By October 1917, Vera Brittain was nursing at the No.24 General Hospital at Étaples and her future friend and fellow author, Winifred Holtby, was settling in as a new student at Somerville College. Winifred Holtby came up to Oxford to read history at the age of nineteen, having spent a year working in a private nursing home in London. She… Read More »October 1917: Winifred Holtby arrives at Somerville
Regular readers of this blog will know how much it owes to the Somerville Students’ Association (SSA) annual reports of the period and, in particular, to the list of members and their war work, which was included in the report published in November 1917.The original list was compiled for what would become the Imperial War Museum (see May 1917 blog). It… Read More »November 1917: Entertaining the Troops
In the Michaelmas term of 1917, Somervillians began fundraising for the New Hospital for Women. By this stage of the war, medical provision for the civilian population was under severe strain, as military requirements took precedent in the deployment of resources and personnel. Since the beginning of the century, attempts had been made to address issues of mother and child… Read More »December 1917: The Oxford Bed
On 1st January 1918, the Principal of Somerville College Emily Penrose was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). She received it in recognition of her work on the National Register, undertaken in 1915 with, it was reported in the press, unique efficiency (see August 1915 blog). In organising the registration in Oxford, Emily Penrose had… Read More »January 1918: Miss Emily Penrose, OBE
On 6 February 1918, the Representation of the People Act extended the right to vote to all men aged over 21 and, for the first time, to some women. To qualify, the women had to be over 30, own property or be graduates voting in a University constituency. The effects of the Act would be rapid and profound for women… Read More »February 1918: Leading the Way
“… all women who have been admitted to and passed the final examination, and kept the period of residence necessary for a man to obtain a degree at a University, are entitled, provided they have attained the age of 30 years, to be registered as Parliamentary Electors for the University.”Letter from the Vice-Chancellor, University of Oxford, published in the University… Read More »March 1918: Votes and Degrees
In April 1918, Vera Brittain returned from France to London. She had been posted to the No. 24 General Hospital at Étaples in August 1917. It was close to the front and frantically busy and by April 1918 the German spring offensive meant every experienced VAD working there was a vital resource. However, the years of worry and shortages on… Read More »April 1918: Conflicting Calls of Duty
Somerville had many thriving societies before and during the First World War – sporting, debating, artistic and philanthropic, including the WUS (Women’s University Settlement) and a college branch of the WEA (Workers’ Educational Association). From 1887, students had volunteered for welfare work with the WUS, alongside students from Cambridge and London, helping women and children in Southwark. The WEA (Worker’s… Read More »May 1918: the Business Girls’ Club
“The Principal was authorised to have a few photographs taken of Somerville College as at present used.” Council minutes, 4 June 1918 In June 1918, Somerville commissioned a photographer to record the college in its wartime role as a hospital. The resulting Somerville Section, 3rd Southern General album contained 12 views of the college, and there were additional images issued as postcards. Some… Read More »June 1918: The Somerville Section Album
In July 1918, Winifred Holtby was beginning her national service having enlisted in Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps. Like Vera Brittain three years earlier, she had found it impossible to continue her studies at Somerville but her enlistment in the QMAAC had to be done surreptitiously, under cover of a visit to relatives in London. The Principal of Somerville, Emily… Read More »July 1918: The Long View