Lives of the First World War

October 1914

The British Journal of Nursing's review of Mabel Clint's Our Bit, January 1935: "Arrived in London, the Canadian Sisters were, by the request of Lord Kitchener, received at St. Thomas’s Hospital, and the author writes: 'At midnight we ran into Waterloo, and were met by chars-a-bancs for ourselves and luggage, and deposited at St. Thomas’s Hospital. At once a triumph of organisation, typically English in its quiet method, was demonstrated by our hostesses. One of the (assistant?) matrons sat in the hall with her aides, and handed each of us a card with the number of our room. Supper was provided and our trunks all came up within an hour. I don’t know how much notice the War Office had given the staff, but we found that 100 rooms, absolutely free of every personal belonging of their rightful occupants, had been prepared for us. It was, in fact, a vacant hotel at our disposal for several weeks; and this at a time when convoys of wounded were arriving at the hospital daily, and arrangements had to be readjusted to meet emergencies. Our Matron had her own office, the Florence Nightingale dining-room was exclusively reserved for us, and nurses attended to our wants. Several Sisters also were detailed to give us information, issue invitations for sight-seeing, provide guides, and in every way assist us. Without fuss, all showed us our desire to help was appreciated, and on their side some idea enlarged of the unity of the profession which the distinguished Founder of their training school had brought into being. . . . Our grateful acknowledgements to them once more.' Of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Miss Clint writes: 'I was impressed by the air of comfort and cheer in the military wards of ancient St. Bartholomew’s. Arm chairs before the great open fire, red blankets, tables and flowers relieved the monotony of the rows of beds, and were a contrast to the cold severe lines of most hospitals in Canada and the United States.'

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