Record-Keeping Practices in World War 1 in Relation to The
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RECORD-KEEPING PRACTICES IN WORLD WAR I IN RELATION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN BUREAUCRACY IN GREAT BRITAIN AND CANADA. A STUDY OF GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS AND OF THE ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS AND THE CANADIAN ARMY MEDICAL CORPS Brian McCullough Owens (University College London) Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of London 1998 ProQuest Number: U642048 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest U642048 Published by ProQuest LLC(2015). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 DEDICATION Thanks are extended to many individuals who supported me as I conducted research, thought and wrote this thesis. Most notably are my supervisors, Jane E. Sayers and Virginia Berridge. Other individuals who have provided support have been Leslie Howsam, Heather Maclvor and Karen Marrero, College of Arts and Human Sciences, University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada; Claude Roberto, Provincial Archives of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; and Laura Hamson-Hoyano, Faculty of Law, University of Bristol. I wish to thank the Trustees and Staff of the London Goodenough Trust for providing me with accommodation and a lively, intellectual and supportive community in central London. This thesis is dedicated to three individuals who have provided me with the moral support to conduct this thesis: my parents Margaret Owens and Charles Owens; and James M. Parker, my mentor, who died in an automobile accident on 21 June 1990. ABSTRACT The thesis investigates and addresses the issue of the influence of World War I upon record-keeping practices and the development of twentieth-century bureaucracy. The records of the Offices of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Great Britain and Canada and the records of the Royal Army Medical Corps and the Canadian Army Medical Corps were selected for the purposes of this study. These bodies were representative of those administrative bodies which were actively engaged in the war, had to respond to its demands and created a multitude of documentation. Records fi'om the selected bodies were investigated to determine whether change and adaptation occurred in terms of quantitative output, format and in informational content. The internal and external administrative factors contributing to change and adaptation were studied, focusing upon the information requirements of the government institutions and the Army Medical Corps of Great Britain and Canada, while these bodies were engaged in a military conflict. These organisations employed specialized record keeping methods as a result of the two governments undertaking more specialized activities brought on by the war, as well as by the two Army Medical Corps which were forced to undertake care of millions of ill and injured and to adapt to newly-introduced methods of prognosis and diagnosis. The impact of the alteration of record-keeping practices is also examined. The expansion of the bureaucratic structures of the governments of Great Britain and Canada and the medical community and its impact on the development of national pension schemes and of specialized areas of medicine, such as epidemiology, are also investigated. This study determines that World War I had a profound influence upon the transition of record keeping practices from complex burdensome volumes to simple and utilitarian files and, as a result, upon the development of twentieth century bureaucracy. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations ............................................................................................................10 Introduction ..............................................................................................................11 1. Examination of published and original sources ................................................ 15 2. Definition of information and knowledge ........................................................ 16 3. Analysis of the record ........................................................................................17 4. Intellectual factors affecting record-keeping practices ......................................18 5. Scope of the investigation ................................................................................. 21 6. Means of conducting the study .........................................................................22 7. Structure of the thesis ........................................................................................23 Chapter One: Literature Review ............................................................................ 26 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 26 2. Published works on the governments of Great Britain and Canada ...........................................................................................26 3. Published works on social issues ....................................................................... 35 4. Published works on medicine ........................................................................... 37 5. Administrative publications ............................................................................... 43 6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 44 Chapter Two: Analysis of Government Records in Great Britain .............................................................................................45 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 45 2. The ofiBces of the Prime Minister and of the Cabinet ........................................ 45 3. The Cabinet before World War I ....................................................................... 47 3 .1 The Committee of Imperial Defence .................................................................47 4. The Cabinet during World War I ....................................................................... 53 4.1 The War Council .............................................................................................. 55 4.2 The Dardanelles Committee ........................................................................ .58 4.3 The War Committee ..........................................................................................60 4.4 The War Cabinet .............................................................................................. 63 5. The Cabinet in the post-War period ................................................................. 72 6. Conclusion .........................................................................................................79 Chapter Three: Analysis of Medical Records in Great Britain.............................82 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................82 2. Sources for the study of medical record-keeping practices .............................. 83 3. Record-keeping Organisation. Pre-War ............................................................. 84 4. Record-keeping Organisation. World War I .....................................................87 4.1 Development and modification ..........................................................................93 4.2 The Medical History Sheet/Medical Case Sheet ............................................. 112 4.3 Medical Research Committee ..........................................................................115 5. Record-keeping Organisation. Post-War ......................................................... 120 6. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 126 Chapter Four; Analysis Of Government Records in C anada.............................128 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................128 2. The office of the Prime M inister ..................................................................... 129 3. The office of the Privy Council and of the Cabinet ......................................141 4. Imperial organization ......................................................................................148 5. The records .................................................................................................... 154 5.1 Minutes and orders-in-Council ....................................................................... 154 5.2 Records for orders-in-Council ......................................................................... 155 5.3 Dormant orders-in-Council ............................................................................. 156 5.4 Despatches ...................................................................................................... 156 5.5 Records of the Imperial War Conference .........................................................157 6. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 158 Chapter Five: