Serbia: James Johnston Abraham

Photograph of JJ Abraham (1876-1963), a naval surgeon, who acted as major in the Serbian Army Medical Corps, 1914, diagnosing typhus among troops, and later saw service in the Middle East. His account of his War service was published as 'My Balkan Log', of which the Library holds the original diary, upon which it is based. He also has a special place in literary history; he wrote the first hospital-based romance, set in Dr Steevens's Hospital. This was later filmed in 1935 starring Molly Allgood, John Millington Synge's fiancée.