The New Constitutional Society,
For Women’s Suffrage, gathered
At the Knightsbridge Palace Hotel,
To hear of exploits of English ladies,
Whose skill, devotion and bravery
Saw them through wartime events.
The meeting centred on experiences
Of Mrs Stobart’s Antwerp Hospital -
Also accounts of her arrest as a spy
In Brussels under German occupation
The talk also centered on a Doctor
Florence Stoney, head of medical staff,
And X-ray specialist of the hospital.
Led by Mrs Cecil Chapman, the meeting
Requested donations for a new expedition
To the hospital, to be taken under French
Red Cross – Sums and pledges came in.
Mrs Carr Edison promised an addition
To the unit, a complete fitted ambulance.
Mrs Stobbart began by explaining
How, upon her arrival in Brussels,
Looking to join up with her hospital
And fellow women, was promptly
Arrested as a spy –with her papers,
Handed over to a German Officer,
She considered him a ‘mad dog.'
To her given explanations he said.
‘I don’t care. You are English and
Whether you are right or wrong,
This is a war of annihilation.’
Mrs Stobbart told of her being held
In prison with her husband detained,
For up to five days, in poor conditions.
They had to sleep on dirty straw,
And were refused food; only eating
What their guards might give them -
At any time they expected to be taken
And shot. Then one German officer,
Who had an English wife, took pity.
He said he would try and help them.
Next, they were put on a train, to suffer
Further indignities with gross insults.
Stones and mud were thrown at them,
And were declared as ‘English dogs.’
Upon learning they were to be tried,
They were told If guilty, to be shot,
Or if given mercy, imprisonment
Would last for up to three years.
Even If they were declared innocent
They would be in prison, until end
Of the war. Through this experience
Of great distress they were helped
By the kind officer and finally released.
Mrs Stobbart went onto recall,
The unit’s further visit to Antwerp,
With the hospital team being made
Up Of six medical women, twelve
Trained nurses and ten orderlies –
They travelled from the invitation
Of the Belgian Red Cross, 3 weeks
Before - They found the hospital
Building to be a summer music hall,
With 135 Belgian and 4 British patients.
When a shell crashed into a garden,
The work began to move the more
Serious cases, into cover of cellars,
Moving less serious injured elsewhere.
Still shells fell - on one side a house
Was cut in two - on the other side
A roof destroyed - the staff continued
Calmly, without panic. Soon it became
Harder to remove the last patients,
Due to a lack of an ambulance.
Yet finally all were removed. Then
All the hospital staff and Mrs Stobbart
Escaped across the pontoon bridge,
Of small boats across the river Scheldt.
Mrs Stobbart told of how problematic
It was, to get the wounded safely out
Of the trenches and how the doctors,
Went to the injured, giving large doses
Of morphia, to calm pain and agony –
Such was the need of an ambulance.
The work of the hospital was described
By Doctor Florence Stoney - equipped
Well with an X-ray machine, so that when
Belgian Officer and Doctors heard of this,
The patients began freely flowing in.
Due to the shattered nerves of the men,
Experiencing gunfire, they gave them
Chloroform - they spoke of one soldier
Who, being shot in stomach and back,
Within three days was much happier
And smiling again – on learning how
The patients were well placed in safety,
And of hospital staff leaving Antwerp,
The audience gave them great cheers.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1914. English Lady Doctors – Bravery Under Fire – Soldiers’
Shattered Nerves. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 14 Oct. p.4. Col.6.
Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11149715/Daily-Telegraph-October-14-1914.html
[Accessed: 14th October 2014].
Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication,
14 October 2014).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered
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