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Thursday, March 8th, 2012
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12:05a - Alicia Blackwood nurses in the Crimea; Mary Wade Griscom in Persia
To celebrate International Women's Day, I'm happy to announce a book and a short article by two intrepid women who traveled to different areas of the world to do medical work.
Celebration Edition #361:
"A narrative of personal experiences & impressions during a residence on the Bosphorus throughout the Crimean War"
by Lady Alicia Blackwood (1818-1913)
London: Hatchard, Piccadilly, 1881.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/blackwood/narrative/narrative.html
Lady Alicia Blackwood née Lambart, (1818 – 30 July 1913) was the daughter of George Frederick Augustus Lambart, Viscount Kilcoursie (1789-1828) and Sarah Coppin. A painter and nurse, Lady Alicia married the Rev. James Stevenson Blackwood (-1882) and with him traveled far from polite society and the upper-class English world.
Lady Alicia Blackwood and her husband "were deeply moved to go out" after hearing of "the battle of Inkerman, that terribly hard-fought struggle". Dr. Blackwood obtained a chaplaincy to the forces; Lady Alicia and two young women friends accompanied him, determined to find some way to help. Lady Alicia applied to Florence Nightingale at Scutari in December 1854. Nightingale's opinion of ladies who came out to assist the hospitals was generally low, as is shown in their first conversation. Lady Alicia relates:
..............
I applied to Miss Nightingale to know where I could be most usefully employed. Possibly at this long distance of time she may forget that particular interview, but I do not; for the reply she gave me, or rather the question she put to me in reply, after a few seconds of silence, with a peculiar expression of countenance, made an indelible impression.
"Do you mean what you say?"
I own I was rather surprised.
"Yes, certainly; why do you ask me that?" I said.
"Oh, because," she responded, "I have had several such applications before, and when I have suggested work, I found it could not be done, or some excuse was made; it was not exactly the sort of thing that was intended, it required special suitability, &c."
"Well," I replied, "I am in earnest; we came out here with no other wish than to help where we could, and to be useful if possible."
"Very well, then," said Miss Nightingale, "if this is so, you really can help me if you will; in this Barrack are now located some two hundred poor women in the most abject misery. They are the wives of the soldiers who were allowed to accompany their husbands; a great number have been sent down from Varna; they are in rags, and covered with vermin. My heart bleeds for them, and they are at our doors daily clamouring for everything; but it is impossible for me to attend to them, my work is with the soldiers, not with their wives. Now, will you undertake to look after these poor women and relieve me from their importunity? there are funds to help, and bales of free gifts sent out; but we are so occupied, it is not possible for us to administer them. If you will take the women as your charge, I will send an orderly who will show you their haunts."
Of course I assented at once.
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In this way Lady Alicia Blackwood was delegated by Florence Nightingale to create and manage an unofficial hospital for the wives, widows and children of soldiers in Scutari. In a letter of March 18 1855, Nightingale disparagingly calls these women and children "Allobroges", the shrieking camp followers of the ancient Gauls. In her account, Lady Alicia describes the horrific conditions under which she found them, "as much sinned against as sinning", and discusses the changes she was able to make for their relief. Blackwood's respect for Nightingale is evident throughout her book, which is both vivid and enjoyable to read.
A Celebration Article:
Mary Wade Griscom (1866- )
"A Medical Motor Trip Through Persia"
in "Asia, The American Magazine on the Orient"
by the American Asiatic Association.
Vol. 21 (March), pp. 233-240, 1921.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/griscom/asia/persia.html
Sixty years later, in World War I, the professionalization of nursing that Florence Nightingale had begun was well-established. Many women trained as nurses and doctors. Mary Wade Griscom graduated from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1891 and is listed in the Medical Register for Pennsylvania as of 1895. The Philadelphia Medical Journal, Volume 11, 1903, records her appointment as chief of the obstetrical staff at the Women's Hospital of Philadelphia. Her skills as a doctor were a passport that opened doors for her in China and Persia. By 1915, she was traveling between Philadelphia and China. But her travels did not stop there.
A short article in Asia magazine in 1921 outlines some of Dr. Griscom's adventures. In 1918, she was teaching in the Medical School for Women in Canton when she learned that a Medical School for Women was to be opened in Vellore, India, to address the shortage of doctors due to the war. She boarded a boat and set off, but the armistice derailed her plans.
"At Bombay the flags were flying gaily from all masts in the harbor; everybody was holidaying with parades and firecrackers. The Armistice had just been signed, and there was no reason for me to go to south India. So I went instead to Allahabad to visit friends and wait for the next thing. There is always a next thing in the Orient for a physician, foot-loose and carrying hand-baggage. Almost immediately came a telegram from one of the American-Persian Relief Commission: 'Can you go at once to Teheran? Woman doctor needed.'
"I had from five that afternoon until eleven the next morning to get ready. I had no idea what I should meet in the way of climate or emergencies in Persia, and the opinion of Allahabad was divided on these important questions. In order to be prepared for anything I packed into my light suitcase a few thin clothes, a jersey suit, a heavier suit and a coat. My bedding consisted of two steamer-rugs and four sheets wrapped in Chinese oilcloth to keep off vermin. Of course I did not forget my typewriter and plenty of ribbons." She also took food and medical supplies.
In Teheran, Dr. Griscom started a dispensary, and worked in the women's hospital with Dr. Mary J. Smith, who had kept it open throughout the war. Persian women could not, of course, see a male physician. Poor Armenians, street beggars, members of Persian ministers' families and the grandmother of the Shah all rubbed elbows in Doctor Griscom's waiting-room. However, Mary Griscom regretted that she had arrived too late to be involved in war-related medical relief work. Consultations and regular hospital work were rather tame in comparison. After a few months she set off again in search of more exciting opportunities.
Many doctors and nurses today share the courageous spirit of Lady Alicia Blackwood and Mary Wade Griscom, traveling and working world-wide with organizations like Doctors Without Borders.
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