Doctor George Sandison Brock, British Red Cross and Order of St John of Jerusalem

[Old Owl]

Hi All,

I am trying to confirm London Gazette dates for the above Doctor who served in Italy with the BRC and OSJJ during WW1.

According to information found online he was made a Commander of the Order of the Crown (Italy) and also awarded the MBE? in 1921? He was also awarded the French War medal with the Emblem for Nurses (or L'Insigne des Infirmieres) attached to the ribbon and the Croce Rossa Italiana in silver.

Any help much appreciated,

TIA, Robert

[KizmeRD]

His MBE is Gazetted here (NY’s Honours List 1919)

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/31114/supplement/447

During the war, Dr Brock volunteered his services as head of the Villa Trento Field Hospital, situated in the Trentino–Alto Adige region between Udine and Gorizia in north-east Italy.

https://archive.org/details/scenesfromitalys00trevuoft/page/102/mode/2up?q=Brock

https://archive.org/details/scenesfromitalys00trevuoft/page/102/mode/2up?q=Brock

MB

 

 

[Old Owl]

11 minutes ago, KizmeRD said:

His MBE is Gazetted here (NY’s Honours List 1919)

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/31114/supplement/447

During the war, Dr Brock volunteered his services as head of the Villa Trento Field Hospital, situated in the Trentino–Alto Adige region between Udine and Gorizia in north-east Italy.

https://archive.org/details/scenesfromitalys00trevuoft/page/102/mode/2up?q=Brock

https://archive.org/details/scenesfromitalys00trevuoft/page/102/mode/2up?q=Brock

MB

 

 

Many thanks MB for your assistance--most helpful,

Best, Robert

[ForeignGong]

Hi

I have him as follows

Senior Medical Officer of BRC Hospital Unit No 1, Italy. Crown 5th Cl under File: FO 372/1141 Treaty: Italy 1918.

Service ribbon with two stars under File: FO 372/1317 Treaty: Orders (Decorations) Italy 1919

Red Cross Medal of Merit, Silver with Palm. REFUSED. under File: FO 372/1317 Treaty: Orders (Decorations) Italy 1919

Commander Order of the Crown, Italy, LG Page 179 | Issue 32185, 7 January 1921 | London Gazette | The Gazette

Plus the MBE above.

 

Peter

[KizmeRD]

There’s a photo of the hospital in the IWM collection…

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205327870
 

MB

[Old Owl]

7 hours ago, ForeignGong said:

Hi

I have him as follows

Senior Medical Officer of BRC Hospital Unit No 1, Italy. Crown 5th Cl under File: FO 372/1141 Treaty: Italy 1918.

Service ribbon with two stars under File: FO 372/1317 Treaty: Orders (Decorations) Italy 1919

Red Cross Medal of Merit, Silver with Palm. REFUSED. under File: FO 372/1317 Treaty: Orders (Decorations) Italy 1919

Commander Order of the Crown, Italy, LG Page 179 | Issue 32185, 7 January 1921 | London Gazette | The Gazette

Plus the MBE above.

 

Peter

Many thanks Peter,

Does this mean he could wear both the Order of the Crown 5th class and the Commander of the Order of the Crown or did the latter automatically trump the lower order? I know that this happened with British Orders, so must assume that this is the same for Italian ones as well?

Can you explain how the Service ribbon with two stars (Italy) was worn--did it have a medal attached or was it simply a ribbon with two stars attached--do you have an image of such an item?

Rather a shame that his Red Cross Medal of Merit with silver palm was refused--was this the Italian medal 'Croce Rossa Italiana'?

Many thanks once again for sharing your expertise in such matters,

Best, Robert

[Old Owl]

1 hour ago, KizmeRD said:

There’s a photo of the hospital in the IWM collection…

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205327870
 

MB

Many thanks MB,

This is a great image and something which I had not come across previously--a very useful addition,

Best, Robert

[ZeZe]

Hi Robert,

Encase you haven’t read it, Dr Brock is mentioned several times in Freya Stark’s early years autobiography ‘Travellers Prelude’ Chapter 15. The chapter covers the period September to November 1917 when the Austrians went on the offensive.

‘I was taken in the staff car to Cormons with Dr Brock and Sir Alexander Ogsten. Went by Blesivo where the roads are still hidden from the Austrians by tall screens of reeds...… Cormons is still within range but not fired on, but Dr Brock said a shell burst a few yards away from him while driving there.’

I did try and identify all the personnel Freya mentions in the chapter from B.R.C. records etc. Hope it’s OK to list them:

George Macaulay Trevelyan, Field Ambulance Villa Trento, Italy.

Mr Thomas Ambler. Driver. Cert. 11127. Rank Chauffeur

Miss Elizabeth Coghill Bartholomew. (Barty) Cert 9890, Passport No. 187029. Nurse. (Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps)

Miss Elsie Roma Thompson Bonar. (Bonie) Cert. 11323. Passport No. 62619. Nurse.

Miss Elizabeth (Bessie, Bosy) Bosanquet. Cert. 8205. Nurse.

Mr Harold Wilson Braithwaite. Driver. Cert. 7176. Rank Chauffeur.

Miss Brechin. Sister. (Janet Duncan ? - possible match)

Dr George Sandison Brock, 6 Corso d’Italia, Rome.

Miss Muriel Carr.

Eringer ?

Miss G (Olive Eva Gillam ? - possible match)

Mr Hay ?

Miss Ethel May Hurley. Cert. 12875

Miss Margaret Jameson. Cert 11175. Passport No. 179820?

Mr Johnson ? – Driver

Miss Clara Louise Murray. Cert 11829. passport No. 183266 (nearest match)

Mr Page ? – Driver

Miss Hilda Margaret Struthers. Cert. 11176, Passport No. 205027

Miss Ruth Trant. Cert. 14024, Passport No. 181897

Mr Jeffrey Overend Wood (Cobby). Driver

Regards ZeZe

Edited 15 March , 2023 by ZeZe

[ForeignGong]

16 hours ago, Old Owl said:

Many thanks Peter,

Does this mean he could wear both the Order of the Crown 5th class and the Commander of the Order of the Crown or did the latter automatically trump the lower order? I know that this happened with British Orders, so must assume that this is the same for Italian ones as well?

Can you explain how the Service ribbon with two stars (Italy) was worn--did it have a medal attached or was it simply a ribbon with two stars attached--do you have an image of such an item?

Rather a shame that his Red Cross Medal of Merit with silver palm was refused--was this the Italian medal 'Croce Rossa Italiana'?

Many thanks once again for sharing your expertise in such matters,

Best, Robert

Hi Robert

Not sure on the way the Italians worked with upgrades of awards but the British, the higher award cancelled the lower.

Below is the Croce Rossa Italiana appears to be same medal

Edited 16 March , 2023 by ForeignGong

[alf mcm]

ZeZe,

  Janet Duncan Brechin is a good guess. I have been researching her over a few years now but have not found much about her military service. At the start of the war she was a District Nurse at Bo'ness, Linlithgowshire.  A local newspaper report recorded that she was working as a Nurse in a hospital in Gorizia, Italy in 1917. This was after working at Bangour War Hospital.

   An Italian branch of the British Red Cross was formed in 1915 with it's own Commissioner, Lord Monson. Over 1,000 men and women joined, and Muriel Carr was one of them. Her Red Cross card shows 'Italy' after 'Commission', and she has an Italian address.

  I am looking at Traveller's Prelude' on archive.org and it is very easy to search particular names.

Regards,

Alf McM

 

[Old Owl]

17 hours ago, ZeZe said:

Hi Robert,

Encase you haven’t read it, Dr Brock is mentioned several times in Freya Stark’s early years autobiography ‘Travellers Prelude’ Chapter 15. The chapter covers the period September to November 1917 when the Austrians went on the offensive.

‘I was taken in the staff car to Cormons with Dr Brock and Sir Alexander Ogsten. Went by Blesivo where the roads are still hidden from the Austrians by tall screens of reeds...… Cormons is still within range but not fired on, but Dr Brock said a shell burst a few yards away from him while driving there.’

I did try and identify all the personnel Freya mentions in the chapter from B.R.C. records etc. Hope it’s OK to list them:

George Macaulay Trevelyan, Field Ambulance Villa Trento, Italy.

Mr Thomas Ambler. Driver. Cert. 11127. Rank Chauffeur

Miss Elizabeth Coghill Bartholomew. (Barty) Cert 9890, Passport No. 187029. Nurse. (Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps)

Miss Elsie Roma Thompson Bonar. (Bonie) Cert. 11323. Passport No. 62619. Nurse.

Miss Elizabeth (Bessie, Bosy) Bosanquet. Cert. 8205. Nurse.

Mr Harold Wilson Braithwaite. Driver. Cert. 7176. Rank Chauffeur.

Miss Brechin. Sister. (Janet Duncan ? - possible match)

Dr George Sandison Brock, 6 Corso d’Italia, Rome.

Miss Muriel Carr.

Eringer ?

Miss G (Olive Eva Gillam ? - possible match)

Mr Hay ?

Miss Ethel May Hurley. Cert. 12875

Miss Margaret Jameson. Cert 11175. Passport No. 179820?

Mr Johnson ? – Driver

Miss Clara Louise Murray. Cert 11829. passport No. 183266 (nearest match)

Mr Page ? – Driver

Miss Hilda Margaret Struthers. Cert. 11176, Passport No. 205027

Miss Ruth Trant. Cert. 14024, Passport No. 181897

Mr Jeffrey Overend Wood (Cobby). Driver

Regards ZeZe

Many thanks ZeZe for this information which is most useful and which I shall now add to Dr Brock's file.

Best, Robert

[Old Owl]

8 hours ago, ForeignGong said:

Hi Robert

Not sure on the way the Italians worked with upgrades of awards but the British, the higher award cancelled the lower.

Below is the Croce Rossa Italiana appears to be same medal

Hi Peter,

That is pretty much what I had imagined for his Order of the Crown upgrade and makes perfect sense.

Thank you for the image of the Croce Rossa Italiana--strangely he wears this exact medal in his group but with no silver palm--could it be that the wearing of the palm was refused but that the medal was awarded to him? A little confusing as I doubt he would have worn the medal without it having been awarded/gazetted to him. Any thoughts much appreciated.

I know that Foreign awards to British personnel can be a bit of a grey area at times, and that the possibility of 'self awarded' decorations is always possible, but to such a high profile recipient it would seem to be unlikely.

Many thanks again for your assistance,

Best, Robert

 

[ForeignGong]

Robert

BRCS & St John plus all the other societies, were given permission to accept foreign awards without going through the War Office and Foreign Office, as the WO/FO had enough to do with the armed forces. Maybe a visit to the BRCS or St John archives will throw some light on this.

The File: FO 372/1317 Treaty: Orders (Decorations) Italy 1919 I gave above, may have been if he applied for permission to wear from the Foreign Office.

He was more than likely to have already been given the award earlier in the war, through the agreement above and when he was gazetted the Commander of the Crown Order, thought he would ask.

 

Who knows.

Peter

[KizmeRD]

There’s a jolly photo of Il Dottore Brock in the link below (in between two Italian army doctors) - he was 57 when he volunteered to serve in the hospital at Villa Trento.

https://digitalcollections.bsr.ac.uk/islandora/object/WWI%3A3?solr_nav[id]=70ad1d16190df7cbc51f&solr_nav[page]=0&solr_nav[offset]=0

MB

edit - see also a description of the hospital in the following link…

https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesoft00ogstrich/page/262/mode/2up?q=Brock

 

Edited 16 March , 2023 by KizmeRD

[KizmeRD]

On 15/03/2023 at 16:18, ZeZe said:

Hi Robert,

Encase you haven’t read it, Dr Brock is mentioned several times in Freya Stark’s early years autobiography ‘Travellers Prelude’ Chapter 15. The chapter covers the period September to November 1917 when the Austrians went on the offensive.

‘I was taken in the staff car to Cormons with Dr Brock and Sir Alexander Ogsten. Went by Blesivo where the roads are still hidden from the Austrians by tall screens of reeds...… Cormons is still within range but not fired on, but Dr Brock said a shell burst a few yards away from him while driving there.’

I did try and identify all the personnel Freya mentions in the chapter from B.R.C. records etc. Hope it’s OK to list them:

Regards ZeZe

You missed out Victor Silvester (the famous ballroom dancer and band leader), he is described as having receiving an ankle injury from shrapnel (‘Sylvester’), and was employed in Trevelyan’s Red Cross Ambulance unit.

MB

Edited 21 March , 2023 by KizmeRD

[Old Owl]

5 hours ago, ForeignGong said:

Robert

BRCS & St John plus all the other societies, were given permission to accept foreign awards without going through the War Office and Foreign Office, as the WO/FO had enough to do with the armed forces. Maybe a visit to the BRCS or St John archives will throw some light on this.

The File: FO 372/1317 Treaty: Orders (Decorations) Italy 1919 I gave above, may have been if he applied for permission to wear from the Foreign Office.

He was more than likely to have already been given the award earlier in the war, through the agreement above and when he was gazetted the Commander of the Crown Order, thought he would ask.

 

Who knows.

Peter

Many thanks again Peter,

It seems that there are several grey areas at work here--I suppose that because the BRCS employed civilians rather than soldiers, then what the BRCS members wore by way of medals was little to do with the War Office, apart from the British campaign medals with which they were issued by the W.O.

Interestingly his group, mounted as worn, also includes a "Primrose League" medal which would be a definite 'No No' for a soldier in uniform.

Best, Robert

[Old Owl]

3 hours ago, KizmeRD said:

There’s a jolly photo of Il Dottori Brock in the link below (in between two Italian army doctors) - he was 57 when he volunteered to serve in the hospital at Villa Trento.

https://digitalcollections.bsr.ac.uk/islandora/object/WWI%3A3?solr_nav[id]=70ad1d16190df7cbc51f&solr_nav[page]=0&solr_nav[offset]=0

MB

This is a great image MB, and a most useful addition to my file,

Many thanks for the link, 

Best, Robert

[alf mcm]

The following article is from the British Journal of Nursing, 25th November 1916;-

Volume 58 Page 414 (rcn.org.uk)

AN AMBULANCE UNIT IN ITALY.

Miss Swift has recently returned from Italy, where she has been visiting No. I Red Cross Hospital, Villa Trento, San Giovanni de Manzano, an old 17th century residence kindly lent by the Conte di Trento. It is No. I Ambulance Unit to Italy, sent out by the Joint War Committee. It is equipped as a field hospital, and has accommodation for 150 beds. At the outbreak of war the hospital was only twelve miles from the firing-line, and up to September last 2,596 patients had been treated. There is also an out-patients’ department. The patients are, of course, Italians, and they much appreciate all the care and good nursing which they receive from the British Sisters. To receive such skilled attention has possibly never been their experience on any previous occasion. The hospital is well equipped with an operating theatre, X-ray room, isolation block, and every convenience. The staff consists of one physician, two surgeons, one Matron, and three Sisters. A number of V.A.D.’s act as assistant! nurses and probationers. While in Rome, Miss Swift was received by the Queen of Italy, and visited her hospital at the Quirinal. She was also received by the Duchess d’Aosta in the war zone. Her Royal Highness is at the head of the V.A.D. in Italy. Rest statiops and trains for conveying the wounded were also visited.

And this from 16th June 1917;-

Volume 58 Page 414 (rcn.org.uk)

Miss Mabel Esther Price, Assistant Matron :of Paddington Infirmary, has recently been decorated for distinguished service. Miss Price joined the first contingent of British Nurses for the Italian front, receiving six months' leave of absence from the Infirmary. The unit took station at the Villa Trento, behind the lines of the Isonzo, and did good service in succouring the wounded in the early days of the campaign. When the King of Italy visited the front, accompanied by Prince Arthur of Connaught, Miss Price was presented and received the Italian War Ribbon. During part [The page ends here, and I can't figure out how to get the next page!].

  It's good to know that at least one of the nursing staff was given an Italian award.

Regards,

Alf McM

[Old Owl]

7 hours ago, alf mcm said:

The following article is from the British Journal of Nursing, 25th November 1916;-

Volume 58 Page 414 (rcn.org.uk)

AN AMBULANCE UNIT IN ITALY.

Miss Swift has recently returned from Italy, where she has been visiting No. I Red Cross Hospital, Villa Trento, San Giovanni de Manzano, an old 17th century residence kindly lent by the Conte di Trento. It is No. I Ambulance Unit to Italy, sent out by the Joint War Committee. It is equipped as a field hospital, and has accommodation for 150 beds. At the outbreak of war the hospital was only twelve miles from the firing-line, and up to September last 2,596 patients had been treated. There is also an out-patients’ department. The patients are, of course, Italians, and they much appreciate all the care and good nursing which they receive from the British Sisters. To receive such skilled attention has possibly never been their experience on any previous occasion. The hospital is well equipped with an operating theatre, X-ray room, isolation block, and every convenience. The staff consists of one physician, two surgeons, one Matron, and three Sisters. A number of V.A.D.’s act as assistant! nurses and probationers. While in Rome, Miss Swift was received by the Queen of Italy, and visited her hospital at the Quirinal. She was also received by the Duchess d’Aosta in the war zone. Her Royal Highness is at the head of the V.A.D. in Italy. Rest statiops and trains for conveying the wounded were also visited.

And this from 16th June 1917;-

Volume 58 Page 414 (rcn.org.uk)

Miss Mabel Esther Price, Assistant Matron :of Paddington Infirmary, has recently been decorated for distinguished service. Miss Price joined the first contingent of British Nurses for the Italian front, receiving six months' leave of absence from the Infirmary. The unit took station at the Villa Trento, behind the lines of the Isonzo, and did good service in succouring the wounded in the early days of the campaign. When the King of Italy visited the front, accompanied by Prince Arthur of Connaught, Miss Price was presented and received the Italian War Ribbon. During part [The page ends here, and I can't figure out how to get the next page!].

  It's good to know that at least one of the nursing staff was given an Italian award.

Regards,

Alf McM

Many thanks for this Alf.

I am not entirely certain what the presentation of the 'Italian War Ribbon' refers to unless it is the same as the 'Italian Service Ribbon' awarded to Dr Brock.

I would be most interested to hear from anyone who could elaborate on this 'award' or provide an image of same,

Best, Robert

 

 

[KizmeRD]

@ZeZe I think you can also add the name of Edith Teresa Hulton to the list of VAD nurses working for the 1st British Red Cross Unit at Villa Trento. After the war she married and became Lady Berwick. I believe she also received the Italian Croce de Guerra (awarded January 1919).

Possibly also working alongside her sister Gioconda.

See photos below…

MB

Edited 26 March , 2023 by KizmeRD

[ZeZe]

Hi MB,

Thanks for the info & photos for Edith Teresa Hulton. Have you any idea who the Matron was? She is mentioned on 5^th Sept, a Miss Power, part of Freya’s description of her, ...'pince-nez and nez retrousse´, and very pretty I should think when young'. She ‘had been through the Serbian campaign’.

A few other names I jotted down:

Dr Thompson (Reverend?), Miss Ewebank, Miss Sullivan, Miss Gibson, Mr Glazebrook, Mr Ashby, Miss Gordon, Mr Mayer, Mr Henderson, Miss Kemball

Regards ZeZe

 

[alf mcm]

ZeZe,

   I have found some of the names you recorded;-

Mr Ernest Martin THOMPSON – Driver {Red Cross Cards – Italian Awards} or

Mr Arthur George THOMPSON – Driver {Red Cross Cards} – 3 Red Cross Ambulance Unit

{Both different dates} 

Miss Edith Frances GIBSON – VAD Chauffeuse {Red Cross Cards} 

Miss Hilda May GORDON – Nursing VAD {Red Cross Record Card}

Mr Malcolm HENDERSON – Motor Cyclist {Red Cross Card and Medal Roll}

Miss Eva Margaret KEMBALL – VAD Housekeeper & Quartermaster {Red Cross Cards}

Regards,

Alf McM

[KizmeRD]

Since the thread is primarily about Dr. Brock and his wartime service at Villa Trento, care needs to be taken to avoid inadvertently including names of other humanitarian activists working in Italy at the time. I say that because I made that mistake with Teresa Hulton, who although being a regular visitor to Villa Trento, wasn’t actually on the staff of the hospital (I got mislead after seeing a photo of her in a car belonging to the 1st British Red Cross Unit). In fact, she was more involved with helping out Mrs Watkins Railway Canteen team based nearby at Cervignano and in organising the supply of bedding and other essential items to the hospital (donated by the Anglo-British community in Italy). That said, she did eventually become a VAD nurse, working at the American Hospital for Italian Injured in Florence.

As is known, the 1st British Red Cross Unit was set up by G.M. Trevelyan in August 1915. It initially comprised of about 50 personnel, half of whom were ambulance drivers and the other half were medical staff (and around half of the medical staff were female). Dr Brock was the Medical Director, and Trevelyan was the so called Commandant of the unit (in overall charge, but more actively involved on the ambulance side. They arrived in Italy with 24 vehicles and by the end of the war Trevelyan’s ambulance unit was operated some 35 vehicles. 

Villa Trento (the alloted base for the 1st British Red Cross Unit) opened in September 1915 and continued until the Italian defeat at Caporetto, when the hospital needed to be evacuated ahead of the rapidly advancing Austrian and German army (end of October 1917). It would appear that most of the hospital medical staff dispersed after the evacuation, but the ambulance side of things continued on through to the Armistice, by which time there were four other British Red Cross ambulance units operating in Italy (all operating on an entirely separate basis).

The nucleus of this unit comprised of prominent British expats (many with connections to the British School in Rome), including Archaeologists, Artists and Historians, reinforced by a significant number of Quakers (recruited from the FAU). 

As regards many of the names involved, they were clearly an exceptionally talented lot. This list is not yet complete, but amongst others it includes…

Ambulance Unit

G.M. Trevelyan (Cambridge Historian and expert on Garibaldi). Awarded Silver Military Medal for Valour by the King of Italy (in person).     https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._M._Trevelyan

Henry Tonks (Slade Professor of Fine Art) and himself a former trained surgeon, also a Quaker, began the war working at a PoW camp in Dorset, then as an orderly at a British Red Cross Hospital near the Marne, before joining Trevelyan’s Ambulance Unit in Italy. Later Tonks became a war artist on the Western Front and in Northern Russia.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Tonks

(Sir) Roland Penrose https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Penrose  Student, Quaker, surrealist Painter, who only joined the Ambulance unit late in the war in August 18 (aged 18).   https://archive.org/details/rolandpenrosefri0000penr/page/16/mode/1up

(17 year old) Victor Silvester (previously mentioned) - awarded bronze military medal for valour after being injured whilst transporting wounded Italian soldiers.    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Silvester

Lionel P. Sessions, Architect, Scholar of the British School in Rome. Also had a leg amputated through shrapnel injury. Awarded silver military medal for valour. Friend of the young Victor Silvester (he appeared on ‘This is Your Life with a videoed tribute to the band leader).

Geoffrey Winthrop Young (formerly BRCS-FAU Dunkirk), a renown mountaineer and poet who had his leg amputated due to a shrapnel injury received at Caporetto - awarded the silver military medal for valour. After the war he continued mountaineering, becoming the first person to scale the Matterhorn with a prosthetic leg. Along with Noel-Baker, he was instrumental in 1914 for the deployment of the original FAU in Dunkirk and also (at the request of Trevelyan) the new ambulance unit in Italy. Photo below.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Winthrop_Young

Francis William Sargant, accomplished sculptor, trained at the Slade School, ran a gallery in Florence.    
(British Red Cross Unit No.2)         https://artuk.org/discover/artists/sargant-francis-william-18701960

Medical Staff

Our main man, Doctor Brock, Medical Director and Chief Surgeon.

Sir Alexander Ogston, eminent Scottish Surgeon, joined medical staff August 1916 (a seventy year old veteran of both the Egyptian War and the Boer Wars)   https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Ogstonhttps://archive.org/details/reminiscencesoft00ogstrich/page/262/mode/2up

I haven’t yet got round to researching the nursing staff, but I can confirm that EMILY POWER was the Matron and there were at least two other trained nurses working under her at Villa Trento (who both returned to Italy in the immediate post-war period to assist with TB and public health as part of an American Red Cross contingent). They were Elsie MacDonald (originally from Scotland), and Katherine C. DeLong, (a Canadian).

Orderlies - Thomas Ashby https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Ashby   Archaeologist and photographer, Quaker, close friend of Trevelyan, who after the war became Director of the British School in Rome.

And an Scottish born chap called George Brown Barbour, a Cambridge educated geologist who began the war with the Friends Ambulance Unit in Dunkirk.   Later taught at the University of Cincinnati. https://www.geosociety.org/documents/gsa/memorials/v09/Barbour-GB.pdf

More to come, I’m sure.

MB

Edited 26 March , 2023 by KizmeRD

[KizmeRD]

It appears that the Thompson referred to in Freya’s book is Dr. W.E. Thompson. 
https://archive.org/details/1919britishmedic01brit/page/483/mode/1up?q=Thompson

But there was also a Rupert S. Thompson on the ambulance staff too.

Also came across a husband and wife pairing at Villa Trento, and again, they are two very interesting characters…

Philip Baker (Philip Noel-Baker) Labour Politician and Disarmament advocate.

Leading light of the Friends Ambulance Unit in 1914, i/c FAU at Dunkirk, thereafter adjutant to 1st British Red Cross Unit in Italy. Awarded the Silver Medal for Military Valor (1917) and the Croce di Guerra (1918 ).

He is the only man to have won both an Olympic Medal (middle distance Runner) and a Nobel (Peace) Prize. His wife, Irene (nee Noel) also worked at Villa Trento (as a VAD). Up until the time of their marriage Irene had been a very close friend of Virginia Woolf (a friendship that ended with her marriage). Philip and Irene both adopted the hyphenated surname Noel-Baker.

https://archive.org/details/fighterforpeacep0000whit/page/21/mode/1up

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Noel-Baker

MB

Edit - Philip and Irene were working together with the BRCS-FAU Unit at Dunkirk 1914/15. They married soon afterwards (prior to heading off to Italy). 

 

 

 

Edited 26 March , 2023 by KizmeRD

[KizmeRD]

The British School in Rome put on an exhibition of photographs from Thomas Ashby’s collection to mark the centenary of WW1.

These photos were put together in a YouTube clip, and provide really nice details of everyday life in and around Villa Trento.

MB