Jimmy Sproule RAMC and WW I

last update 5 September 2010

Brigadier Jimmy Sproule, CBE, 1887 - 1955 (68)

Adrian Fletcher's Maternal Grandfather

The 1914-18 World War I Years

Back to ancestors of Adrian Fletcher and Angela Williams

Jimmy and Clare Sproule in Somerton and elsewhere

James Chambers Sproule was born on Sunday August 28 1887 in a large house named "Denamona" - in Fintona, Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He was educated at the Royal School Raphoe, one of five Royal Schools set up in Northern Ireland by King James I in 1608.

He trained in Dublin, and qualified as a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland in 1912. He was admitted to the British Medical Register on April 24 1912.

On the 26 July 1912 he was appointed a probationary lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC).

Brig Jimmy Sproule CBE, retired from the Army in 1947 and went to live in Somerton in Somerset.

Still in training - Dublin medical students watch a demo - c1911. Jimmy Sproule from Fintona is in the white coat at the right end of the back row.

Lt Sproule (25) looking much more than two year's older and not nearly so comfortable at the right end of the

Aldershot 1912-13 winter riding school, in the shadow of the Iron Duke. Guess which one the instructor is!

RMOs had a government issued horse which they took with them and used to get around.

Lieutenant J C Sproule was based with the Military Hospital Devonport (Plymouth) in the year to Feb 1914. It was probably there that he met his future wife, Clare Aldous, daughter of a Plymouth surgeon George Aldous (RAMC TA Major). They were married in Plymouth on 28 July 1915.

Before that he had gone to France on 9 Aug 1914 as part of the BEF (thus becoming an "Old Contemptible"). He was the Medical Officer for the 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers (RWF)and would have been involved in the early WWI Belgian traumas of Ypres / Mons suffered by the "Old Army". It seems that he got separated from his unit at some stage, as on 5 September 1914 the Battalion War Diary reports "Medical Officer and 5 men rejoined".

Thanks to Military Historian David Langley for these images

This page from a 2/RWF notebook illustrates the terrible carnage of the war.......

Later Sproule was repatriated to England "sick" on 19 December 1914 after having transferred to 19th Field Ambulance, and he would have missed the famous Christmas 1914 truce when the two opposing armies sang carols, played football and drank together, to the horror of their senior officers.

Dr J C Dunn and Pte Frank Richards, along with Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon, all served in the 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

A Wartime Wedding - Jimmy Sproule marries Clare Aldous in Plymouth - 28 July 1915

Jimmy Sproule's RAMC record shows him as sick through to 19 Sept 1915, but his self-kept record book shows the sick period as just a few days, followed by time as MO at the huge Longmoor Camp (Hampshire) and nearby Aldershot. Both records agree that he was back in France on 21 September 1915, and stayed there for 3 years to the end of WWI in November 1918, and then for a further year to 10 January 1920.

We do not know where he was from September 1915 until his final war experience which was with 131 Field Ambulance, which he commanded from 25 February 1918 as a temporary Lt-Col. This is the war diary page for 131 Field Ambulance for the day he arrived (as a captain), and his own entry for the following day:

131 Field Ambulance was one of three Field Ambulance units (each having about 200 men) serving the "New Army" 38th (Welsh) Division (Maj-General Astley-Cubitt from May 1918), which was latterly part of V Corps / 3rd Army (General Byng) fighting in the Amiens / Albert/ / Bapaume area. The Division had earlier taken part in the Battle of Mametz Wood in 1916 where it suffered so badly that it was pulled out of the front line for some months. The battles they participated in in 1918 included the Second Battle of the Somme in Aug-Sep 1918 and the Battles of the Hindenburg Line in Sep-Oct 1918.

The 38th (Welsh) Division suffered nearly 30,000 casualties during the war - 6,112 men killed and missing, 23,268 wounded. Demobilization took place in 1919, with Jimmy Sproule now Chief Divisional Medical Officer.

Capt Sproule (centre) and other RAMC officers - WWI

1918 from

Background on WW1 Field Ambulance units (especially 131 Field Ambulance) and the 38th (Welsh) Division

Link to Jimmy Sproule in the web-site "RAMC in WWI"

38th (Welsh) Division Memorial at Mametz Wood, between Albert and Bapaume, 2007 (photo "We Are Dave" on Picasa)

These are the miniatures of my grandfather's WW I medals. They include the "Old Contemptibles" medal, second from left, aka the 1914 Star or colloquially the Mons Star. It was awarded to British Expeditionary Force soldiers who went to France between 5 August (he went on the 9th) and 22 November 1914, with the bar signifying service under enemy fire. Next in line is the British War Medal, followed by the Victory Medal. The oak leaf on the Victory Medal indicates a "Mention in Despatches" for gallantry (in fact he got two mentions and was recommended for a DSO, which somehow got changed to an OBE). Last in line is the French Croix de Guerre (right). On the left is the OBE.

Medals awarded to members of 131st Field Ambulance.

After the war finished, Major General Astley-Cubitt, General Officer Commanding the Welsh Division, wrote in Jimmy Sproule's service record book :

"A most energetic, gallant, loyal and reliable officer: Lt Col Sproule invariably visited the most advanced aid posts and dressing stations throughout the fighting. No work was too hard for him, and no day too long. He set a splendid example to all ranks by his personal courage."

Jimmy Sproule's WW I service record book - Click to be able to browse the whole book. The General thought that JCS had been awarded the DSO (written then scratched out), but this did not in fact happen due to some skulduggery, though it did get morphed into an OBE, and a Croix de Guerre also came his way.

WWI medal record card (British Bureaucracy at its finest)

"Hors de Combat" - the brutal possibility of war - this little photo of happy times in Jimmy's pocket book was to be sent back to Clare's father George Aldous in the event of his death. The photo shows his wife (to be) Clare, Jimmy and maybe a chaperoning sister! I remember being told that at one stage Clare received a telegram notifying that Jimmy was missing or dead - later to be corrected by one which said he was'nt.

Link to the January 1919 victory despatch of the Field Marshal Commander-in-Chief describing

the 38th (Welsh) Division's part in the fierce fighting NE of Amiens during the last three months of WW I.

1919 - Souvenir of the Welsh Division

A Victory Magazine full of the thoughts, writing and art of men of the Welsh Division at the end of the First World War. This has been uploaded as three (fairly large) pdfs for those who are interested in an insight into the (army) world of 1919, only a couple of months after the end of the war to end all wars which had seen nearly 29,000 of their number killed or wounded.

Part 1 - 10 MB PDF Part 2 - 16 MB PDF Part 3 - 9 MB PDF

"Encourage the men to let loose a cheer"

The day Lt Col Sproule scored the autograph of the Prince of Wales on his magazine (7th February 1919).

Link to Jimmy Sproule in the web-site "RAMC in WWI"

Link to "The Long Long Trail" - the British Army of 1914-18 for Family Historians 38th (Welsh) Division in "The Long Long Trail"

The tomb of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, the controversial British WW I Commander, can be found in the beautiful ruins of Dryburgh Abbey on the Scottish Borders.

In our work in progress basket are photos from Jimmy Sproule's Army and Family life in India, Egypt and the UK after WW I.

Our man liked getting artefacts signed - this time the first lunch after the declaration of WW II. He was just out of Gibraltar on his way back to Egypt on the RMS Atlantis.

Colonel Sproule's 1941 C B E Citation