Pearls before Poppies

by Rachel Trethewey

  83 Angela Lambert, p.221.

  84 Mary Wemyss to Ettie Grenfell, 23 October 1931, Desborough Papers, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies: D/ERVC477/102.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  1 Paul Cornish, pp.215–16.

  2 For a full account of the situation in 1918, see Jeremy Paxman, pp.252–54.

  3 Quoted in Paxman, pp.253–54.

  4 The Times, 18 June 1918, p.9.

  5 Judy Middleton, Hove and Portslade in the Great War (Pen & Sword, 2014).

  6 Niall Ferguson, pp.199–201.

  7 Quoted in Niall Ferguson, p.202.

  8 ‘Pathetic Evidence’, Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 7 November 1914, p.5.

  9 Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 9 November 1914, p.5.

  10 Express and Echo, 9 November 1914.

  11 Western Times, 26 January 1917, p.4.

  12 Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 13 May 1915, p.4.

  13 Adrian Gregory, p.2.

  14 Ibid., pp.36–39.

  15 Ibid., p.103.

  16 Ibid., p.102.

  17 Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 29 November 1916, p.2.

  18 David Stevenson, With Our Backs to the Wall: Victory and Defeat in 1918 (London: Penguin Books, 2012) pp.374–75.

  19 ‘Echo Chamber’, the Quaker Arts Network – quakerarts.net.

  20 Quoted in Paul Cornish, p.108.

  21 Mary Davis, 1914–1918, TUC History Online.

  22 David Stevenson, p.363.

  23 29 December 1915. A.J.P. Taylor (ed.) Lloyd George: A Diary by Frances Stevenson (London: Hutchinson, 1971) p.86.

  24 Niall Ferguson, p.346.

  25 Western Times, 7 April 1916, p.7.

  26 David Parker, The People of Devon in the First World War (Stroud: The History Press, 2013).

  27 Paul Cornish, p.110.

  28 Adrian Gregory, p.7.

  29 Ibid., pp.204–05.

  30 Ibid., p.202.

  31 Niall Ferguson writes that until the Battle of the Somme the British mainly fought because they wanted to, not because they were made to. However, he adds that not all Britons were equally keen to fight and that it was certainly not true that ‘all classes […] gave equally’. There were many middle-class men, who were potential officer material, who enlisted as privates in their eagerness to see action. Ferguson concludes that the middle class was keener to fight (p.199).

  32 For a full discussion of the extent of patriotic fervour, see Niall Ferguson, p.202.

  33 Peter Hart, pp.22–24.

  34 Norman Stone, World War One: A Short History (London: Penguin Books, 2008) p.162.

  35 Legacies of War: Untold Otley Stories, Otley Museum and Archive Trust (2014) p.23.

  36 Ibid.

  37 Ibid., pp.4–6.

  38 Ibid., p.6.

  39 Ibid., p.20.

  40 David Stevenson, pp.447–49.

  41 Legacies of War: Untold Otley Stories, p.25.

  42 Robert Coles, History of Beaulieu Airfield (Lymington: Robert Coles, 1982) pp.9, 18.

  43 Ibid., p.30.

  44 Robert Coles, p.33.

  45 Ibid.

  46 ‘The Real New Forest Guide’ – newforestguide.co.uk.

  47 Quoted in Paul Cornish, p.217.

  CHAPTER SIX

  1 The Times, 4 June 1918, p.9.

  2 Lyn MacDonald, The Roses of No Man’s Land (London: Penguin, 1993) p.244.

  3 Katherine MacDonald to Mrs MacDonald, undated. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG 58A 1114.9; Manuscript 19950037-014.

  4 ‘On Night’. Katherine MacDonald’s scrapbook. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Textual Record 58E 25.2.

  5 Dr Fleck Graham to Mrs MacDonald, undated. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-019.

  6 Captain John Ballantyne to Mrs MacDonald, 28 May 1918. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-013.

  7 Katherine MacDonald to Mrs MacDonald and Florence MacDonald, undated. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-014.

  8 Katherine MacDonald to Mrs MacDonald and Florence MacDonald, undated. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-014.

  9 Vera Brittain, pp.411–12.

  10 Mary Macleod Moore, Maple Leaf’s Red Cross: The War Story of the Canadian Red Cross Overseas (London: Skiffington, 1919) p.61.

  11 Ibid., pp.70–74.

  12 Ibid., p.85.

  13 ‘Summary of Inspections and Work Done During the Month Away from HQ’, 8 May 1918. The National Archive, Kew: WO95/3990.

  14 Vera Brittain, pp.411–12.

  15 Katherine MacDonald to Mrs MacDonald and Florence MacDonald, 24 March 1918. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-014.

  16 Captain Ronald Gordon Cumming, ‘The Nursing Sister’, in Katherine MacDonald’s scrapbook. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Textual Record 58 2 5.2.

  17 ‘Summary of Inspections’, May 1918. The National Archive, Kew: WO95/3990.

  18 Peter Hart, p.263.

  19 Katherine MacDonald to Mrs MacDonald and Florence MacDonald, 18 May 1918. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-014.

  20 Ibid.

  21 Major S.J.M. Comoton to Captain John Ballantyne, 2 June 1918. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 1995037-013.

  22 Edith Campbell to Miss Dalmage, undated. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-019.

  23 Ibid.

  24 Queen Alexandra to Miss McCarthy, undated. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-019.

  25 Citation for the Award of the Military Medal for Distinguished Service in the Field for Nursing Sisters Helen Elizabeth Hansen and Beatrice McNair. Royal College of Nurses Archive online.

  26 ‘Summary of Inspections and Work Done During the Month Away from HQ’, 22 May 1918. The National Archive, Kew: WO95/3990.

  27 Roland Hill, Crag and Canyon (Banff, Alberta) 13 July 1918.

  28 Vera Brittain, p.433.

  29 Captain John Ballantyne to Mrs MacDonald, 28 May 1918. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-013.

  30 Ibid.

  31 Ibid.

  32 Captain John Ballantyne to Mrs MacDonald, 29 May 1918. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-013.

  33 Captain John Ballantyne to Florence MacDonald, undated. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-013.

  34 Revelations 7: 9–17.

  35 E.E. Ridley, Principal Matron Canadians, ‘Report of Visit to the Étaples Area’, 26 May 1918. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-018.

  36 Major S.J.M. Comoton to Captain John Ballantyne, 2 June 1918. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-013.

  37 E.E Ridley, Principal Matron Canadians, ‘Report of Visit to the Étaples Area’, 26 May 1918. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-018.

  38 Vera Brittain, p.417.

  39 Mary Macleod Moore, pp.180–81.

  40 Lottie M. Borland to Mrs MacDonald, undated. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-019.

  41 Dr Fleck Graham to Mrs MacDonald, undated. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-019.

  42 Ibid.

  43 Lieutenant Colonel Clifford H. Reason to Mrs Graham. Quoted on Brantford Great War Centenary Association’s website.

  44 ‘Summary of Inspections and Work Done During the Month Away from HQ’, 30 May 1918. The National Archive, Kew: WO95/3990.

  45 Dr Fleck Graham to Mrs MacDonald, undated. Canadian War Museum Archives. Archive DU MCG; Manuscript 19950037-019.

  46 Brantford Expositor, 24 September 1918.

  47 Jennifer Morse, ‘Gerald Edward Moira’, Legion Magazine (1 January 2006).

  48 Niall Ferguson, pp.208–09.

  49 Lyn MacDonald, The Roses of No Man’s Land, pp.
277–79.

  50 Beatriz Chadour-Sampson and Hubert Bari, p.10.

  51 COHSE, ‘Canadian Nurses World War One’, http://cohse-union.blogspot.co.uk/2006/10/canadian-nurses-ww1.html.

  52 Brantford Expositor, 24 May 1918.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  1 Lyndsey Jenkins, Lady Constance Lytton: Aristocrat, Suffragette, Martyr (London: Biteback Publishing, 2015) p.214.

  2 Alfred Harmsworth Northcliffe, pp.126–27.

  3 27 March 1918, Daily Mail, p.4.

  4 D. Chapman-Huston (ed.), The Private Diaries of Daisy, Princess of Pless. 1873–1914 (London: John Murray, 1950) p.48.

  5 Ibid., p.47.

  6 Justine Picardie, Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life (London: Harper, 2010) p.145.

  7 Ibid., p.144.

  8 Leslie Field, Bendor: The Golden Duke of Westminster (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2003) p.83.

  9 Russell Harris, ‘Princess Daisy of Pless: The Happy Years’, Victoria and Albert Museum website (2011).

  10 Justine Picardie, pp.148–49.

  11 D. Chapman-Huston, p.32.

  12 Shelagh, Duchess of Westminster, to Daisy, Princess of Pless, 22 February 1909. Quoted in D. Chapman-Huston, p.213.

  13 Shelagh, Duchess of Westminster, to Daisy, Princess of Pless, 15 October 1909. Ibid., p.226.

  14 Leslie Field, p.1.

  15 Ibid., pp.127–28.

  16 Charles S. Myers, Shell Shock in France 1914–1918 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940) p.4.

  17 James Mackay, Sir Thomas Lipton: The Man who Invented Himself (London: Random House, 2012).

  18 Charles S. Myers, p.5.

  19 Ben Shepard, Headhunters: The Search for a Science of the Mind (London: Random House, 2014).

  20 Charles S. Myers, p.4.

  21 Ibid., p.5.

  22 Ibid., p.6.

  23 Leslie Field, pp.131–32.

  24 Charles S. Myers, p.7.

  25 Arthur Percival Marsh to Adine Waller, 5 July 1915. Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office: DE3695/123.

  26 The testimony of Lynette Powell appears in full in Lyn MacDonald, The Roses of No Man’s Land, pp.67–68.

  27 D. Chapman-Huston, p.312.

  28 Ibid., p.315.

  29 Leslie Field, p.144.

  30 11 July 1916, The Daily News, Perth.

  31 Catherine Bailey, p.350.

  32 Diana Duff Cooper, pp.117–19.

  33 Ibid., p.136.

  34 Quoted in William E. Carson, Northcliffe: Britain’s Man of Power (Cornell, 1918) p.273.

  35 Major C.W. Wingrove to M. Oppenheimer in Rangoon, August 1918, The Singapore Press.

  36 Lucinda Gosling, Great War Britain: The First World War at Home (Stroud: The History Press, 2014) p.77.

  37 22 May 1918, Cynthia Asquith, Diaries, p.440.

  38 20 June 1918. Ibid., p.451.

  39 Lyn MacDonald, The Roses of No Man’s Land, p.67.

  40 2 February 1915, David Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, The Crawford Papers: The Journals of David Lindsay, Twenty-Seventh Earl of Crawford and Tenth Earl of Balcarres (1871–1940), During the Years 1892 to 1940 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984) p.349.

  41 ‘The Way of the World’, 17 July 1918, The Sketch, p.64.

  42 Quoted in Lucinda Gosling, p.83.

  43 ‘In France: A Duchess at Her Hospital’, The Sketch, 20 March 1918.

  44 ‘World War One Nurse Martha’s Cheerfulness a Tonic for “Broken Soldiers”’, The Sentinel, 29 September 2014.

  45 Interview with Martha Frost’s great nephew Ian Broad, 5 April 2016.

  46 ‘Summary of Work for May 1918’, The Joint War Committee Reports, Red Cross Archives.

  47 Peter Hart, pp.272–74, 294.

  48 Norman Stone, p.169.

  49 ‘Surprise Romance Wedding to Flying Officer’, Motherwell Times, 30 January 1920.

  50 Ibid.

  51 ‘The Way of the World’, The Sketch, 17 July 1918, p.64.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  1 Beatriz Chadour-Sampson with Hubert Bari, p.10.

  2 ‘Crown Coronets’, The Sketch, 15 December 1915, p.236.

  3 ‘Small Talk’, The Sketch, 13 March 1918, p.224.

  4 ‘The Way of the World’, The Sketch, 19 June 1918, p.322.

  5 Peter Hart, pp.296–98.

  6 ‘The Way of the World’, The Sketch, 19 June 1918, p.322.

  7 Lord Charles Mercer Nairne to Lord Lansdowne, October 1914. Bowood Archive.

  8 ‘Major Lord Charles Mercer Nairne, 1874–1914, M.V.O (1911), Royal Dragoon Guards’, Bowood Archive.

  9 Lord Lansdowne to Andrew Bonar Law, 2 November 1914. Parliamentary Archive, Bonar Law Papers: BL/35/2/2.

  10 Jo Johnston, archivist at Bowood, explains that it is not clear in the letter whether the ‘soldier boy’ was a toy, a real soldier, or even the scaled down copy of his father’s uniform he was given to dress up in.

  11 Evelyn, Duchess of Devonshire, to Lady Lansdowne, 2 November 1914, Bowood Archive.

  12 Margot Asquith, 19 May 1915. In Michael and Eleanor Brock, p.126.

  13 Margot Asquith to Violet Asquith, 7 June 1915. In Mark Pottle. Champion Redoubtable: The Diaries and Letters of Violet Bonham Carter 1914–45 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1998) p.63.

  14 Anne de Courcy, Margot at War: Love and Betrayal in Downing Street 1912–1916 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2014) pp.240, 247–48.

  15 Lucinda Gosling, pp.53–54, 63.

  16 7 June 1916, Cynthia Asquith, pp.172–73.

  17 Juliet Nicolson, The Great Silence: 1918–1920. Living in the Shadow of the Great War (London: John Murray, 2009) p.31.

  18 Lou Taylor, Mourning Dress: A Costume and Social History (London and New York: Routledge, 1983) p.229.

  19 Ibid., p.267.

  20 ‘Mourning for British Heroes’, The Yorkshire Post, 29 August 1914, p.6.

  21 ‘Small Talk’, The Sketch, 23 June 1915, p.238.

  22 Lou Taylor, p.269.

  23 10 June 1915, Cynthia Asquith, Diaries, p.39.

  24 Margot Asquith, 3 August 1915. In Michael and Eleanor Brock, p.170.

  25 Derek Wilson, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

  26 Lucie Dounay to Violet Astor, 22 June 1916. Philip Astor Letters.

  27 Ettie Desborough to Violet Astor, 21 June 1916. Philip Astor Letters.

  28 Violet, Duchess of Rutland to Letty Elcho. Wemyss Papers.

  29 John L. Renton to Violet Astor, 17 June 1916. Philip Astor Letters.

  30 William Waldorf Astor to Violet Astor, 7 June 1916. Philip Astor Letters.

  31 Louise Beaufort to Violet Astor, 29 June 1916. Philip Astor Letters.

  32 Violet, Duchess of Rutland to Letty Elcho. Wemyss Papers.

  33 ‘Marriage of Captain the Hon. J. Astor and Lady Charles Mercer Nairne’, Reading Mercury, 2 September 1916.

  34 Maurice Bonham Carter to Violet Asquith, 22 June 1915. In Mark Pottle, p.69.

  35 Dundee Evening Telegraph, 26 November 1915.

  36 ‘Wedding Gifts from Members of Parliament’, Newcastle Journal, 26 November 1915.

  37 ‘Miss Violet Asquith’s Wedding’, Yorkshire Evening Post, 30 November 1915.

  38 Violet Bonham Carter to Eddie Marsh, 17 December 1915. In Mark Pottle, pp.88–89.

  39 Michael and Eleanor Brock, p.xcvii.

  40 Mark Pottle, p.85.

  41 7 January 1916, James Munson (ed.), Echoes of the Great War: The Diary of Reverend Andrew Clark 1914–1919 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988) p.106.

  42 30 November 1915, Cynthia Asquith, Diaries, p.106.

  43 Ibid., 27 January 1916, p.125.

  44 10 February 1916 in A.J.P. Taylor, p.97.

  45 Michael and Eleanor Brock, p.xcviii.

  46 Lady Violet Astor to Lady Lansdowne, 30 October 1918. Bowood Archive.

  CHAPTER NINE

  1 ‘Over 70 Pearls Yesterday’, The Times, 29 June 1918, p.9.

  2 Samuel Hynes, The Edwardian Turn of Mind (London: Pimlico, 1968) pp.328
–30.

  3 ‘The Post Impressionists’, The Times, 17 November 1910, p.4.

  4 Samuel Hynes, p.326.

  5 Carter Ratcliff, John Singer Sargent (New York, London, Paris: Artabras, 1982) p.181.

  6 Karen Corsano and Daniel Williman, John Singer Sargent and his Muse: Painting Love and Loss (New York amd London: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014) p.18.

  7 9 June 1916, Cynthia Asquith, Diaries, p.174.

  8 ‘Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Grafton Galleries’, The Scotsman, 3 June 1916. Quoted in Natasha Wallace, JSS Virtual Gallery online.

  9 ‘Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Grafton Galleries’, The Ladies’ Field, 24 June 1916. Quoted in Natasha Wallace, JSS Virtual Gallery online.

  10 The Queen, 15 June 1918, p.642.

  11 ‘Inspection by Two Queens’, The Times, 24 June 1918, p.5.

  12 Sir Robert Hudson to Lord Northcliffe, 22 June 1918. Northcliffe Papers Vol. XVII (ff.171). The British Library ADD. MS. 62169.

  13 ‘Pearl Exhibition’, The Times, 21 June 1918, p.9.

  14 Ibid.

  15 Ibid.

  16 Robert Dixon, Photography, Early Cinema and Colonial Modernity: Frank Hurley’s Synchronized Lecture Entertainments (London: Anthem Press, 2013) p.44.

  17 Ibid., p.45.

  18 Ibid., p.46.

  19 Niall Ferguson, p.236.

  20 Paul Cornish, p.127.

  21 Niall Ferguson, p.236.

  22 4 August 1916, in A.J.P. Taylor, p.112.

  23 Robert Dixon, p.48.

  24 Robert Dixon and Christopher Lee (eds), The Diaries of Frank Hurley 1912–1941 (London: Anthem Press, 2011) p.xxi.

  25 Ibid., p.xxii.

  26 Ibid., p.104.

  27 Ibid., p.xx.

  28 Robert Dixon, p.54.

  29 Ibid., p.48.

  30 ‘Inspection by Two Queens’, The Times, 24 June 1918, p.5.

  31 ‘Over 70 Pearls Yesterday’, The Times, 29 June 1918, p.9.

  CHAPTER TEN

  1 Maurice Baring, ‘Julian Grenfell’ Printed Memorial. Desborough Papers, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies: DD/DRU103.

  2 Nicholas Mosley, p.165.

  3 Ibid., p.65.

  4 Richard Davenport-Hines, p.81.

  5 Niall Ferguson, p.229.

  6 Julian Grenfell, ‘Into Battle’. Quoted in Nicholas Mosley, pp.384–85.