Description
Object description
British civilian secretary with British Red Cross Society in London, GB, 1917; worked for Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau, British Red Cross Society in Boulogne, France, 1918-1919; nurse and rest home manager with Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment in GB, 1939-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Huntingdon, GB, 1897-1914: family; education. Aspects of period as civilian in GB, 1914-1917: anticipation of war; memories of outbreak of First World War, 4/8/1914; reaction to deaths of family and friends during war; food shortages; attitude towards white feathers being handed to those not in uniform; expectations of life; attending secretarial course. Aspects of period as secretary with British Red Cross Society in London, GB, 1917: joining British Red Cross Society; dispute over role of Voluntary Aid Detachment personnel; secretarial duties at society headquarters at Devonshire House; attitude towards wages paid to munitions workers; impact of war losses; contrast between rations and advice on food in First and Second World Wars.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of period as secretary with Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau, British Red Cross Society in Boulogne, France, 1918-1919: location in Boulogne; separation of male and female staff; life style; work of 'searchers'; regimental casualty files; attitude towards work; letters written to relatives of dead and missing; state of British Army troops during German Offensive, 3/1918; work in rest camps, 1918; relations with French civilians; German bombing, 1918; preparations for evacuation, 3/1918; communications with GB; accommodation in Boulogne.
REEL 3 Continues: hospitalisation with influenza, 1918; memories of Armistice Day, 11/11/1918; attitude towards Germans in First and Second World Wars; work in convalescent camp in Cannes, 1919; attitude towards work; condition of patients; impact of war on women's situation; discouragement of women with private incomes from taking jobs; attitude towards conscientious objectors; post-war erection of Huntingdon War Memorial; importance of Armistice Day. Recollections of period with nurse and rest home manager with Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment in GB, 1939-1945: early duties with Voluntary Aid Detachment, 1939-1940.
REEL 4 Continues: experiencing German Air Force raids on London; work with survivors from Dunkirk Evacuation, 1940; reaction of French patient to fall of France, 6/1940; opinion of Prime Ministers Lloyd George and Winston Churchill; attitude towards civil defence work after war; managing rest home for bombed out pensioners from East End of London in Epping Forest; German V weapon attacks.