| Administrative History | Martin Melvin Cruickshank (1888 - 1964), twin brother of Ernest William Henderson Cruickshank. Graduate (B.Sc. M.B. Ch.B.) of Aberdeen University; interned in Ruhleben September to November 1914; served in the R.A.M.C. in several locations during the First World War; Indian Medical Service 1919 - 1946; Deputy Superintendent of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary 1946 - 1958 |
| Description | Typescript account [by Cruickshank's twin brother Martin Melvin Cruickshank] describing his experiences at the outbreak of the First World War, when he was in Munich. 20 sheets (numbered, in two sequences). Gives an account of the atmosphere in Munich in the days from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 to Britain's declaration of war on the4th of August and beyond. Martin Cruickshank and an American acquaintance (Dr Atchley of Baltimore) leave Munich on 12 August for Berlin, intending to leave Germany. In Berlin, Martin Cruickshank has to report to the police station, where he is told he is a prisoner of war. He is imprisoned first in the Stadtvogtei in Berlin, and on 9 September he and other prisoners are transferred to the civil internment camp at Spandau-Ruhleben. He gives a detailed description of the conditions in Ruhleben Camp and the day-to-day routine of the internees, and mentions meeting Captain Walker and several of the crew of the SS Rubislaw, the Aberdeen cargo and passenger ship which sailed regularly from Aberdeen to Hamburg, as well as several other Aberdonians interned there. On 10 November 1914 Martin Cruickshank is unexpectedly released from internment under an amnesty for physicians and clergymen. He waits in Berlin for five days for a passport, and travels back via the Netherlands to England.
Also a second (draft) version of the report, identical typescript up to sheet 9 (the end of the first numbered sequence in the full version) and then made up of handwritten notes which are adapted and expanded in the final version. |