Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/526

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
490
INGLIS—INLAND WATER TRANSPORT

Mysticism (1899); Types of Christian Saintliness (1915); Philosophy of Plotinus (1918); Outspoken Essays (1919), and school-books.

INGLIS, ELSIE MAUD (1864-1917), British physician and surgeon, was born at Naini Tal, India, Aug. 16 1864, one of the nine children of John Forbes David Inglis, of the East India Co., and Harriet Thompson. After a childhood spent in India and Australia, the family settled in Edinburgh in 1878. She pursued her studies at the school of medicine for women in Edinburgh and at St. Margaret's College, Glasgow, graduating M.B.C.M., and took up private practice in Edinburgh in 1895. She was instru- mental in establishing a second school of medicine for women in Edinburgh and doubling the accommodation of the Edinburgh Bruntsfield hospital and dispensary for women and children. In 1901 she raised money to open the hospice in the Edinburgh High Street as a hospital for women, with the double purpose of benefiting the poor and providing greater facilities for the train- ing of women doctors. Single-handed she developed an indoor and district maternity service and trained her nurses herself. In 1906 the women's suffrage societies of Scotland were formed into a federation, of which she became honorary secretary, and for the eJght remaining years before the war she was one of the most prominent suffrage workers in Scotland. In Aug. 1914, inspired by her, a special committee of the Scottish federation of women's suffrage societies, aided by the N.U.W.S.S., undertook the organization of the Scottish women's hospitals for foreign service, and raised 449,000. She first went to Serbia in April 1915 to relieve Dr. Soltau at Kragujevatz. In Nov., when Serbia was invaded by Germans, Austrians, and Bulgarians, the Scottish women retreated to Krushevatz, and Dr. Inglis, Mrs. Haverfield and a few others remained behind till Feb. 1916 as prisoners of the enemy to care for the Serbian wounded. In Aug. 1916 she took a unit to the Dobrudja for service with the newly formed Serbian division attached to the Russian army. She died at Newcastle-on- Tyne Nov. 27 1917, the day after her return from Russia with her unit and the Serbian division. The Serbian general headquarters dedicated a fountain to her at Mladanovatz in her lifetime; and she was given the Order of the White Eagle, Class V., and the Order of St. Sava, Class III.

See Dr. Elsie Inglis, by Lady Frances Balfour (1920).

INGRAM, ARTHUR FOLEY WINNINGTON (1858- ), English divine, was born in Worcs. Jan. 26 1858, and educated at Marlborough College and Keble College, Oxford. His first curacy was at St. Mary's, Shrewsbury, in 1884; in 1885 he became private chaplain to the Bishop of Lichfield and in 1889 head of the Oxford House, Bethnal Green, where he gained much popularity owing to his devoted work among the East End poor. In 1897 he was appointed suffragan bishop of Stepney, which carried with it a canonry in St. Paul's. In 1901, after the death of Dr. Mandell Creighton, he was nominated by the Crown to the see of London. The appointment, which had hitherto been reserved for ecclesiastics of marked ability as scholars or administrators, excited much comment; but it was undoubtedly popular, and this popu- larity was confirmed when it was realized that the bishop intend- ed to carry on in his new sphere the democratic traditions of his East End activities. As a preacher he proved very successful with simple people, and during the World War he threw himself into the work of providing religious instruction for the fighting men, visiting both the French front and the Grand Fleet.

INLAND WATER TRANSPORT. Before the development of the great railway systems in the igth century, warfare in west- ern and central Europe depended very largely for its prosecution upon the aid of inland water transport. Even the creation of a good road-network in the late i8th century did not dispense armies from the necessity of using water lines for their heaviest stores, notably siege artillery and its ammunition, while in America, and generally in the less well-developed countries, water routes remained of first-class importance for supply services until railways became available. The part played by the Mis- sissippi in 1862-3 was quite as important as that played by the Scheldt in Marlborough's campaigns or the Niemen and Vilui in 1812.

In western Europe the rapid development of good roads and

railways naturally tended to put inland water transport into the background, though in most campaigns it was employed to some extent as an auxiliary and for certain special services for which it was peculiarly suited, such as the transport of wounded to a base or home, or that of siege guns of unusual weight. But the course of events in the World War, and especially the advent of trench warfare, which demanded enormous quantities of what would formerly have been called siege stores, soon imposed as a necessity the organization of inland water transport on a very large scale. The following account deals with the British I.W.T. organization during the war. 1

Personnel of the British I.W.T. service were employed at home, in France and Belgium, in Italy, in the Macedonian theatre of war, in Egypt, in Mesopotamia, on the Caspian, in East Africa, and in northern Russia, but it was only on the western front, in Egypt and in Mesopotamia that transport on inland waterways was effected on any considerable scale.

Great Britain. In Dec. 1914 three small establishments even- tually concentrated at Richborough were formed to supply per- sonnel and material for the I.W.T. service then being constituted for work on' the waterways of northern France and Belgium. From Sept. 1916 the growth of Richborough was very rapid; it became the headquarters of the cross-Channel barge service and the scene of numerous other activities. The cross-Channel barge service worked by I.W.T. personnel was instituted to save shipping and to relieve the congestion in French ports. Abroad cargo was being discharged from sea-going vessels to barges for transport to inland depots; if barges capable of passing up the continental canajs could be towed across the Channel the demand for ordinary shipping would be reduced, and the pressure on the berth accommodation at the over- seas ports lessened. The scheme had other advantages as well: barges, because of their shallow draught, were practically immune from torpedo attack; the loss of a barge from enemy action or any other cause would be less serious than the loss of a ship; the labour of trans-shipment at the overseas ports would be saved.

The dimensions of the type of barge built for the service were governed by the dimensions of the continental canals (see under France and Belgium below), but as when crossing the Channel a greater free-board was necessary than when navigating the inland waterways the carrying capacity when crossing the Channel was limited to 1 80 tons. Towards the end of the war a number of 1 ,000- ton barges were being brought into use; these could not enter any but the largest inland waterways, but at the overseas ports they could be discharged at berths unsuitable for sea-going ships, and could thus secure most of the advantages which the service was intended to afford.

The service commenced in Dec. 1916, and in May 1917 the re- turning barges began to be used to convey traffic from France to England. The growth of the traffic is shown in the following table.

Growth of Traffic.

Barges in service

Average ton- nage carried per week

Traffic to inland destinations

Month


X

CO

ii

bo


!

a


1

<3

M -2

o >>

T

!

"- O

"" fe "

v. a)

6

CO

e

3

Q

9

l-o" S

is


t >


re

(

'I

H""

Jan. 1917

23

1,904

IOO

114

12

June 1917 .


10,625

2,182

90

"54

IO

Jan. 1918 June 1918 . Nov. 1918 .

161 232

IO

11,93 21,972 11,898

1.778 4.361 2,013

3 69

77

123 125

122

12 9

IS

Dec. 1918 .

245

IO

7,688

2,118

73

134

22

The total amount of traffic exported from the institution of the service until the end of Dec. 1918 amounted to 1,415,271 tons, of which 1,083,951 tons, or more than three-quarters, passed through the ports direct to inland destinations. More than half of the total was ammunition; bulky stores like hay, vehicles and air-force material were the next largest consignments. The limitations im-

Cosed by bridges over the canals on the height to which barges can e loaded account to some extent for the low average load of barges proceeding inland. The tonnage imported from France during the same period amounted to 200,049 tons. By far the greatest part of this traffic consisted of empty ammunition boxes and cartridge cases for re-use and of guns for repair, but many varieties of salvage were

1 It should be mentioned that the I.W.T. authorities and their organization became by force of circumstances responsible for a variety of activities not strictly connected with transport over inland waterways. These activities are not dealt with here.