Katharine Asquith’s Nursing Diary

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.