“By dint of mild militancy and unending push” self actualisation in the First World War experiences of Louisa Garrett Anderson and Flora Murray

Markwell, Amanda (2019). “By dint of mild militancy and unending push” self actualisation in the First World War experiences of Louisa Garrett Anderson and Flora Murray. University of Birmingham. M.A.

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Abstract

Dr. Louisa Garrett Anderson and her partner Dr. Flora Murray spent the weeks following the declaration of the First World War calling on their feminist networks for help in forming their own hospital organisation. Tuesday 15th September 1914 found the uniformed women of the newly named Women’s Hospital Corps (WHC) at Victoria Station. Here amongst a crowd of friends and well-wishers they awaited embarkation to France. They believed that women had a part to play in defence of their country and that their profession and their experience of the women’s suffrage movement had given them the training needed to do so.

This thesis argues that for some women the First World War was a time of self -actualisation. It seeks to challenge the standard approaches to women and the war, suggesting that women proactively shaped their own war and positioned themselves as integral parts of the larger whole rather than passively waiting for the impact of war to reach them. By complicating some of the myths of women and the war it will show that experiences of women led communities and ideas of selfhood had a fundamental impact on the way some women understood and responded to the war.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Masters by Research > M.A.)

Award Type:

Masters by Research > M.A.

Supervisor(s):