Latest updates

December 2011 update

1. 29 December: At the insistence of the publishers of the forthcoming book of Edie's diaries we have had to remove the links to most of the original text of Edie's diaries.  However, you can easily gain access to the full text.  More information here: http://www.edithappleton.org.uk/Vols1to4/original_4_volumes.asp.
   The book is due out in March 2012. More information here: http://www.edithappleton.org.uk/Updates/publication.asp.

2. 29 December: Information and an impressive portrait received of Matron Lavinia Stern.  View her page.

September 2011 update

1. We recently heard that the Historial museum at Péronne (http://en.historial.org/) has several copies of the book about Le Tréport which includes a number of extracts from Edie's diaries. We were very sorry to learn in July that Dr Bruno Garraud, co-author of the book with Ridha Arfa, died in May this year. More here about these Le Tréport connections.

August 2011 update

1. 28 August: Sue Light has managed to unearth some information about Sister Kate Maxey, one of Edie’s closest friends working alongside her in France whom Edie mentions many times in her diary.  We would love to contact any descendants of Kate's. More information about Kate Maxey here.

2. 21 August: A television company would like to trace the descendants of anyone nursed by, or who knew or worked alongside, Edie.  Sue Light has kindly posted information about this on several WW1 forums including these:
   - RootsChat.com
   - Western Front Assocation
   - Great War Forum

June 2011 update

1. 24 June: We are putting together a complete list of all the names of people  who are mentioned by Edie in her diaries: medical staff, VADs, soldiers, family, friends, others. This will contain several hundred names and we hope that descendants of those mentioned will get in touch with us. See the list here.

2. 17 June: We have just heard that the 3 episodes of extracts from the diaries which were first broadcast in November 2009 are to be repeated on Radio 4 on the dates below.  More information can be seen on the BBC website here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nqbl3
   - Episode 1 - Sunday 26 June at 7.45pm
   - Episode 2 - Sunday 3 July at 7.45pm
   - Episode 3 - Sunday 10 July at 7.45pm
   More information about the original recordings here: http://www.edithappleton.org.uk/audio/bbcprogs.asp.

May 2011 update

Like a great many others I was sad to hear of the untimely death, at the age of 65, of Professor Richard Holmes on 30 April 2011. He was very supportive of our efforts to publish Edie's diaries - read more here.

January 2011 update

Edie's Diaries are to be published as a hardback by major international publishers, Simon and Schuster, early in 2012.  This is as part of a series in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum. The working title is 'A Nurse on the Western Front'. Further information, as it becomes available, here.

November 2010 update

1. 14 November: The collection of photos of nurses which I mentioned in August (see below) is now available as a slide show on the Western Front Association's website here. It has the benefit of additional notes by Sue Light. I haven't done the research carefully yet but I'm sure the photos feature some of Edie's colleagues who she mentions in her diaries.
2. 5 November: Extraordinary pictures of the aftermath of WW1, which have been hidden away for nearly a century, have been discovered in a vault in Paris. Have a look at a trailer for them, which shows amazing aerial films of devastated Ypres as well as Passchendaele and miles of trenches via this page on the BBC website which went live on 4 November 2010: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11698287.
   The film is a part of a special BBC One programme that includes unique aerial photographs of the battlefield taken by British pilots. Nick Higham reports on the footage that gives an amazing insight into history.
   More of the footage can be seen on the BBC One programme 'The First World War from Above' on Sunday 7 November at 2100GMT.

August 2010 update

There is a wonderful collection of photographs of trained nurses and VADs taken by a British nurse during the war and available for browsing through. I am indebted – once again – to Sue Light for mentioning this on her blog, This Intrepid Band.  

The images come from the current owner of the album, Bob Cleary, who lives in the USA and be viewed, together with the discussion they generated on this page of the Western Front Association forum: http://frontforum.westernfrontassociation.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1465.

Alternatively, you can start scrolling through them on the forum where they were originally posted by Bob Cleary (aka Colonel Quack) here: http://www.toysoldierschat.com/showthread.php?t=1858.

See 14 November 2010 update above for info about a slide show version of the photos.

March 2010 update

In February I went to a meeting of the Heart of England branch of the Western Front Association in Warwick.  Sue Light, who has been so helpful in tracing information about Edie, gave a fascinating talk about the role of nurses in the Great War on the theme of 'Not All Angels!' and she has also written a most interesting article on 'British Military Nurses and the Great War'. Click here to read the article.  The meeting was also an opportunity for me to take along the originals of Edie's diaries which attracted some keen interest!

December 2009 update

1. 3 December:  Piers has produced two new versions of the family tree, showing all of Edie's relations.  They are here.

November 2009 update:

1. 19 November:  The BBC iPlayer versions have now expired but you can still listen to the three episodes.  They are all here.

2. 12 November:  Hope you enjoyed the BBC readings.  We have received lots of very positive feedback from around the world so do have a look at Edie's Visitors Book to get a flavour. Each episode was available, via the BBC iPlayer, for 7 days after its original date of broadcasting.  Next project is publishing the diaries.  Various irons are in the fire but it's proving hard to get a firm commitment from anyone so far, particularly in the present economic climate.  Watch this space!

3. 4 November: Information about the BBC Radio 4 broadcasts of Edie's diaries on Monday 10, Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 November 2009 can be found on their Afternoon Reading website. [No longer available - see 19 Nov - above]

October 2009 updates:

1. 19 October:  Have a look at these photos, taken in Etretat in 1914 by Nurse Barrett and sent to me by her great nephew, Brian Dunlop. Click here for the page.

2. 17 October: The recording of the diaries for the forthcoming Radio 4 serialisation in November has taken place in Brighton.  I was lucky to be allowed to sit in on the session.  Read all about the recording session here.

September 2009 update:

1. 15 September: Can you help to identify the original location of this beautiful stained glass window which is currently in an antique shop on Vancouver Island, Canada?

August 2009 update: 6 August: The last British survivor of the World War I trenches, Harry Patch, has died at the age of 111. His funeral took place on Thursday 6 August 2009. Listen to the wise words of this brave, thoughtful and compassionate man.

July 2009 updates:

1. 26 July: Exciting news: BBC Radio 4 are to broadcast three 14 minute extracts from Edie's diaries on the afternoons of 10 to 12 November 2009!  The programmes will be produced by the same company which delivers the Making History programmes: Pier Productions. See October update (above) for more recent information.

2. 16 July: I have heard from Ridha Arfa in Le Tréport that last year's exhibition, which includes extracts from Edie's dairies when she was stationed in the Trianon Hotel (aka General Hospital No. 3), is being held again this year. It will be in the exhibition building on the cliffs near the top of the funicular railway between 10 July and 16 August 2009 each Friday to Sunday between 2pm and 6pm. See http://www.edithappleton.org.uk/Vol4/LeTreport/HotelTrianon.asp for background information.

3. 9 July: I spent some time trawling through the diaries of Dame Maud McCarthy (see http://scarletfinders.co.uk/25.html and thanks, as ever, to Sue Light) and came across three mentions of Edie.  Full details here: www.edithappleton.org.uk/DameMaudMcCarthy/maud_mccarthy.asp.

June 2009 update:

1. 3 June: In March Dick and Lisa visited Le Tréport.  Go to www.edithappleton.org.uk/Vol4/LeTreport/HotelTrianon.asp to read a brief report on that visit, together with information about the splendid book by M. Ridha Arfa and Dr. Bruno Garraud Le Treport: 1914-1918. Their book includes dozens of images of soldiers and nurses at the Trianon Hotel, which became No. 3 General Hospital from 1914, as well as several extracts from Edie's diary.

May 2009 updates:

1. 18 May: On 5 May I accompanied a group from Tonbridge School which visited Ypres.  Click here for a brief report.

2. 17 May: Back in March I visited Bart's Hospital where Edie trained between 1900 and 1904 and we now have a copy of her page from the Matron's Register of Probationers.  Click here to view the page.

3. 8 May: further to the item about Edie's early letters (below), in early May Dick Robinson visited Dorothy West (née Appleton) at Westall House, Horsted Keynes. Click here for a photo of Dorothy who celebrated her 101st birthday in January 2009.

4. 2 May: following a visit to Etretat by Dick and Lisa in March 2009, we are in process of updating the 'Etretat/Alain Millet' page.  It contains lots of images (old postcards, new photos etc) and is taking a long time to complete but you can now view this work-in-progress at: http://www.edithappleton.co.uk/Etretat/Alain_Millet.asp.

April 2009 update:

1. 23 April: In April 2009 Piers Stainforth (great nephew of Edie) was rummaging through family archives and found three early letters from Edie to her mother.  These three, which were all in one envelope, are a wonderful addition to the diaries and fill some of the gap between the time that she first set off for Belgium and France in October 1914 and Volume 1 of the diaries. Read all about those letters here.

February 2009 updates:

1. 27 Feb: In January 2009 Alain Millet, who grew up in Etretat, contacted us via the Visitors Book with a great deal of background information about the town and a number of images which link to Edie's dairy. Edie was at General Hospital No. 1 in Etretat from November 1915 and Alain's information and images are a wonderful complement to Edie's writings and sketches.  You can see this here:  http://www.edithappleton.co.uk/Etretat/Alain_Millet.asp. We are meeting in  Etretat in mid March. NB: this page has now been updated following our visit.

2. 5 Feb: I have put together a page about the Appleton family home at 9 Golden Street, Deal in Kent, including a sketch drawn by one of the children in 1879, some fairly recent photos of the house and information about the grandfather clock which would have been a familiar sound in that house and which is still going strong.  Click here to see the page.

January 2009 updates:

1. 25 Jan: Karen Hrabec has provided more information about Patrick Gerald Mulrooney who married May Partlin in 1919, after her first husband, Sgt James Partlin died in 1918, and about his son by a previous marriage, Patrick James Mulrooney, who had a relationship with Mary Partlin (Karen's grandma) and produced her mother. For information about the Mulrooneys, click here.

2. Anyone interested in the role of Canadian nurses in particular should see the website covering the diaries of Great War nurse, Alice Isaacson, set up by Library and Archives Canada.  They have much in common with Edie's diaries but the real treasure is her wonderful and comprehensive photograph album.
   Start here: http://www.lac-bac.gc.ca/nursing-sisters/025013-2301-e.html but be sure to look through her photograph album here: http://www.lac-bac.gc.ca/nursing-sisters/025013-2303.03-e.php.

December 2008 updates:

1. The item on Edie's diaries was repeated in the BBC's Making History's Pick of the Year - their round up of the best items of their 2008 series, broadcast on Tuesday 30 December. Click here for more information.

2. I have been contacted by Karen Hrabec, the great grandaughter of Sgt James Partlin, who was suffering from a fractured spine and who died in Edie's care on 21 August 1918. Click here to read more.

November 2008 updates:

1. The website was featured in the BBC Radio 4 Making History programme on Tuesday 11 November 2008. Click here to listen.

2. Click here for an Appleton family tree.

3. A page has been added about Dame Maud McCarthy whose team Edie joined in 1919: http://www.edithappleton.org.uk/DameMaudMcCarthy/maud_mccarthy.asp.

4. Letter published in The Guardian on Monday 10 November 2008: www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2008/nov/10/1

5. I've just noticed (11 Nov) that there is an exhibition at Le Tréport (between Dieppe and Abbeville), where Edie worked in the huge converted Hotel Trianon in 1918. Copies of Edie's diaries are on display.  Further information about the exhibition here: http://www.linformateur.com/actualite/Le-Treport-:-Commemoration-exceptionnelle-du-11-novembre--2225.html and about the Hotel Trianon hospital here: http://www.edithappleton.org.uk/Vol4/LeTeport/HotelTrianon.asp.
   Click here for a picture of a one of the posters for the exhibition (added 8 December 2008).

6. We have made a number of changes to the layout of the site; in particular moving a lot of information from the home page to separate sub pages.  We hope this makes for easier navigation.  A Visitor's book has been added so please leave your comments, feedback, corrections, etc there.

October 2008 updates:

1. Several photos of the Appleton family in their home, Buddlebrook, at Brighstone in the Isle of Wight have been added here. Buddlebrook was bought in 1923.

2. Jean-Luc Dron has provided a number of excellent photos of the Trianon Hotel above Le Tréport. This was where General Hospital No. 3 was located and to which Edie transferred in June 1918. You can see the images here.

3. Philippe Drouin lives in Achiet-le-Grand and is looking for photos of CCS 45 and CCS 49 to add to his website.  Click here for more information.

4. A number of newspaper cuttings and handwritten poems were found loose in the pages of the diaries.  They are shown together here. Jayne Hyslop has provided some information relating to two of the cuttings.

5. Rifleman James Lennox was in Edie's care for several weeks in July and August 1916 and died on 22 August. Click here for an example of how the internet is helping to draw together information in a most poignant way.

September 2008 update:

Sue Light has unearthed a letter from Miss K.M.Latham, a nurse on active service from the beginning of the war; the letter was sent back to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and published in the newsletter of the League of St. Bartholomew Nurses.  It was written in 1916, but describes her experiences earlier in the war. She mentions that "Miss Appleton and I had adjoining cells, tiny white rooms, with texts in black printed on the walls " and her account runs parallel to Edie's diaries for the same period for 1915 (see Volume 1 and Volume 2). Sure enough, Edie mentions Miss Latham on five occasions (8 April, 8 May, 8 September, 13 and 14 October 1915). Click here for a pdf version of Miss Latham's letter.

Dick Robinson

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