"World War I Dr. James Beaver Mennell became associated with the Society and its members in 1907. Mennell was a physician, physicotherapist8 and lecturer at St. Thomas’ hospital in London who was experienced in both theory and practical application of massage. His textbooks would be among those that further supported the institutional popularity of remedial massage with a particular focus on orthopedic rehabilitation.

In the first decade of the 20th century, remedial massage in Britain was becoming a respected therapeutic treatment. Fully involved in the care of wounded soldiers from the beginning of the war, James Mennell focussed on supporting his military involvement and newly assigned duties as medical officer in charge of the massage department of the special surgical hospital at Shepard’s Bush by authoring a series of textbooks outlining treatment care programs and regimens suited to military rehabilitation centers. Sir Robert Jones, the Inspector of Special Military Surgery, introduced the first edition of James Mennell’s 1917 text, Massage: Its Principles and Practice, with a declaration recognizing massage as an undisputed component of orthopedic care to the wounded".