Dorothea's War - Softcover

Dorothea Crewdson was born in Bristol in July 1886 and brought up in Nottingham. In 1911 she enrolled in the British Red Cross as a VAD nurse and passed her exams the following year. In May 1915 she received instructions to be stationed in Le Tréport in northern France. She spent the rest of the war nursing at the frontline in various field hospitals and was awarded the military medal for her bravery. She died in March 1919 after contracting peritonitis, just before she was due to return home to England. Her diaries are edited by her nephew, Richard Crewdson.

an acute and engaging observation of all that was happening around her. There are accounts of her struggles to cope with the overwhelming tide of casualties and what life was like outside the wards... The diaries contain the brief self-deprecating note she made when she received the Military Medal for bravery during an enemy air raid, in which she continued to dress patients' wounds despite being injured herself... This beautiful book forms a fitting tribute

the frank, moving diaries of a nurse who would witness and record some of the most horrific passages of the war and, tragically, would die just before she was about to return home from the battlefield

the frank, moving diaries of a nurse who would witness and record some of the most horrific passages of the war and, tragically, would die just before she was about to return home from the battlefield―CHOICE

an incredible insight into the working life of a nurse who 'patched up' the men who passed through the hospitals on their way to convalesce in 'good old Blighty'

an incredible insight into the working life of a nurse who 'patched up' the men who passed through the hospitals on their way to convalesce in 'good old Blighty'―YOUR FAMILY TREE

In a similar vein to Vera Britten's Testament of Youth, chronicling the realities of war and military hospital life, this offers an insight into the battlefield, medicine and society. Most surprising is the calm approach that Dorothea brings to her work, her consistent good spirits and simple pleasures derived from a good meal or a trip into the French countryside

an acute and engaging observation of all that was happening around her. There are accounts of her struggles to cope with the overwhelming tide of casualties and what life was like outside the wards... The diaries contain the brief self-deprecating note she made when she received the Military Medal for bravery during an enemy air raid, in which she continued to dress patients' wounds despite being injured herself... This beautiful book forms a fitting tribute―NURSING STANDARD

a vivid account of the juxtapositions of war: long walks in the countryside, the hospitality of French farming families, flirting with the doctors, the icy blasts of winter in a bell tent where the nurses lived and which could blow away in a gale. And all the time an endless stream of convoys brought the wounded from the trenches a few miles away - from which the noise of gunfire and exploding shells echoed as a daily background to the work of the hospital... a fine addition to the growing literature on the multi-faceted experiences of the First World War

a vivid account of the juxtapositions of war: long walks in the countryside, the hospitality of French farming families, flirting with the doctors, the icy blasts of winter in a bell tent where the nurses lived and which could blow away in a gale. And all the time an endless stream of convoys brought the wounded from the trenches a few miles away - from which the noise of gunfire and exploding shells echoed as a daily background to the work of the hospital... a fine addition to the growing literature on the multi-faceted experiences of the First World War―Juliet Gardiner, THE TIMES

a rare insight into the conflict that engulfed Europe from 1914 to 1918... [Crewdson] witnessed extraordinary events but her diaries sing with vibrant optimism and high-spirited observations, interspersed with charming illustrations... her impressions are compelling and these diaries enchant