#OTD 100 years ago: Which women doctors did the army take on?

Thanks to Col. Walter Bonnici’s hard work, I know that on 12th August 1916, Dr Isabella Stenhouse left Southampton on board the HMHS Gloucester Castle. 

Gloucester Castle before decoration in its hospital ship regalia.

She and fifteen other women doctors were joining 22 of their colleagues. Together, they formed the first cohort of women doctors that the British Army had ever dared to recruit. Not that the army was taking the risk of sending them to help with the flood of wounded from the battle raging in the Somme. Oh, no. Rather than let these ‘ladies’ anywhere near the fighting, the army was shipping them to Malta, far away in the Mediterranean.

It was not that these women were inexperienced. 

Isabella had spent 1915 working in France - that story is told in the book.

Georgina Davidson, too, had served with the French Red Cross but, when that job had finished, she had travelled to Serbia to join Elsie Inglis and the Scottish Women’s Hospitals.

Florence Bignold had also worked in Serbia.

Recently qualified Martha Stewart had been forced to retreat from advancing enemy troops while running a surgery for Mrs St Clair Stobart’s Serbian Relief Fund. By way of thanks, the King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes had awarded her the Order of St Sava. 

And, as if to cap them all, New Zealander Ada McLaren had spent three full months as a prisoner of the Austrians after being captured while working with the Berry Mission, again in Serbia.

Yet these experiences had deterred none of them from boarding the Gloucester Castle. On this day 100 years ago, they set off for war again. 

Their companions were no less bold: Mabel Hector had worked in India; Elizabeth Moffett was an active suffragist who, on occasion, had refused to pay her taxes, while Katherine Waring was so confident of her abilities that she had signed up only 6 months after qualifying. 

As the ship slipped out of port and headed towards the Bay of Biscay, what was going to happen next?

A Rewarding Read - A Nontraditional Account of WW1

At last! Somebody has explained The Mystery of Isabella and the String of Beads. 

Here's blogger Connie Ruzich's 5* review from Goodreads: 

"This non-fiction book balances two stories, one a biography, the other a mystery. The first story relates the compelling experiences of Isabella Stenhouse, an intrepid Edwardian who was one of the small minority of women in Scotland to be awarded a medical degree at that time. Shortly after graduating from medical school in Edinburgh, Isabella volunteered as a physician and tended the wounded of the First World War in in France, Malta, and Egypt. Her life story is compelling and is augmented with historical insights that deserve a wider understanding and appreciation. From the medical facts of gas gangrene to the social contexts of spiritualism, author Katrina Kirkwood supplements her story with well-researched background information. The book should strongly appeal to anyone with an interest in nontraditional accounts of the First World War and those who wish to learn more about women’s history in the conflict.

The second narrative, interwoven with Isabella Stenhouse’s story, is the journey of Isabella’s granddaughter and her quest to learn more about her grandmother’s unusual war experience. Using family photos and artifacts (including Isabella’s medical instruments and the string of beads referred to in the book’s title), the author sets out to research her grandmother’s life. This part of the story moves from archives in London to forgotten beaches in Alexandria. Using her imagination to speculate on Isabella’s motives and to fill in blank spaces in Isabella’s story, Kirkwood adroitly balances on the tightrope between fact and speculative opinion. Her account of the search for her grandmother’s history should appeal to others who have embarked on a similar quest and is instructive for those who would like to investigate their ancestors’ involvement in the Great War.

An unusual book about an uncommon war experience, Kirkwoods’ fresh perspective on the First World War is a rewarding read."

Thank you, Connie!

Paperback and eBook versions are both available from Amazon and can be ordered from all good bookshops.