James Churchill Dunn (24 February 1871 – 30 March 1955) was a British medical officer during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and author. In 1897, Dunn had gained an M.D. at Edinburgh University. He is known for his memoir ''The War the Infantry Knew'', first published in 1938.

Early life

Dunn was born in 1871 in Churchill, near

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

in New Zealand, although his father's family were originally Scottish and came from

Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

in Lanarkshire. His parents were killed in the

Te Kooti's War Te Kooti's War was among the last of the New Zealand Wars, the series of 19th century conflicts in New Zealand between the Māori and the colonising European settlers. It was fought in the East Coast region and across the heavily forested centra ...

, a conflict between the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

and European settlers, shortly after he was born and he was sent back to Scotland to be raised by his aunts. He was educated at Hamilton Academy, Glasgow Academy, and Clifton Bank School, St Andrews before going on to study medicine at Edinburgh University in 1888, He was awarded MB, CM in 1893, after some time also spent studying in Leipzig and Vienna. He later gained an M.D. at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...

, with his thesis on adenoids. He moved to London to practice medicine in a number of hospitals.

Military career

Dunn enlisted in December 1899, volunteering for the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

as a trooper in the

Montgomeryshire Yeomanry The Montgomeryshire Yeomanry was a Welsh auxiliary unit of the British Army first formed in 1803. It served in home defence and for internal security, including deployments to deal with Chartist disturbances in the 1830s. It provided volunteers ...

where he served for over a year, gaining a

Distinguished Conduct Medal The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, ranki ...

for bravery. Towards the end of the war he served briefly as a civil surgeon with the army in South Africa, before returning to his medical career in London. At the outbreak of World War I, aged forty three, Dunn again volunteered.

World War I

Dunn, who had previously served in South Africa, was Regimental Medical Officer for the

Royal Welch Fusiliers The Royal Welch Fusiliers ( cy, Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, and part of the Prince of Wales' Division, that was founded in 1689; shortly after the Glorious Revolution. In 1702, it was designate ...

during World War I, and is mentioned in the memoirs of both Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon, who both also served with the same regiment. Dunn wrote of his official role that: "The first duty of a battalion medical officer in War is to discourage the evasion of duty ... not seldom against one's better feelings, sometimes to the temporary hurt of the individual, but justice to all other men as well as discipline demands it." Dunn's memoir, which includes material that he solicited from others with whom he served, was originally published anonymously, in a private limited edition, and has been described as "a magnificent tour de force, the length of three ordinary books"London Review of Books, vol 9 no 17 p 26
/ref> The work includes Captain C.I. "Buffalo Bill" Stockwell's account of the Christmas truce of 1914, which describes the resumption of hostilities as follows: "At 8.30 I fired three shots in the air and put up a flag with "Merry Christmas" on it, and I climbed on the parapet. He he Germansput up a sheet with "Thank you" on it, and the German Captain appeared on the parapet. We both bowed and saluted and got down into our respective trenches, and he fired two shots in the air, and the War was on again."

Bibliography

*''The War the Infantry Knew 1914–1919: A Chronicle of Service in France and Belgium''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, J C 1955 deaths British Army personnel of World War I Royal Army Medical Corps officers 1871 births Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Participants of the Christmas truce of 1914 British Army personnel of the Second Boer War