Read all about it!
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If you would like to read more about the history of nursing, particularly the military nursing services, the following list should give some ideas. Many of the books are available through libraries, second-hand bookshops across the country, and online. Most of the books relate specifically to the history of nursing in general, and the military nursing services in particular. I've included some memoirs and private accounts, but be warned that a few of these contain a lot of one-sided comment and inaccuracy - reader enjoy, but beware!
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Nursing in Wartime
Angels and Citizens - British Women as Military Nurses 1854-1914; Anne Summers; Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988
Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps; Juliet Piggott; Famous Regiments Series, Leo Cooper Ltd., 1975
One Hundred Years of Army Nursing ; Ian Hay [Sir John Hay Beith, CBE MC] Cassell and Co., 1953
Sub Cruce Candida - A celebration of one hundred years of Army Nursing 1902-2002; QARANC Association 2002
Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service; Kathleen Harland; G. Shepherd (Portsmouth) Ltd.
The British Nurse in Peace and War; Elizabeth S. Haldane; J. Murray, 1913
For Dauntless France - An Account of Britain's Aid to the French Wounded and Victims of War; Laurence Binyon; Hodder and Stoughton, 1918
The Women of Royaumont - A Scottish Women's Hospital on the Western Front; Eileen Crofton; Tuckwell Press, 1997
The Quality of Mercy - Women at War Serbia 1915-18; Monica Krippner; David & Charles, 1980
The Roses of No Man's Land; Lyn Macdonald; Michael Joseph Ltd., 1980
Fighting Different Wars - Experience, Memory and the First World War in Britain; Janet S. K. Watson; Cambridge University Press, 2004
While You're Away - New Zealand Nurses at War 1899-1948; Anna Rogers; Auckland University Press, 2003
Great Days in New Zealand Nursing; Joan Rattray; A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1961
The Other ANZACS - Nurses at War, 1914-1918; Peter Rees; Allen and Unwin, 2008
Working for Victory? - Images of women in the First World War 1914-1918; Diana Condell and Jean Liddiard; Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987
Women at War 1914-1918; Arthur Marwick; Fontana, 1977
The Story of British V.A.D. Work in the Great War; Thekla Bowser; Andrew Melrose, 1917, and the Imperial War Museum, 2003
Wartime Nurse - One Hundred Years from the Crimea to Korea 1854-1954; Eric Taylor Robert Hale 2001
Front-Line Nurse - British Nurses in World War II; Eric Taylor; Robert Hale 1997
Nurses at War; Women on the Frontline 1939-45; Penny Starns; Sutton Publishing, 2000
Grey and Scarlet - Letters from the war areas by army sisters on active service; Hodder and Stoughton, 1944
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Research
History of the Great War based on Official Documents: Medical Services (Volumes 1 to 4); Major-General Sir W. G. Macpherson; HMSO 1931; reprinted by The Naval and Military Press in association with the Army Medical Services Museum
Reports by the Joint War Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England on Voluntary Aid Rendered to the Sick and Wounded at Home and Abroad and to British Prisoners of War, 1914-1919; HMSO 1921 and reprinted by The Naval and Military Press in association with the Imperial War Museum
British Red Cross Register of Overseas Volunteers 1914-1918; British Red Cross Society 1918 and reprinted by Savannah Press, 2004
Honours and Awards to Women to 1914; Norman Gooding; Savannah Press, 2007
History of Nursing
A History of the Nursing Profession; Brian Abel-Smith; Heinemann, 1960
A General History of Nursing; Lucy Seymer; Faber & Faber 1932
The Story of the Growth of Nursing; Agnes E. Pavey; Faber & Faber 1938
The Lamp and the Book - The Story of the Royal College of Nursing: 1916-1966; Gerald Bowman; Queen Anne Press, 1967
Nursing and Social Change; Monica Baly; William Heinemann Medical, Ltd., 1973
New Zealand Military Nursing - A History of the RNZNC Boer War to Present Day; Sherayl Kendall & David Corbett; pub. by the authors, 1990
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Personal Accounts and Memoirs
Reminiscent Sketches 1914 to 1919 - by members of Her Majesty Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service; John Bale, Sons & Danielsson, Ltd., 1922
Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front 1914-1915; published anonymously by William Blackwood in 1915, but since attributed to Katherine Luard. As a member of the Army Nursing Service Reserve, Kate Luard was mobilised on the outbreak of war, and this account details those early days of confusion and movement, and her life as a nursing sister on an ambulance train during 1914 and 1915.
Unknown Warriors; Katherine [Kate] Luard; Chatto & Windus; 1930. A continuation of the book above, taken from letters and diaries. It covers her period as a nurse in some of the most exposed Casualty Clearing Stations during the most difficult days.
In All Those Lines; The diary of Sister Elsie Tranter 1916-1919: Edited by J. M. Gillings and J. Richards; Published by the Editors 2008. Edited diaries of a member of the Australian Army Nursing Service, which gives a wonderful insight into the lives of nurses in France.
Edith Appleton's Diary: Edith Appleton was a trained nurse who kept a diary throughout her time in France and Flanders, and it has been edited and put online by members of her family. Another account that gives an all-round and balanced view of life both on and off duty during the war. And you don't even have to go to the library to read it!
Edie's Diary
Testament of Youth - An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900-25; Vera Brittain Various publishers over many editions
Chronicle of Youth - Vera Brittain's War Diary 1913-1917; Ed. Alan Bishop and Terry Smart; Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1981
A V.A.D. in France, Olive Dent; Grant Richards Ltd., 1917. An account of Olive Dent's experiences as a nursing VAD at No.9 General Hospital in Rouen.
A Diary Without Dates; Enid Bagnold; William Heinemann, 1917. A beautifully written account of Enid Bagnold's life as a nursing VAD at the Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich. Shamelessly biased in places against the trained nurse and Army methods, and the publication of which resulted in her dismissal from army service.
Hearts and Pomegranates - The Story of forty-five years 1875-1920; Dame Katharine Furse, GBE, RRC; Peter Davies, 1940
The Personal Diary of Nurse de Trafford 1916-1920; [Moor Park Hospital, Preston]; Martin Kevill (Editor); The Book Guild, 2001
The Forbidden Zone - A Nurse's Impressions of the First World War; Mary Borden; William Heinemann, 1929 and Hesperus Press, 2008
We That Were Young; Irene Rathbone; Chatto and Windus, 1932: A novel, though strongly based on Irene Rathbones own experiences in France as both a YMCA canteen worker, and also as a nursing VAD.
Not So Quiet ... Stepdaughters of War; Helen Zenna Smith; A feminist novel based on the diaries of a member of an ambulance convoy, who later saw service as a member of the women's army (not the author herself). This is definitely fiction, and combines sets of circumstances which could never have happened to one person, but well-written and an enjoyable read.
King's Nurse, Beggar's Nurse; Sister Catherine Black (Blackie); Hurst and Blackett Ltd., 1939
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World War Two and Later
The Maturing Sun - An Army Nurse in India, 1942-45; Angela Bolton; Imperial War Museum, 1986
Many Coloured Glass - A Nurse in War; Mary Wrangham Hardy; The Pentland Press, 1989
The Will to Live - The Story of Dame Margot Turner, D.B.E., R.R.C.; Sir John Smyth; Cassell, 1970
A Nurse's War - Brenda McBryde; Chatto and Windus, 1979
Quiet Heroines - Brenda McBryde; Chatto and Windus, 1985
Once Upon a Ward - V.A.D.s own stories and pictures of service at home and overseas 1939-1946; Doreen Boys, 1980
Spike Island - The Memory of a Military Hospital; Philip Hoare; Fourth Estate, 2001
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