out at a regimental level. At the time a regiment of 1,044 men would have a medical staff of one surgeon and two assistants (with an additional assistant being appointed if the regiment was stationed abroad, so as to allow the senior assistant to remain at home with thecompanies appointed to thedepot).^[14]

The regimental basis of appointment for MOs continued until 1873, when a coordinated army medical service was set up. To join, a doctor needed to be qualified, single, and aged at least 21, and then undergo a further examination in physiology, surgery, medicine, zoology, botany and physical geography including meteorology, and also to satisfy various other requirements (including having dissected the whole body at least once and having attended 12 midwifery cases); the results were published in three classes by the Army Medical School.^[16] In 1884 the medical officers of the Army Medical Department were brought together with thequartermasters who provided their supplies to form theArmy Medical Staff, which was given command of the Medical Staff Corps (which consisted entirely ofother ranks).^[2]

Nevertheless, there was much unhappiness in the Army Medical Service in the following years as medical officers did not have military rank but "advantages corresponding to relative military rank" (such as choice of quarters, rates of lodging money, servants, fuel and light, allowances on account of injuries received in action, and pensions and allowances to widows and families). They had inferior pay in India, excessive amounts of Indian and colonial service (being required to serve in India six years at a stretch), and less recognition in honours and awards. They did not have their own identity as did the Army Service Corps, whose officers did have military rank. A number of complaints were published, and theBritish Medical Journal campaigned loudly. For over two years from 27 July 1887 there were no recruits to the Army Medical Department. A parliamentary committee reported in 1890, highlighting the doctors' injustices. There was no response from theSecretary of State for War. TheBritish Medical Association, theRoyal College of Physicians and others redoubled their protests.^[17] Eventually, by authority of a royal warrant dated 25 June 1898,officers and soldiers providing medical services were incorporated into a new body known as theRoyal Army Medical Corps; its first Colonel-in-Chief wasPrince Arthur, Duke of Connaught.^[18]

The RAMC began to develop during theSecond Boer War of 1899–1902. Civilian doctors working in South Africa as volunteers—such asSir Frederick Treves, SirGeorge Makins, SirHoward Henry Tooth and ProfessorAlexander Ogston—who, having seen how unprepared to deal with epidemics the RAMC and the Army itself were, decided that a radical reform was needed. Chief among them wasAlfred Fripp, who had been chosen by theImperial Yeomanry Hospital Committee to order all the necessary materials and medical personnel, and oversee the setting-up of a private hospital atDeelfontein to cater, initially, for 520 'sick and wounded.' The contrast between the smooth working of the IYH at Deelfontein with the chaos of the RAMC hospitals, where an enteric epidemic had overwhelmed the staff, led to questions in Parliament, mainly byWilliam Burdett-Coutts. In July 1901 the first meeting of the Committee of Reform took place, with all the aforementioned civilian experts, plus Sir EdwinCooper Perry, making up half the number; the rest were Army men, and includedAlfred Keogh, whom the new Secretary of State for War,St John Brodrick, laterEarl of Midleton, appointed Chairman of this committee and the subsequent Advisory Committee. Neither would have met so soon—if at all—but for Fripp's concern to limit unnecessary suffering, and for his ten years' friendship with the new King,Edward VII. Fripp showed him his plans for reform and the King made sure that they were not shelved by his government. Part of his plan was to move theNetley Hospital and Medical School to a Thames-side site atMillbank, London.Cooper Perry, Fripp's colleague fromGuy's Hospital, was instrumental in making this happen, as well as using his formidable talents as an organizer in other services for the Reform Committee. Fripp and Cooper Perry were knighted for their services to the RAMC Committee of Reform in 1903.^[19]

During theFirst World War, the corps reached its apogee both in size and experience. The two people in charge of the RAMC in the Great War wereArthur Sloggett,^[20] the senior RAMC officer seconded to the IYH in Deelfontein who acquiesced in all Fripp's surprising innovations, andAlfred Keogh, whom Fripp recommended to Brodrick as an RAMC man well-regarded when Registrar of No.3 General Hospital inCape Town.^[21] Its main base was for long theQueen Alexandra Military Hospital at Millbank, London (now closed).^[22] It set up a network of military general hospitals around the United Kingdom^[23] and established clinics and hospitals in countries where there were British troops. Major-General SirWilliam Macpherson of the RAMC wrote the officialMedical History of the War (HMSO 1922).^[24]

Before theSecond World War, RAMC recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) tall, and could enlist up to 30 years of age. They initially enlisted for seven years with the colours, and a further five years with the reserve, or three years and nine years. They trained for six months at the RAMC Depot,Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Church Crookham, before proceeding to specialist trade training.^[25] The RAMC Depot moved from Church Crookham toKeogh Barracks inMytchett in 1964.^[26]

TheSecretary of State for Defence,John Healey, announced on 15 October 2024 that the Government would amalgamate theRoyal Army Dental Corps andQueen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps with the RAMC to form one unified corps, theRoyal Army Medical Service (RAMS), on 15 November 2024.^[27]

The corps established a network of home-country military hospitals for military casualties during theFirst World War. The hospitals were managed byTerritorial Force personnel and were headquartered as follows:^[23]

The military medical services are now a tri-service body, with the hospital facilities of Army,Royal Air Force andRoyal Navy combined. The main hospital facility is now the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine atQueen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, a joint military-National Health Service centre. The majority of injured service personnel were treated inSelly Oak Hospital inBirmingham prior to the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital's opening. There was press coverage critical of the standard of care during the surge of UK military commitments in the years following the second invasion of Iraq,^[51] but it was later reported that the care provided to injured troops had significantly improved.^[52][53]

Queen Alexandra Hospital inPortsmouth,Derriford Hospital inPlymouth,James Cook University Hospital inMiddlesbrough andFrimley Park Hospital (nearAldershot Garrison) also havemilitary hospital units attached to them but they do not treat operational casualties.^[54]

The RAMC had its own distinctive insignia:

• Dark blueberet, the default Army colour worn by units without distinctive coloured berets.^[55] The exceptions were members of 16 Medical Regiment, who wore themaroon beret, 225 Scottish General Support Medical Regiment (previously Field Ambulance) and members of 205 (Scottish) Field Hospital, who wore the traditional ScottishTam o' Shanter headdress with Corps badge on tartan backing, and medical personnel attached to field units with distinctive coloured berets, who usually wore the beret of that unit (e.g. maroon forThe Parachute Regiment and sky blue for theArmy Air Corps). There was also a small attachment to Special Forces, the Medical Support Unit (MSU), who wore the sandy beret of theSAS.^[55]
• Cap badge depicting theRod of Asclepius, surmounted by a crown, enclosed within a laurel wreath, with the regimental mottoIn Arduis Fidelis ("Faithful in Adversity")^[1] in a scroll beneath. The cap badge was worn 1 inch above the left eye on the beret. The cap badge of soldiers beneath the rank of Warrant Officer 1 must have also been backed by an oval patch of dull cherry-red coloured cloth measuring 3.81 cm (1.5 inches) wide and 6.35 cm (2.5 inches) high sewn directly to the beret.^[55]

Colonels-in-Chief were:^[18]

• (1919–1942): Field Marshal HRHThe Duke of Connaught and StrathearnKG KT KP GCB GCSI GCMG GCIE GCVO GBE GCStJ VD TD PC
• (1942–1953) HMQueen MaryLG GCSI VA CI GCVO GBE GCStJ RRC CD
• (1953–2002) HMQueen Elizabeth The Queen MotherLG LT CI ONZ GCVO GBE CC RRC CD
• (2003–2024) Air Marshal HRHThe Duke of GloucesterKG GCVO GCStJ SSI

Since theVictoria Cross was instituted in 1856 there have been 27 Victoria Crosses and two bars awarded to army medical personnel.^[60] A bar, indicating a subsequent award of a second Victoria Cross, has only ever been awarded three times, two of them to medical officers. Twenty-three of these Victoria Crosses are on display in theArmy Medical Services Museum. The corps also has one recipient of both the Victoria Cross and theIron Cross. One officer was awarded theGeorge Cross in the Second World War. A young member of the corps, PrivateMichelle Norris, became the first woman to be awarded theMilitary Cross following her actions inIraq on 11 June 2006.^[61]

One VC is in existence that is not counted in any official records. In 1856, Queen Victoria laid a Victoria Cross beneath the foundation stone of theRoyal Victoria Military Hospital, Netley.^[62] When the hospital was demolished in 1966, the VC, known as "The Netley VC", was retrieved and is now on display in the Army Medical Services Museum.^[62]

RAMC officer careers:

• Doctor (Medical Officer)
• Pharmacist
• Physiotherapist
• Environmental Health Officer
• Medical Support Officer
• Clinical Psychologist
• Technical Officer –Biomedical Scientist/Radiographer/ClinicalPhysiologist/Operating DepartmentPractitioner

RAMC soldier trades:

• Clinical Physiologist
• Combat Medical Technician
• RegisteredParamedic
• Operating Department Practitioner
• Pharmacy Technician
• Environmental HealthTechnician
• Biomedical Scientist
• Radiographer

Within the military, Medical officers could occupy a number of roles that were dependent on experience, rank and location. Within military documentation, numerous abbreviations were used to identify these roles, of which the following are among the most common.^[63]

Since 1903, the corps had published an academic journal titled theJournal of the Royal Army Medical Corps (JRAMC). Its stated aim was to "publish high quality research, reviews and case reports, as well as other invited articles, which pertain to the practice of military medicine in its broadest sense".^[64] Submissions were accepted from serving members of all ranks, as well as academics from outside the military. Initially a monthly publication, in 2015 it was being published quarterly byBMJ on behalf of the RAMC Association.^[64][65]

TheMuseum of Military Medicine is based at Keogh Barracks inMytchett in Surrey.^[66]

From 1898 to 1984, the RAMC maintained astaff band in its ranks. The earliest record of music in the RAMC was in the 1880s when aCorporal of the Medical Staff Corps was sent toKneller Hall to be trained as a bugler. It was founded officially in 1898, with official permission for the band being given by theDuke of Connaught, firstColonel-in Chief of the RAMC. In 1902, the band had reached a stature to where it could take part in theCoronation Procession of KingEdward VII. On 1 January 1939, the RAMC Band was taken over by the Army Council and was officially recognised as a state sponsored band. In 1962, Derek Waterhouse became the first officialdrum major to be appointed to the band. It was disbanded in 1984, being one of the first to go in the as a result of the restructuring of the Army. It is today retained in the Army Medical Services Band.^[67]

• Category:Royal Army Medical Corps officers
• Category:Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers

• Combat medic
• Women's Hospital Corps

• Oram, A.R.An Army Doctor's Story: Memoirs of Brigadier A.R. Oram 1891–1966, published in paperback and on Kindle 2013

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRoyal Army Medical Corps.

• Official website
• Army Medical Services Museum
• RAMC Association
• Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps
• "Army 2020 units and sub-units of the Royal Medical Corps (Reaction/Adaptable Force Divisions)"(PDF).Ministry of Defence. 18 May 2015.

Other links

• Major-General Joe Crowdy –Daily Telegraph obituary
• Battle Hospital: Medics at War – documentary about 202 Field Hospital duringOperation Telic

• Royal Army Medical Corps
• British administrative corps
• Camberley
• Corps of the British Army in World War II
• Health in Surrey
• Medical units and formations of the British Army
• Army medical administrative corps
• Military units and formations established in 1898
• Organisations based in Surrey
• 1898 establishments in the United Kingdom
• Military units and formations disestablished in 2024

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from July 2025
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with dead external links from May 2024
• Articles with dead external links from September 2024
• CS1 maint: others
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use British English from November 2018
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Use dmy dates from October 2024
• Articles with hCards
• Commons category link is on Wikidata