Overview

Katharine Asquith worked as a nurse following the death of her husband Raymond, killed on the Somme in 1916. Well connected, she was born in 1855, daughter of Sir John Horner of Mells; and daughter-in-law of H.H. Asquith, prime minister from 1908 to 1916. Perhaps the deaths of her husband and brother Edward (killed on the Front in 1917) prompted her to make the choice between her role as mother to three children and her calling to serve in the war effort. She worked as a volunteer close to the front lines in St Omer under Millie, Duchess of Sutherland. The diary is a fascinating and moving account of hospital life, weeks of quiet interspersed with bursts of activity when fresh batches of wounded arrived. The work was leavened with the unique social life of the Western Front, meetings with officers who were often stretched to the limits of nervous exhaustion, surprising adventures in the air or visiting the front lines. And as a background to all this a love of poetry and prose lighting up a brave and sensitive character.

Full Product Details

9781912945511

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Reviews

Previous reviews of Raymond Asquith: Life and Letters edited by John Jolliffe: 'Witty, informal, acid and deliciously frank about his famous contemporaries'. The Times. 'His descriptions of the conditions in the trenches are bitingly witty and shrewd' Evening Standard. 'A superb book' Sunday Express

Author Information

Edited by two of Katharine Asquith's grandchildren: Raymond Asquith (3rd Earl of Asquith & Oxford, OBE), and John Jolliffe, previously director of Constable Books and author with over 20 titles to his name.

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