Books about WW1 Inspirational Women

I am pleased to note that since I began researching just over two years ago, a great deal more information about the true involvement of women in the First World War has come to light.  Women are now being recognised as having played a major role in WW1 and the myth of women 'staying at home to knit socks or work in munitions factories, etc' has been firmly kicked into touch.  Of course many women were needed on the Home Front as well but many also travelled to the various theatres of war to help in many ways - not only as nurses but as doctors, orderlies, clerks, telephonists, cooks, drivers, administrators, radiologists, entertainers and so on and on...

Here are just a few of the wonderful books that are available about the exploits of those amazing women a hundred years ago when they did not enjoy the mod cons we have and when it was still an uphill struggle to be accepted in a man's world:

 "Women Heroes of WW1" by is a new book by Kathryn J. Attwood who is based in America.   See Kathryn's Good Reads page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4091959.Kathryn_J_Atwood and her website: www.kathrynatwood.com.

"Grote liefdes in de Grote Oorlog" by Frieda Joris (with thanks to William Bulcke of the Women of the Great War Facebook Page) is written in Dutch but I am sure will be available in English shortly.  This is the story of a Belgian soldier left for dead in a WW1 hospital.  A nurse noticed his hand move so badgered the doctors to help him which eventually they did.  He recovered and fell in love with his nurse.  They were married after the war and lived happily together in Belgium.











There is also another new book called "Gender and the First World War" which is edited by Christa Hämmerie, Oswald Überegger and Birgitta Bader Zaar, and published by Palgrave McMillan 2014  Further details on:   http://www.palgrave.com

Isobel (Iso) Rae (1860 - 1940) - Australian Artist

Isobel Rae was born in Melbourne on 18th August 1860. She was the youngest daughter of a manufacturer from Scotland and his wife Janet, nee Love.  

After studying at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in Melbourne, Iso, her mother Janet and sister Alison went to France where they lived in Paris for three years and then moved to Etaples, a small fishing village on the north west coast of France.  There was a large group of artists who lived and worked in Etaples in the early 1900s.  Iso's work was exhibited at the Paris Salon and her success and progress were reported in Australian newspapers.

When war broke out in 1914 most of the artists fled to England but Iso and her sister Alison joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) and worked at the Base Camp in Etaples for the duration of the war.  Iso continued to paint in her spare time - one wonders how much of that she would have had - and her work is an important record of the conditions at the Base Camp.   Janet Rae died in France during WW1.  The sisters remained in France until the 1930s when they moved to England and settle in St. Leonards on Sea in Sussex.  Iso died in Brighton on 16th March 1940.

Her painting "Cinema Queue" Etaples Base Camp, France, which I found on Google Images, is on display in Australia.

A book featuring the wartime letters of Isobel and her sister Alison has recently been published - see link for details:  http://www.bridgetmcdonnellgallery.com.au/news/rae-letters-booklaunch/

Source:  Wikipedia

52 Powerful Photos Of Women Who Changed History Forever

With many thanks to Elaine McCrorie who sent me a message urging me to look at this link:
http://news.distractify.com/people/powerful-photos-of-women/?v=1some
and many thanks to everyone who sends me messages - together we will find and remember them all.

WW1 Commemorative Event Barnoldswick, West Yorkshire 6 - 7th September 2014

News just in of an exciting WW1 Commemorative Event to be held on Saturday, 6th September 2014 as part of Barnoldswick Heritage Weekend when an early tragedy of World War One will be commemorated with a major exhibition during the weekend of 6th and 7th September 2014

For further details, please see the "Visit Barnoldswick" website www.visitbarnoldswick.co.uk