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| Mairi Chisholm |
Mairi
Chisholm was a Scottish Nurse and Ambulance Driver during the First World War.
After war was declared in 1914, the
eighteen-year-old Mairi and her new friend, Elsie Knocker, both went to London
to become despatch riders for the Women’s Emergency Corps. Mairi had been a keen motorcyclist from a
young age and rode her own cycle from Scotland to London in order to
volunteer. The pair of them ended up in
Belgium, picking up wounded soldiers mid-way from the front and transporting
them to the field hospital.
The pair of them soon decided that
it would be better to treat the wounded men directly on the front line. They set up their own dressing station just
100 yards from the trenches. As they
were now no longer a part of the Belgium Red Cross, they had to raise their own
funds in order to support their work.
The two of them spent the next three years tending the wounded soldiers
directly on the front line.
Mairi Chisholm and Elsie Knocker
soon became the most photographed women of the war. The press wrote many articles about them and
they became known as ‘The Madonnas of Pervyse.’
In 1918, both women were badly
affected after a bombing raid and gas attack on their makeshift hospital. They soon recovered and returned to their
work, however, they were later forced to abandon their post for good, just a
few months before the war ended. The
pair of them returned to Britain, where they served out the rest of the war in
the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF).
Shortly after the war, the two
nurses had a major falling out. Despite
all that they had been through, the two of them were never to speak again. Mairi Chisolm soon suffered from poor health,
having been poisoned, contracting Septicaemia and suffering from a weak
heart. None of that managed to slow her
down though. After leaving the WRAF she
took up auto racing and continued to lead a busy, fast-paced life.
In her later years, Mairi returned
to her native Scotland on doctor’s orders, where it was hoped she would lead a
much quieter life. Mairi Chisholm died
from lung cancer in 1981.
Awards and
Decorations awarded to Mairi Chisholm:-
Knight Cross of the Order of Leopold II with
palm,
Military Medal,
Officer of the Order of St. John of
Jerusalem,
Order of Queen Elisabeth of Belgium,
1914 Star.
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