Trip from Trinidad - 9 After the war

Dear Phoebe and Philip

Going back to my story,

In January 1916 Elsie married Harold, a Belgian baron who was a pilot in the Belgian Flying Corps. She now became Baroness de T'Serclaes.

I was amazed because I thought that she had been so enamoured with Gilbert of the Motor Cycle man just a few months before.

“It was a very quick romance,” said Margaret and she showed me a picture of the new couple. (pictured above)

They all returned briefly to Britain where the women succeeded in raising funds to continue their war work at Pervyse. The Belgian King had given them medals and visited them himself. They became national celebrities and, in addition to their early Belgian Honours, were each awarded the British Military Medal.

“You must have been pleased to have her back at home again,” I said

“Yes, but she was never really at home. Both girls had a string of social contacts that could be called upon to help organise events such as charity concerts. They also went on a lecture tour to raise funds.  News of their adventures was spread by a heavily-censored press eager to exploit the propaganda potential of British women holding their own at the front line.

"Here is an example of Mairi and Elsie's pictures being used in a popular magazine of the day, Home Chat. (she showed me a copy of the article and let me copy it out to send to you.)

Buying equipment for the front

Mairi Chisholm was always fascinated by mechanical things, and had had her own motor bike since before the war. It no doubt gave her particular pleasure, therefore, to use part of the funds raised to acquire new motor bikes to assist their work at the front. She is shown here on her new 4hp Douglas with her companion Elsie in the sidecar and the latter's new husband, the Baron de T'Serclaes, on the solo bike beside them. Also shown is a French permit allowing her to import the Douglas. After raising sufficient funds to finance their activities at the front, Mairi Chisholm and her companion returned to Pervyse to continue their work with the wounded.

“And you say they both got several medals?” I asked.

“As early as January 1915 they had been given the Belgian equivalent of a knighthood when they were made Chevaliers de l'Ordre de Léopold II. And in 1917, as the end of the war approached, and after British soldiers had taken control of the area around Pervyse, they were given the British Military Medal for their work in saving the lives of British airmen. “

“You said it was nearly over, but when did they actually get out of the war?”

“The last - and one of the biggest - German offensives came in March 1918. Mairi and Elsie found themselves right in the thick of it. They continued to work as shells burst around them, protecting themselves from gas attacks by wearing gas masks, which were now much more effective than at the start of the war.”

She then showed me a picture with them ducking for cover as a shell explodes in the background.

Also there was a secret memo passed to Mairi and Elsie by Britain's Australian allies warning them of imminent allied shelling and advising them to withdraw from Pervyse until it is over. Exhausted by having worn their uncomfortable gas masks for two days, they risked removing them for some respite - and at that very moment a salvo of shells containing mustard gas and arsenic exploded nearby.

Mairi said, “The whole place went up - you couldn't hear yourself think...It went on non-stop I suppose for oh, forty-eight hours - forty-eight hours of intensive bombardment. We had a pillbox where we slept in bunks but the passageway where we received the wounded to the dug-out where we had slept had been entirely blown in with shellfire.. They lobbed in a salvo of gas shells into this broken-down passageway and we took a jolly good mouthful. The first thing I was wondering was whether we were going to ever see again because our eyes were very badly taken with it.”

Elsie was more badly affected by the gas attack than Mairi, and had to be sent home to Britain. Mairi made a partial recovery and bravely returned alone to Pervyse to continue her work. But she was again gassed and after about three weeks had eventually to be evacuated just some seven months before the end of the war. Mairi said, “When Elsie got back to Britain the report was that she simply wouldn't ever be well enough to go back again and so they decided that I really couldn't hold the post entirely by myself for ever and a day and to my great regret I was evacuated. In fact the Belgian general sent a letter saying he could no longer accept responsibility for me staying on the front.”

“And did she recover from the gas?” I asked.

“She had been poisoned, had contracted septicaemia, and had a weak heart. However, she continued to live her life at a fast pace. She spent a brief period in the Air Force, and then became involved with cars. On one occasion, she was scheduled to take part in a car race at the famous Brooklands circuit but had to withdraw because of a fainting episode the evening before. The race went ahead, and the car she should have been driving crashed and the replacement driver was most horribly smashed up too. Partly on doctors' advice, she moved back to our home in the country where, we hoped - rather vainly - she would lead a quieter life. She is often not very well, and that is why we are going back now to see her.”

“And what happened to the other girl, Elsie?”

She only stayed with her Count for three years, but even after she divorced him, she kept her title, and it was very useful to her. She continued with an exciting life. She continued racing cars and motor cycles, and she wrote up her book about their experiences in the war.

I think that is about all I have to say about Mairi, but I hope to keep in touch with Margaret once we get to Britain, so I can find out how Mairi is, and whether Margaret and her husband will be going back out to Trinidad, as we are.

Love

Grandma Louise