Millicent Sutherland Ambulance Calais

[Neil Clark]

Can anyone please kindly help me out here? What exactly was the Millicent Sutherland Ambulance, Calais???

This plaque hangs inside Sturry parish church near Canterbury in Kent.

Does anyone know about this most unusual organisation?

Sorry about the poor photo. It is made of brass and hangs in a very poorly lit area of the church...

[royalredcross]

This was a hospital financed and run by Millicent Duchess of Sutherland. I think its official designation was No. 9 BRCS.

Try googling it - there's quite a bit of info there.

Norman

[gnr.ktrha]

Hello,

There is a bit about her and her Ambulance in Lyn Macdonald's book ''Roses of No mans Land''. Also, there is a small unit history which covers there story in 1914, written by Millicent Sutherland. I have a copy of it somewhere. They were cut off behind the Front line, but through many trials they managed to get back to the allied side. Because she was a Duchess, she knew many of the Higher Ranking German officers and she seemed to bully them into giving her what she wanted. I also seem to remember that the British Military did not want to know them in 1914, so they joined the French Red Cross.

Regards,

Stewart

[Sue Light]

I also seem to remember that the British Military did not want to know them in 1914, so they joined the French Red Cross.

Following the nursing fiasco in South Africa, the British Government had decided that, in case of another war, they would never allow a situation to develop whereby well off and titled 'society' women were allowed to use their wealth and influence to give half-baked nursing care to British soldiers.

The Duchess of Sutherland dressed herself up as a Red Cross nurse, titled herself 'Sister Millicent', and sailed for France during the first few days of the War with a group of nurses [unpaid] whose training would not have secured them jobs with the British military nursing services. The French didn't want her, the Belgians didn't know what to do with her, and luckily the Germans managed to push her back to England via Holland. When she returned to France it was under the tight control and organisation of the British Red Cross Society, supervising a hospital staffed by properly trained medical and nursing personnel. Rumour has it that she used her organising talents to good effect for the remainder of the war, but never as a nurse.

For the sake of our soldiers, thank goodness it was unacceptable to the British then. Today, I cannot imagine a situation where any member of HM Forces, in a theatre of war, would be happy to be nursed at the front line by a British duchess [untrained] with a red cross on her bosom.

Sue

[Terry_Reeves]

As RRC has noted it was No 9 Red Cross Hospital and was at Calais. "Locations of Hospitals and Casualty Clearing Stations" has it there from 12.1.16 - 14.3.18., although I have a note showing it there in 1915. It was located somewhere along the Calais - Le Treport Road.

Terry Reeves

[Neil Clark]

Thank you Norman, Terry, Stewart and Sue (Not in that order)...

As always the forum comes up trumps!

Neil

[Sue Light]

When she returned to France, her first hospital was in Dunkirk, and through the spring and early summer of 1915 was open/closed at various times, and had a lot of staffing problems, particularly as the female nurses were expected to offer their services voluntarily while the male orderlies were being paid 28/- a week.

The nursing press had quite a lot to say about her - this is from the pen of Ethel Bedford Fenwick in the British Journal of Nursing in October 1914:

Society at the Front

'The pose of the Red Cross nurse has lost its first freshness in “Society,” and we heard a grande dame remark recently that it was now considered quite démodé to rush off to the front, but the half-penny papers have shown us some wonderful specimens of “nurses in War dress” during the past week. Lady Dorothy Fielding, talking to Belgian officers, is garbed in what might be mistaken for a “bandit” habit – coat to knees, puttees, spats, thick boots, cap, badge, and water-bottle. This, we presume, is not the sick ward costume she wears as a Red Cross Nurse.

The Duchess of Westminster, who did after all go to Paris with her hospital, is, on the other hand, quite in Puritan pose – with the addition of very high-heeled shoes and a liberal display of silk stocking. What the wonderful ruby and diamond cross suspended on her bosom denotes, we do not know, but the pet wolf-hound has gone along – and will, presumably, prevent its [mistress] being snatched by bye battle-field ghoul, when her Grace is under fire picking up the wounded.'

Sue

[SiegeGunner]

Sue,

I hold no brief for the Duchess of Sutherland or the Duchess of Westminster, but Lady Dorothie Feilding never professed to be a nurse. She was an ambulance driver with the Munro Ambulance Corps and transported wounded men from front line positions between Nieuport and Dixmude to the hospitals at Furnes. She served in Belgium for two years and eight months, between September 1914 and June 1917. Her ambulance work at Dixmude was recognised in a special order of the day issued by Admiral Ronarc'h, commanding the French Fusiliers Marins, on 31 December 1914. She was also decorated by King Albert for her work with the Belgian army.

Commander Henry Halahan RN, OC Royal Naval Siege Guns (see my avatar), wrote the following letter of recommendation to Prince Alexander of Teck, head of the British Military Mission in Belgium, which ultimately resulted in Lady Dorothie becoming the first British woman to receive the MM:

"....As neither a Medical Officer nor an ambulance were provided, arrangements were made with the Chief of the Munro Ambulance Corps to provide a doctor and ambulance as required by me .... Dr Henry Jellett volunteered for the duty with us and he, with an Ambulance has attended on us on every occasion of firing from February 1915 to March 1916 when a Naval Surgeon was appointed. Recently I have been furnished with a Naval motor ambulance and this marks the final severance with the Munro Corps. Lady Dorothie Feilding as a member of this Corps has driven the Munro Motor Ambulance and attended our wounded during the whole of the aforementioned period. Dr Jellet's services have already been recognised and I venture to submit that Lady Dorothie Feilding should in like manner be rewarded. The circumstances are peculiar in that, this being an isolated Unit, no Medical organisation existed for clearing casualties other than this voluntary one and owing to indifferent means of communication etc, it was necessary for the Ambulance to be in close touch with the guns when in action. Lady Dorothie Feilding was thus frequently exposed to risks which probably no other woman has undergone. She has always displayed a devotion to duty and contempt of danger which has been a source of admiration to all. I speak only of her work with the Naval Siege Guns, but your Serene Highness is also aware of her devoted services to the Belgian Army and to the French - notably to the Brigade des Marins."

She wore the 'bandit habit' that attracted the scorn of Ethel Bedford Fenwick because she spent her time not in a sick ward but behind the wheel of an open-fronted motor ambulance, negotiating battered roads in all weathers, and often at night.

Although her status and personal qualities may have attracted attention, her case should not to be confused with grandes dames playing nurses.

Mick

[Neil Clark]

The value of this forum is clearly demonstrated here. Anyone seeking information in the future about this unusual organisation will be able to see it on this thread. Well done and thanks to all of you...

Neil

[Sue Light]

Mick

I totally agree with you about Dorothy Feilding, and wouldn't want to detract from her service during the war - I left the passage complete to give some idea of the animosity of the professional nurse towards the rush to the Front at that time. But it was published on 10 October 1914, and I feel that it might not then have been evident back in England that Lady Feilding was engaged on rather different work to most of the other Society women. I assume that the editiorial was in response to some newspaper pictures of various women, which may have suggested they were all 'nursing.'

By the spring of 1915 her work was recognised, and she is one of the few 'non-nurses' who were publicly congratulated in the nursing press for their actions.

Sue

[SiegeGunner]

Sue,

Thanks for that. I'd be grateful for a pointer to appreciative mentions of her work in the nursing press. The Naval Siege Guns frequently took a heavy pasting in 1915-16 and had many wounded, but comparatively few fatalities - something that was attributed in no small part to the professional skill of Dr Jellet (known as 'Jelly') and the fearless driving of Lady Dorothie (known as 'Lady D'). Jellet, incidentally, was an unlikely field surgeon, as in civilian life he was an eminent Dublin gynaecologist.

The pic below, taken in the yard of the hospital at Furnes, shows Lady Dorothie with two other MM winners, Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm, the Women of Pervyse.

Mick

[Sue Light]

Mick

I know that I passed some by when I was going through the Nursing Mirror and Hospital some time back, but didn't reference it as it wasn't what I was looking for. I think that Nursing Mirror was under rather gentler editorship at that time! There are certainly some references in British Journal of Nursing but you've probably seen those - a search needs every variety of mis-spellings of both forename and surname [and I apologise for falling into the same trap earlier!].

British Journal of Nursing

But perhaps I was being a bit naive about them all being complimentary. Having re-read this one [again Ethel B. F.] I wonder if she is talking with barbed tongue again Under the innocuous heading The Order of Leopold [recently awarded to Lady Dorothie and Miss Chisholm], she concludes:

'It is reported that Lady Dorothy's 'five o'clock teas' among the ruins of the town have gained great fame amongst the Belgian officers.'

I hope I'm right in thinking the best of E.B.F.

Sue

[royalredcross]

I think that EBF's views were always coloured by the fight for registration. If a woman was not a properly trained nurse, then she had no right tending woulded. She published some marvellous editorials about titled ladies in the Boer War and was not particularly complimentary about Lady Chesham and the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital.

You can't really blame her. Even in 1914, it was still assumed that social position was an adequate qualification for command among women. Try this one from EBF in 1900

"We think the best way to put an end to the repetition of this farce is to prohibit the landing of lady's maids in the enemy's country. "Me leddy" is quite prepared to assume the responsibility of a trained Superintendent of Nursing, but she doesn't appreciate buttoning her own boots!"

Norman

[SiegeGunner]

'It is reported that Lady Dorothy's 'five o'clock teas' among the ruins of the town have gained great fame amongst the Belgian officers.'

Thanks again Sue. I didn't have all the BJN mentions (but I do now). Although the Munro Ambulance Corps was officially attached to the Belgian army, there was some resistance from field officers to the women working at the front-line dressing station at Pervyse. Lady Dorothie, Mrs Knocker and Mairi Chisholm therefore launched a charm offensive to win the hearts and minds of the Belgian officers and secure their cooperation. They not only gave tea to the officers, they also took cocoa, soup and cigarettes to the men in the trenches.

Lady Dorothie may have carried out some auxiliary tasks at Pervyse (under the direction of Mrs Knocker, a trained nurse) and with the Naval Siege Guns (under the direction of Dr Jellett) - in both cases because there were no other trained personnel present - but she was first and foremost an ambulance driver, and it was for transporting wounded men from the front to the hospitals at Furnes, often under fire, that she was awarded the MM, the French Croix de Guerre and the Belgian Order of Leopold.

The attached photo of the ambulance Lady Dorothie drove was given to me by her daughter. I think the woman standing beside it is Helen Gleason (but I'd grateful to hear if anyone knows otherwise).

Mick

Mick

[Neil Clark]

Just found a whole chapter on this unit in Gerald Glidden's excellent British Aristocrats in the Great War....

If anyone wants I shall give an overview here....

Neil

[SiegeGunner]

Just found a whole chapter on this unit in Gerald Glidden's excellent British Aristocrats in the Great War....

If anyone wants I shall give an overview here....

Neil,

Amazon want £37 for Gerald Gliddon's 'The Aristocracy and the Great War', so yes please. Your opinion on whether the book is worth the money would also be good.

Thanks

Mick

[asdarley]

A fascinating string and the more so because only today I read the following on a plaque in my village hall.

In loving remembrance of

Dorothy Charlotte Edith Wingfield Digby

who died Sept 24th 1918

while serving with the Red Cross

in the Great War

Aged 24

This Hall is erected by her mother

The Wingfield Digbys still own most of this bit of Dorset( well 7,000 acres of it!) and still live in Sherborne Castle but Dorothys family actually lived in the village here. A society girl who made the ultimate sacrifice

A question: Would she have been known as a VAD?

[Potter]

The Duke of Sutherland was the local aristocrat for the Staffordshire Potteries, as well as owning extensive land in north east Scotland.

Millicent was known locally in The Potteries as "Meddling Millicent", though she engaged in good causes, such as campaigning to improve conditions in the pottery industry caused by dust and lead glazes. Arnold Bennett used her in "The Card" where she features as the Countess of Chell.

Phil

[marina]

If anyone wants I shall give an overview here....

Neil

Yes, please!

Marina

[SiegeGunner]

And a second 'yes, please' from me too.

Mick

[christine liava'a]

Two recent copies of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists magazine have articles about Nurse Mildred Gertrude Rees, a member of the Sutherland Ambulance, and a fully qualified NZ nurse. She was one of the 8 nurses and a doctor based at Namur Belgium under the auspices of the Belgium Service de Sante de Z'Armee. The first article relates her history and the second is about her medals and insignia. She was mentioned in despatches and received an Associate Royal Red Cross, as well as the 1914 Star, BWM,Victory medal and the QAIMNSR medal. If anyone wants a copy, I could scan them for you

Christine

[Sue Light]

Christine

[sorry if you have all this already!]

By January of 1915 she had detached herself from the Millicent Sutherland Ambulance, presumably at the time they left Belgium/Holland and returned to England. She returned to London where she had been working prior to the war, and applied to the War Office to join Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve, and was accepted. She served with the British service from 10 February 1915 until she was demobilised on 6 April 1919, a total of 4 years and 55 days, with a three month gap in late 1918/early 1919 when she returned to New Zealand after the death of her sister.

The QAIMNSR 'medal' refers to her service badge, given to all members on appointment and worn on the right side of her uniform cape.

I have the details from her QAIMNS service file - let me know if it might be of any use to you or others.

Sue