In January, 1915, Mrs. Furse was recalled from France, where the rest-station work was now established, to form a department for the co-ordination of V.A.D. work, and to organise a continual supply of probationers for the military and other hospitals. A selection board was formed at Devonshire House to deal with all applications of V.A.Ds. for service at home or abroad. Mrs. Furse’s duties also involve periodical inspections in France, where the work has been splendidly carried on by Miss Rachel Crowdy, the Principal Commandant in France. After one of her recent tours of inspection, Mrs. Furse reported: “The work of the V.A.D. members in France is a credit to the women of the Empire. Wherever I went I found the same anxiety to keep up the very high standard of work and behaviour set by the organisation.... No job is too small for the V.A.D. members, and they good-humouredly fill any gap which appears. The rules and regulations are very strict, and there is but little entertainment. The work is under war conditions, and the members try to show that they can wait till the end of the war for their play-time. Undoubtedly the V.A.D. organisation is proving that women can be trusted in the zone of the armies, and that they have realised the meaning of discipline and appreciate the necessity of discretion.”
Many girls who went to France early in the war as practically untrained workers now hold splendid records of service in hospital, and have risen to positions of considerable responsibility. In measuring the scope of what they have accomplished, it must not be forgotten that V.A.D. members are drawn from very varied social positions, a large proportion being women accustomed to lives of luxury and ease, to whom the hard and often unattractive work has been a new and difficult experience.
Mrs. Furse’s great foresight into future needs during the earlier stages of the war, the untiring energy and patience with which she prepared for the time when these needs should be recognised, and, above all, her immense personal influence, have proved her to be one of the real leaders whom the war has brought to light. It is largely through her fine personal example of the spirit in which all work should be done that the V.A.Ds. have won for themselves such a good name for keenness and discipline.
Lady Perrott, the Lady Superintendent-in-Chief of the St. John Ambulance Brigade, is another outstanding woman amongst the small number of workers who had the foresight to prepare themselves and others in peace time for what then seemed the improbable chance of war. One of the most active pioneers of V.A.D. work, Lady Perrott for five years before the outbreak of war worked under the War Office for V.A.D. development and improvement. In 1910 she was appointed Lady Commandant-in-Chief of the St. John V.A.Ds. By constantly holding meetings and inspections of detachments all through the country, she helped to standardise the training, and made herself acquainted with every detail of the work. Lady Perrott further performed a splendid service when she induced some of the principal hospitals, both in London and in the provinces, to give facilities for instruction to V.A.D. members. This experience in civil hospitals proved of immense value when war started. In 1913 Lady Perrott organised a conference on V.A.D. work, which was held at St. John’s Gate and attended by large numbers of St. John V.A.D. officers from all over the country. The effect of this conference was to arouse widespread enthusiasm for the work. Her own personal and detailed knowledge of the detachments stood Lady Perrott in good stead in the stress of the early days of war. When the call came from the War Office for V.A.D. members to serve in military hospitals, the whole organisation for selecting and posting the St. John members was in her hands, and she carried out this work with marked success. She also went to France from time to time to inspect. From the beginning Lady Perrott toiled early and late at St. John’s Gate, and by her great powers of organisation, as well as by her personal influence and untiring zeal, she was able to initiate and carry out an enormous amount of work. Apart from all she has done for the V.A.D., Lady Perrott holds a fine record of achievement. To mention only one of her other activities, it was through her instrumentality that the Board of Matrons was appointed at St. John’s Gate for the selection of fully-trained nurses, one hundred of whom were sent out to Brussels in the first three weeks of the war by the Order of St. John. Lady Perrott has also been largely associated with the St. John Ambulance Brigade Hospital, one of the finest hut hospitals in France, for which she has collected a large sum of money, besides organising a special depôt for its supply of stores and comforts.
Lady Oliver is another untiring worker to whose keenness and energy much of the success of the V.A.D. activities is due. As staff officer to Lady Perrott before the war, she was responsible for a large part of the detailed work. Since the formation of the Joint Department, Lady Oliver has worked with Mrs. Furse at Devonshire House. Lady Perrott, Lady Oliver, and Mrs. Furse have all been decorated by the King with the Royal Red Cross, and are also members of the Order of St. John, Lady Perrott and Lady Oliver being Ladies of Justice, and Mrs. Furse a Lady of Grace.
XIV
COMMANDANT DAMER DAWSON, MRS. CARDEN, AND THE WOMEN POLICE AND PATROLS
The employment of women for police service, in vogue for some years on the Continent and in the United States of America, has been developed in this country only by the outbreak of the war. Women in uniform are so frequent nowadays that the passer-by scarcely spares a glance for a hard “bowler” kind of hat, plain blue clothes, and a blue armlet with white letters on it. The wearers of this uniform seem to be peculiarly unobtrusive people, anxious to avoid, rather than to attract, attention. For all that, among the innumerable women who are taking on the new work which the times have entailed, the women police are by no means the least valuable, brave, and steadfast.
CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT M. S. ALLEN INSPECTOR GOLDINGHAM
COMMANDANT DAMER DAWSON