Lady Dorothie Feilding at War - Christine M Cluley

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Résumé :
Lady Dorothie Mary Evelyn Feilding-Moore, MM was a British heiress who ignored her aristocratic background to become a highly decorated volunteer nurse and ambulance driver on the Western Front during the First World War. She was the first woman to be awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field. She also received the Croix de Guerre and the Order of Leopold II from the Belgians. Christine Cluley has liaised with members of the surviving family and was able to access material beyond that available from the Feilding Archives at the Warwickshire Record Office. Her family have generously shared personal recollections and allowed her access to previously unpublished material. These vivid letters reveal Lady Dorothie in her own words, allowing the reader to share her thoughts and actions directly. We see how being part of a loving family in a secure, upper-class household prepared her for the challenges, dangers and deprivations of the First World War, and early in her marriage, the potentially dangerous years in Ireland during the 1920s. Lady Dorothie was a heroine, but this extended account of her life ensures that she is more than a plaster saint, that she is a fully rounded woman, by turns determined, courageous, amusing and acerbic. After two years in the hell of the Western Front, she went home to get married and after a very brief honeymoon, Lady D was back behind the wheel of an ambulance, ferrying the wounded around London....

Biographie:
Award-winning historian & researcher, Christine M. Cluley, has worked on Heritage Education projects at Warwickshire Record Office and Museum. After thirteen years she stepped down from the Chair of The Friends of the Warwickshire County Record Office and is now Vice Chairman. Although now a resident of Gloucestershire she lived in Warwickshire for 30 years and considers herself a Warwickshire woman. She has worked at Compton Verney for three years as a gallery interpreter, leading tours and talks. She has worked at Compton Verney for three years as a gallery interpreter, leading tours and talks. She has worked closely with Dorothie Feilding's family in the creation of this title....

Sommaire:

• Previously unseen letters and photographs supplied by Lady Dorothie's family
• Lady D was a superb chronicler: 'Each time one is tempted perhaps to chuck things up, one realises its only because its temporary that bath mats are so very pleasant. It is most extraordinarily interesting being right at the heart & pulse of things & feeling you count.'