Celebrating an evening with men of destiny

Professor Douglas Chamberlain, talking with the Journal of Paramedic Practice, sets the theme for his presentation of the inaugural Larrey Lecture at the Royal Society of Medicine in London on 13 July 2016.

The lecture marks the 250^th anniversary of the birth of Dominique Larrey on 8 July 1876, and it is strangely coincidental that the lives of Dominique Larrey and Douglas Chamberlain bear some striking resemblance, particularly during their early days.

Larrey was born in the little Pyrénnées village of Beaudéan, the son of a shoemaker. He was orphaned at the age of 13 and raised by his uncle, a surgeon. Later he studied medicine in Paris, and at 26 he joined the army. During this time, Larrey won battles with military and political bureaucracy to initiate the modern method of army surgery, field hospitals, and ‘Flying Ambulances’ for rapid transport of the wounded from the battlefield.

With Napoleon's army at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, his courage under fire was noticed by the Duke of Wellington, who ordered his soldiers not to fire in his direction in order to ‘give the brave man the time to gather up the wounded’ and saluted ‘the courage and devotion of an age that is no longer ours.’