I was recently asked to supply details of what women actually did during WW1 to enable a re-enactment group of Hussars to include women in their own right rather than dressed up as men. I remembered a photograph I had seen entitled "The Ladies of Remount Depot …" In spite of being the granddaughter of an Artilleryman complete with spurs, to my shame I had not the faintest idea what a Remount Depot was. So I began an internet search and came across this delightful site http://susannaforrest.wordpress.com - which if you are interested in horses, will keep you happy for hours it is so comprehensive and full of interesting horse-related stories.
Scroll down and you will find a competition asking "What did you do when you were Pony-mad but Pony-less?"
I only wish I had seen the site sooner - I asked for a pony every year for Christmas and in the summer months I borrowed mother's runner bean canes, tied on a piece of string as a bridle and reins and galloped around the garden for hours on my trusty steed.
If you are interested in the history of horses, Susanna, a writer and journalist (must ask her if she has written any poetry!), has written a book called "If wishes were Horses A Memoir of Equine Obsession", published by Atlantic Books in 2012. I have put the book on my wish list for when I have finished reading about women in the First World War in my efforts to set the record right.
Lucy Kdemp-Welch "The Ladies Army Remount Depot, Russley Park, Wiltshire" in the Imperiam War Museum, London
The only War Memorial I could find to horses in WW1 is this one - those amazing Australians again! From War Memorials to Horses in WW1 on Wikipedia.
I hope to do some more research about the Horse Remount Depots of WW1 in the near future.
The only War Memorial I could find to horses in WW1 is this one - those amazing Australians again! From War Memorials to Horses in WW1 on Wikipedia.
I hope to do some more research about the Horse Remount Depots of WW1 in the near future.
