From the archive: Hospitals, huts and motherless children
Janet Scott continues her selections from the archives of the Friend during the first world world.
The Friends’ War Victims Relief Committee was very active in the late summer of 1915. These extracts from a report of the Committee, published on 10 September, convey the scope of the relief work of Friends in France and Belgium.
A hospital at Sermaize and a convalescent home at Bettancourt in France were given support by British Friends. During July the home admitted 21 children, 6 women and 2 babies. The situation in Chalons was also reported in the Friend.
Dr. Clark reports that the hospital at Chalons, where the inmates have reached a daily average of 53, continues to admit cases suffering from shock from living under bombardment… Sick babies also claim a good deal of the staff’s attention, and the crèche has its capacity fully taxed, the weekly average being 19.
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