More about Alexander Edward Kidd

Major (Temp Lt Col) Alexander Edward Kidd MB CM DPH OBE

Dr Kidd was an eminent Dundee doctor and a contemporary of other notable Dundee doctors who served in the RAMC such as Lt Col William Edward Foggie,   Maj GH Miller,  Maj GF Whyte,   Capt H J Gorrie,   all of whom he served alongside  in 3^rd Highland Field Ambulance RAMC(TF) as well as all being medical contemporaries within the medical community in Dundee

It is recorded in the Dundee Directory  of 1911-12 and prior to his war service that Dr Kidd was the Medical Officer for the Dundee Schools Board and had offices in the Cowgate in Dundee with his home being at 10 Prospect Place.  Given his seniority in military rank, (Senior Captain then Major),  on embarkation to France and Flanders  it seems probable that throughout the time leading up to WW1  he was a Territorial Force  Medical Officer with 3^rd Highland Field Ambulance.

With regard to his prominence in the local medical community of Dundee he was a Vice President of the Forfarshire Medical Association when his contemporaries Lt Col Foggie and Maj Whyte served as Council Members of that association and Maj Miller served a tenure  as the Association’s General Secretary

Perusal of the War Diary of 1/3 Highland Field Ambulance shows Dr Kidd serving as a Major under William Foggie’s command,  (Foggie being Lt Col commanding 3 HFA) from mobilisation of that unit in August 1914,   through its period of concentration with the Highland Division in Bedford ,   its embarkation for France in May 1915 and thereafter until Dr Kidd was given Command of the 2^nd Line 3^rd Highland Field Ambulance in January 1916.    During his time in France with 1/3 HFA he served with that unit in such places as Locon in June 1915;    Estaires in July 1915  and Millencourt in Aug / Sept 1915 where was employed most frequently in the units main dressing station and when the unit was in the rear  in wards of a divisional rest station where divisional wounded and sick were treated.

On one such period in September 1915 where the unit were managing the Divisional Rest Station and where the ADMS of the division  had issued special orders making the unit responsible for some sanitary and hygiene duties as a means of limiting spread of infection and infestation,  Dr Kidd was noted in the Unit War Diary as being instrumental in designing and developing a specialist bath unit for the purpose in the unit’s immediate area.   A presumption may be that his post grad qualifications,  DPH,  (Diploma in Public Health)   would have equipped him with the necessary knowledge to accomplish the effective design and construction of a specialist bath unit with the necessarily safe sourcing of water and safe dispersal of the resultant effluent

On 9 January 1916 the then  Major Kidd proceeded on leave to UK  and was due to return to 1/3 Highland Field Ambulance in the field in France on 19 January when he was retained in UK to take command of the 2^nd Line 3^rd Highland Field Ambulance.    This unit was  a full copy of the parent unit 1/3 Highland Field Ambulance and its role was firstly to provide Medical Support to a second line Highland Division,  (64 Division), and secondly to provide reinforcements and replacements to the parent unit overseas.   It is perhaps worth noting that the Highland Division in France,  as was the case for all Territorial Forces,    was formed for home defence and never intended for overseas military service but the huge losses to the BEF in Flanders in 1914 were such that it became necessary for the Territorial Force units to embark for the war in Europe to reinforce their regular army counterparts

Thereafter Dr Kidd commanded 2/3 Highland Field Ambulance and it would seem from his Medal Roll Index cards that by 1917 he went on to serve with 33 Stationary Hospital in Salonika,   in the area of Sorovitch near Lake Ostrovo where  he was again mentioned in dispatches and was awarded Serbian Foreign Service awards.    This area is now a part of Greek Macedonia.

Alexander’s Medals are currently held by the Collections Unit of the McManus Galleries, Dundee.

Other information
12.12.1903 – Commissioned as a Lieutenant to the Royal Army Medical Corps and posted to 1/3 Highland Field Ambulance
12.06.1907 – Promoted to the rank of captain
22.08.1914 – Promoted Major

Served in France from 01.05.15 to 25.01.16
Served in Salonika from 20.10.16 to 09.02.19

Alexander’s wife, Margaret, trained as nurse at Dundee Royal Infirmary, at outbreak of war was attached to Eastern Hospital which was taken over by military. She was appointed commandant of the Caird Rest when it was opened as a Red Cross Hospital