A fascinating Great War Salonika service, Jubilee 1935, Coronation 1937 and Serbian Order of St. Sava, 5th Class, Knight grade group to subsequent Surgeon-Apothecary to His Majesty’s Household at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Major N.G. Carmichael, Royal Army Medical Corps who saw service in Salonika with the Edinburgh Hospital during the Great War and was decorated with the Serbian Order of Saint Sava, 5th Class, Knight Grade in June 1917. He would also work for 15 years in Edinburgh Children’s Hospital as a Physician, as a Lecturer in the Diseases of Children at Edinburgh and as a Surgeon-Apothecary to the King at Holyrood Palace.
Group of 5: British War Medal and Victory Medal; (MAJOR N.G. CARMICHAEL.) Jubilee Medal 1935; Coronation Medal 1937; Serbia: Order of Saint Sava, 5th Class, Knight grade, 1903-1921 issue with the Saint in Red Robes , silver and enamels. Loose-mounted but without a pin for wear.
Condition: part of the blue enamel on the Saint Sava has been chipped away on both sides of the award, thus Fine, the rest of the medals, Good Very Fine
Norman Scott Carmichael was born in Northumberland Street, Edinburgh and was educated at Edinburgh Academy, studying medicine at Edinburgh University and graduated M.B., Ch.B. in 1905. In his professional path he followed his father in combining general practice with special study of disease in children. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physician at the Children’s Hospital. During the Great War , he would travel to Salonika with the Edinburgh Hospital , ultimately achieving the rank of Major with the Royal Army Medical Corps and being decorated with the Serbian Order of St. Sava in June 1917.
On his return home to the U.K. he was appointed in 1920 Physician to the Children’s Hospital, and Lecturer in Diseases of Children in the University of Edinburgh. He retired from the hospital service in 1935 on completion of his term of duty. On the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 he again left Edinburgh for military duty at the E.M.S. Hospital at Ayrshire, where he was superintendent and consulting physician. At the close of the war he turned to Edinburgh, resuming his private practice, and also acting for several years as medical superintendent of Leith Hospital. He was also Surgeon-Apothecary to the King at Holyrood Palace, and for many years he was a member of the Royal Company of Archers, King’s Bodyguard for Scotland.
His father, Dr. James Carmichael, physician to the hospital, his older brother Edwards, for some years assistant Surgeon, and Norman himself also physician, together made a notable family contribution to the work and teaching of the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital. Norman was a sound and popular teacher, and he must have formed the practice and ethical standards of many generations of medical students. Among his hospital colleagues he exerted a powerful influence for good; he never stirred up strife, but when contentious subjects were under discussion, the expression of his views was frank and always courteous; and in all matters his wise, honourable and friendly character gave weigh to everything he said. In his last years when the shadows of ill health and family bereavement fell upon him, he showed great courage and undiminished cheerfulness. By his patients in hospital and private practice and by his medical colleague his memory will be cherished.
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