The
Carmichael Family - those who went to war 2
Life
would have felt very grim indeed at Craiglockhart when news arrived that Henry's
twelfth child, Archibald or Archie, had died on 18 June 1915 at Gallipoli. Archie,
a Private in the 4th Royal Signals had died of shrapnel wounds a day after arriving
in Gallipoli. Henry would have been notified of his son's death by telegram.
However, Henry's daughter Elizabeth was sent a more personal notification of
Archie's death by his Platoon Lieutenant, R Mackie. Lieutenant Mackie's parents
owned Mackie's store which was situated in Princes Street in Edinburgh, this
was where Elizabeth worked.
Lieutenant Mackie's kind gesture was much appreciated by the Carmichael family.
As the war progressed the government requisitioned Craiglockhart
Hydropathic, and from 1916—1919 it became Craiglockhart War Hospital,
treating officers suffering from neurasthenia, an illness more commonly known
to us now as shell shock. At the outbreak of the
Great War, little was known about shell shock, however as the war progressed
and enormous numbers of soldiers began displaying symptoms, medical officers
quickly realised that everyone had a breaking point — war frightened everyone.
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