Description
Object description
Ms diary (116pp), with ts transcription (94pp), covering the period August 1914 – April 1915 and describing her service as a nurse with the Territorial Force Nursing Service at Aberdeen Infirmary (August – October 1914) and then at a military hospital in France based at Wimereux (October 1914 - February 1915) and No 7 Casualty Clearing Station at Merville (February – April 1915), including excellent details of the running of makeshift hospitals, the care and repatriation of the wounded, the variety of wounds and the problems caused by common health problems and diseases such as rheumatism, frostbite, diphtheria, tetanus, dysentery, measles and scarlet fever, the Christmas truce (see entry for 4 January 1915) and aerial warfare, the contribution of Scottish regiments, alleged atrocities including the Germans bayoneting wounded men, the discovery of spies, what she regards as the positive contribution of both Gurkha and Indian troops to the war effort, and the casualties she treated from the Battles of Mons, the Marne, Charleroi, First Ypres, Armentieres, Second Ypres, La Bassee and Neuve Chapelle. The collection also includes photocopies of: a photograph of Mrs Withall; two ms letters (13 and 17 March 1915, 5pp) written home by her to her family while serving at No 7 CCS in France, describing her treatment of the huge number of casualties from the Battle of Neuve Chapelle and the terrible state of the men and medical facilities; two newspaper cuttings (21 and 31 May 1915, 5pp) concerning the 2nd Battle of Ypres; an ms letter (10 September 1915, 4pp) written home to her family from an Isolation Hospital in France, giving her impressions of the hospital and how the facilities compare with those found nearer the frontline; a ts transcription (November 1915, 1p) of an extract from 'The Shetland News' containing reference to Martha Aitken; an ms letter (30 December 1917, 2pp) written home from the 14th General Hospital in France, describing her own recent knee injury; a ts letter from the War Office (14 August 1919, 1p) concerning her award of the Royal Red Cross; and a ts letter from the War Office (22 March 1920, 1p) concerning her demobilisation.
Content description
Ms diary (116pp), with ts transcription (94pp), covering the period August 1914 – April 1915 and describing her service as a nurse with the Territorial Force Nursing Service at Aberdeen Infirmary (August – October 1914) and then at a military hospital in France based at Wimereux (October 1914 - February 1915) and No 7 Casualty Clearing Station at Merville (February – April 1915), including excellent details of the running of makeshift hospitals, the care and repatriation of the wounded, the variety of wounds and the problems caused by common health problems and diseases such as rheumatism, frostbite, diphtheria, tetanus, dysentery, measles and scarlet fever, the Christmas truce (see entry for 4 January 1915) and aerial warfare, the contribution of Scottish regiments, alleged atrocities including the Germans bayoneting wounded men, the discovery of spies, what she regards as the positive contribution of both Gurkha and Indian troops to the war effort, and the casualties she treated from the Battles of Mons, the Marne, Charleroi, First Ypres, Armentieres, Second Ypres, La Bassee and Neuve Chapelle. The collection also includes photocopies of: a photograph of Mrs Withall; two ms letters (13 and 17 March 1915, 5pp) written home by her to her family while serving at No 7 CCS in France, describing her treatment of the huge number of casualties from the Battle of Neuve Chapelle and the terrible state of the men and medical facilities; two newspaper cuttings (21 and 31 May 1915, 5pp) concerning the 2nd Battle of Ypres; an ms letter (10 September 1915, 4pp) written home to her family from an Isolation Hospital in France, giving her impressions of the hospital and how the facilities compare with those found nearer the frontline; a ts transcription (November 1915, 1p) of an extract from 'The Shetland News' containing reference to Martha Aitken; an ms letter (30 December 1917, 2pp) written home from the 14th General Hospital in France, describing her own recent knee injury; a ts letter from the War Office (14 August 1919, 1p) concerning her award of the Royal Red Cross; and a ts letter from the War Office (22 March 1920, 1p) concerning her demobilisation.
History note
Cataloguer NKR
