From the back cover:

"What I thought would be for me an impossible task became absolutely natural: to wash wounds, to drag off rags and clothing soaked in blood, to soothe a soldier's groans..."

Five days after war was declared in August 1914, Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland sailed to France to meet the war and nurse its victims. Her fight, and that of countless other women who nursed, was against the dirt, terror and infection of the battlefields.

The Hospital in the Oatfield tells the story of the incredible contribution made by nurses in the First World War. This collection of essays explores the lives of the women and the conditions in which they found themselves, their bravery and their gumption. Using the focus of Millicent Sutherland's hospital under canvas, theis book is a celebration and commemoration of their works.

The book is illustrated extensively throughout with contemporary art and photographs, as well as with extracts from nurses' own diaries and letters.

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With photos of paintings by Victor Tardieu, 1915.