by
Theresa
Breslin
‘A moving collection
of the untold stories of women in the First World War…’
WAR
GIRLS is an anthology of short stories exploring how the First World War
changed and shaped the lives of women forever. Publication date is 5th
June 2014 with contributions from myself, Melvin Burgess. Berlie Doherty, Anne
Fine, Adèle Geras, Mary Hooper, Rowena House, Sally Nicholls, and Matt Whyman.
My own story, Shadow and Light, is inspired by the
artist and volunteer nurse Norah Nielsen Gray. Norah was born in 1882 in the
Scottish seaside town of Helensburgh.
She grew up there showing early artistic talent, and when the family moved to
Glasgow, she studied at the Glasgow School of Art. The inspirational director
at the time encouraged women to attend even on a part time basis, and appointed
a special ‘Women’s Warden’. (I’m not sure whether the thinking behind this was
to protect the women or the men!) Norah was noted for her portrait painting and
while still a student had a picture accepted for the Royal Academy. She was
also acclaimed for her use of colour and this was one of the slender threads of
information that glowed brightly when I was collating facts for my story.
Of course, like many
stories, the origins of Shadow and Light lie
in the past, germinating for years before they coalesce into something which might produce a piece of work. Writing The
Medici Seal meant that I had studied Leonardo da Vinci’s technique of sfumato. Doing book notes to be included
in the recently published new edition of Remembrance meant that
I’d returned to the Imperial War Museum in London last year. Although the
galleries were operating under restricted access due to the WW1 refurbishment, some
rooms holding relevant paintings were still open. It was one of those
serendipity things where, if the main sections dealing with war had been available
then perhaps I wouldn’t have spent so long with the paintings - looking again
at stunning canvases of John Singer Sargent, and then browsing in the shop and
finding the book, Women War Artists. During World War One only 4 women were
commissioned as official war artists as opposed to 47 men! The employment terms
for the women were more severe and in the 1919 Exhibition out of 925 works a
mere 15 of the paintings were by women.
I read the book and thought - surely there were more
women painting images of World War One? Trawling the Internet I came across
Norah Nielsen Gray who,
despite having no commission, painted war scenes. I looked at her paintings and
read about her life and got that shivery feeling when you realise that you’ve
stumbled on something. She wasn’t only a significant major artist she was also brave
- while leading a successful and comfortable life she volunteered to join the
Scottish Women’s Hospitals as a nursing assistant.
These hospitals were set up in France by Dr Elsie
Inglis, a British doctor and suffragette
based in Edinburgh who pioneered medical care for women. When war broke
out Dr Inglis approached the British government with an offer to help, but was
told to ‘go home and sit still’ (!) She then wrote to the French government and
under the auspices of the French Red Cross established two hospitals staffed
with women: doctors, surgeons,
ambulance drivers, admin staff etc. { Note to self: Dr Inglis deserves a blog
all of her own}
Norah became one of Dr Inglis’s team of women hospital
staff based at Royaumont Abbey Hospital just
outside Paris and there she painted in her spare time. When the war was over the Imperial War Museum, recognizing her talent, wanted
to purchase one of her paintings - a scene inside
the hospital – as it was
thought that the War Museum should have a record of what was done “by the British for
the French Army in the way of Hospitals”. Norah was a feisty women and insisted
that the painting should be acquired for the General Section and not be put
into the ‘Women’s Work’ Section, as the museum proposed. They responded by saying
that the purchasing budget for the General Section had been exhausted. Norah
refused to let them have the painting which is why, (and also thanks to the
efforts of Argyll and Bute Area Librarian Pat McCann), it now hangs in the
Gallery of the West King Street library in Helensburgh.
 |
| © This painting is owned by Argyll and Bute Council |
More information here http://tinyurl.com/ndm94qy
A year after
Norah refused to give them this painting the Imperial War Museum commissioned her
to paint another record of the staff at the hospital. This version now is now part
of the Museum’s collection.
For my purposes more research was needed: getting out my archived WW1
notes, poring over old maps of France to locate a fictitious ambulance base
somewhere between Amiens and Albert – quite deliberately to be directly in the
line of the German breakthrough during their Spring Offensive of 1918. It was
not British Government policy to place women in the front line so I had to
contrive a means whereby my characters would be in real and active danger. I
had to take time to tease out the characters, for although Norah is the
inspiration this is not the story of her life at all. I have made my young artist
drive an ambulance as many women did. She has her own family and back story. And
here I must pay tribute to the editors at Andersen Press for their patience
while I wrestled with various ideas.
So, my story is about a
young artist called Merle who, in the autumn of 1917, arrives in France with
her friend Grace to work as ambulance drivers. Back story is dribbled in as
they acclimatise and move south in the
company of one Captain George Taylor with whom Merle has an immediate clash.
Without over emphasising the horror I’ve been as true as I can to the
conditions in which these women worked. Merle paints when she can, but the
sights and sound of the patients she transports from the hospital trains is
with her and the war is moving closer each day until finally Albert falls. The
German army breaks through the Front Line and is advancing rapidly just as
another hospital train is due to arrive at the railway station…
Throughout the drama I’ve tried to weave the glowing
thread of colour and artistic interpretation that first alerted me to the
potential of the story.
I hope you enjoy it
and the other stories too – they are, as it says in the blurb,
…moving portraits of loss and grief, and of hope
overcoming terrible odds
*NOTE:
A WAR
GIRLS panel event will take place at 6p.m.
on 19th June at Lancashire
Infantry Museum in Preston
chaired by a journalist from BBC Lancashire with Carnegie Medal winning
writers:Theresa Breslin,
Melvin Burgess, Berlie Doherty and Anne Fine.
The
painting, Hôpital Auxilaire D’Armée
30, Abbaye de Royaumont, hangs in Helensburgh Library and is owned by
Argyll and Bute Council. It is reproduced here with their permission.
Book Covers via publishers
Theresa Breslin writing
on WW1:
Thanks Sue, it's an anthology worth reading.
ReplyDeleteHave pre-ordered it - looks fascinating.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThanks Jo!
These war girls are really brave, and the work they did is really great hyderabad Independent Escorts
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