The Society for Army Historical Research is delighted to announce that Professor Mark Harrison has been awarded the prestigious Templer Medal for his outstanding work, The Medical War: British Military Medicine in the First World War. At this year's ceremony, Professor Harrison was presented with the Templer Medal by the Society's patron, HRH the Duke of Kent, for the second time following his success in winning the award in 2004 with his book entitled Medicine and Victory: British Military Medicine in World War Two.

The Templer Medal was established by the Society for Army Historical Research in 1981 to commemorate the life and achievements of Field Marshal Sir Gerald Templer KG (1898-1979) and to mark his Presidency of the Society between 1965 and 1979. The medal is awarded annually to the author of the book published during that year that has made the most significant contribution to the history of the British Army, as defined in the Templer competition rules.

Professor Harrison's winning entry argues that medicine played a vital role for the British Army during the First World War, helping to sustain the morale of troops and their families, and reducing the wastage of manpower. Effective medical provision was vital to the continuation of the war in all the major theatres, for both political and operational reasons.

The Oxford University Press said that it was "delighted that Professor Harrison has won the prestigious Templer Medal for the second time with The Medical War: British Military Medicine in the First World War, a parallel study of his book Medicine and Victory which focused on the Second World War and won the prize in 2004".