Red Cross Volunteers

This recent Red Cross newsletter reminded me that before I went on holiday I was delving into my inherited War Illustrated magazines.  The Red Cross are also remembering the outbreak of World War 1 and their volunteers and staff who "did everything from nursing to air raid duty to searching for missing people and transporting the wounded" and of course the Red Cross work did not end in 1918 (or indeed ever) and by 1919 the numbers of volunteers had reached 90,000.  The majority of female VADs (Volunteer Aid Detachments) were nurses who organised and managed  the 3000 local axillary hospitals throughout Britain which were set up in a variety of buildings and places but many were also deployed abroad to help in field hospitals. From 20th October the records of the VADs will be available to browse at -  redcross.org.uk/ww1

World War 1 VAD Recruitment Poster

But lets return to August 1914 when the British Red Cross formed the Joint War Committee with the Order of St John and the War Illustrated edition of 22nd August devoted a page to "Woman's Healing Work Amongst the Wounded"

"Group of Red Cross nurses at Newport in the Isle of Wight"

 which gives the impression that the whole of womankind were on the march, setting sail or boarding trains:

Apart from those marching red cross volunteers the other thing that attracted my attention on this page was the ocean going steam yacht

which took me on a fascinating journey through the Internet where I discovered the story of the ship 'Liberty' and the eccentric Tredegar family but more of this later.

 Related Information:-
1. List of Auxiliary Hospitals in the UK During the First World War