Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- List of Figures
- Introduction: History and the Stomach
- 1 The National Stomach: Indigestion and Nineteenth-Century British Society: An Overview
- 2 The Ulcerated Stomach: Gastric Diagnosis and the Reorganization of Medical Knowledge, c. 1800–60
- 3 The Laboratory Stomach: Gastric Analysis in an Era of Vivisection and Force-Feeding Controversies, c. 1870–1920
- 4 The Surgical Stomach: Berkeley Moynihan's Forgotten Surgical Revolution and Duodenal Ulcer Disease, c. 1880–1920
- 5 The Psychosomatic Stomach: British Society, Wartime Dyspepsia and the Return of the Patient, c. 1920–45
- Concluding Remarks
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
4 - The Surgical Stomach: Berkeley Moynihan's Forgotten Surgical Revolution and Duodenal Ulcer Disease, c. 1880–1920
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- List of Figures
- Introduction: History and the Stomach
- 1 The National Stomach: Indigestion and Nineteenth-Century British Society: An Overview
- 2 The Ulcerated Stomach: Gastric Diagnosis and the Reorganization of Medical Knowledge, c. 1800–60
- 3 The Laboratory Stomach: Gastric Analysis in an Era of Vivisection and Force-Feeding Controversies, c. 1870–1920
- 4 The Surgical Stomach: Berkeley Moynihan's Forgotten Surgical Revolution and Duodenal Ulcer Disease, c. 1880–1920
- 5 The Psychosomatic Stomach: British Society, Wartime Dyspepsia and the Return of the Patient, c. 1920–45
- Concluding Remarks
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
While the future British King George VI (1895–1952) was serving in the Royal Navy during the First World War, he became plagued with gastric problems. Being at sea seemed to have intensified his long-standing abdominal complaints. This was potentially problematic given that the presence of a prince in the navy formed a integral element of the monarchy's traditional relationship to war. Invaliding him out was therefore not a decision to be taken lightly. Accordingly, his appendix was removed in August 1914 to cure him of his afflictions, and also with the hope of allowing him to return quickly to military service. However, he continued to be crippled by agonizing gastric pains following the procedure and was eventually diagnosed as suffering from a duodenal ulcer in August 1916. A lengthy period of rest alleviated many of his symptoms, yet he became increasingly weak once again upon returning to sea duties in May 1917. Eventually a surgical operation was performed to remove the anomaly on 29 November 1917.
Yet twenty years earlier, Prince George would have been highly unlikely to have been found suffering from a duodenal ulcer. In fact, the complaint was then rarely diagnosed. Even as recently as 1903, the Edinburgh Medical Journal had claimed that while ‘cases of duodenal ulcer occur from time to time, still the disease cannot be called common’.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Modern History of the StomachGastric Illness, Medicine and British Society, 1800–1950, pp. 81 - 106Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014