The War Room: Two Sisters at the Western Front

'I copied letters and photographs of my two great aunts, Marcia Walker and Juliet Mansel, who were nurses working with French hospitals near the front-line. Their letters to their mother, a suffragette called Mildred Mansel, were very vivid; describing 24 hours days, dying soldiers, the condition of hospitals - especially during the 1918 campaign - entire villages being evacuated, then the triumphal reentry into Metz and Strasbourg. Conscious of advancing women's rights, Juliet's letters go on describe the French occupation of part of the Rhineland, and also what they witnessed during the July 1919 victory celebration in Paris. The photographs are hung in the war room at Smedmore House, my family's home which is open to the public twice a year, and to groups on request. I funded this project, with help from Graham Goatcher and Claire Simon.'