Elsie and Mairi Go to War by Diane Atkinson was first published in 2009. It’s an account of what life was like for Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm when they decided to set up their own first aid post at the Western Front, just one month after the outbreak of World War 1.
The author has used their diaries and letters to write the book, I think it would have been better if we had just been allowed to read the diaries and letters ourselves as I don’t see any point in there being a middle person, the reader doesn’t have to be told what to think.
The whole idea of them setting up a first aid post on their own was obviously so that Elsie who was a trained nurse apparently could be top dog and wouldn’t be under orders to the Red Cross. She had to be boss. Mairi who was a lot younger than Elsie seems to have idolised her since they met at a motorcycle club in Bournemouth. Mairi’s parents were not happy about the influence which Elsie seemed to have over their daughter and they were right to be concerned because Elsie turned out to be anything but a good friend and it seems to me that she was mainly interested in Mairi for the money which she could help raise back in Scotland. She came from a well-heeled family and had lots of wealthy contacts.
Reading this book you could be forgiven for thinking that Elsie and Mairi were out there more or less on their own but there were women all over the various battle fronts. Years ago I read a small book called Little Grey Partridge which is the First World War Diary of Ishobel Ross who served with the Scottish Women’s Hospitals unit in Serbia. It has lots of photos but was published in 1988 so might be difficult to get a hold of now.
I have another book which is very good but it must be in the garage, still unpacked since our house move last April. But if you’re interested it’s called – Forgotten Scottish Voices from the Great War by Derek Young. I haven’t read it yet but my brother enjoyed it. The blurb on the back says. Using letters, diaries and first hand accounts together with original photographs, here is the real story of Scotland’s soldiers in the First World War.
I also have unread as yet – Forgotten Voices of the Great War which is a new history of WW1 in the words of the men and women who were there.
The best book which I’ve read recently about the war is Kate Adie’s book – Fighting on the Home Front.