A new touring exhibition called ‘Everybody’s Darling’ will open at the Treasure House, Beverley, on Saturday 17 October.
During the First World War, thousands of women served at home and overseas as nurses. This exhibition reveals the essential role that they fulfilled – a role which has often gone unrecognised.
Many women worked in the hundreds of military hospitals at home caring for the injured servicemen. Others worked on the Western and Eastern fronts, in casualty clearing stations, and in field hospitals close to the battle lines. They were closer to the front-line than in any previous conflict, working up to twenty hours a day, often during heavy periods of fighting. Conditions were hazardous and gruelling, and some nurses died on active service.
In contrast to the realities of nursing near the battlefield, an idealised, romanticised image of the nurse was frequently used for propaganda purposes during the war. The nurse tending an injured serviceman became an iconic image of the time and these images feature in the exhibition. Also included are many original artefacts including prints, postcards and medical equipment.
The council’s Museum Service has added items from its own collection, such as an artificial arm belonging to one John Ackney who was born in Bielby near York and injured on active service in 1918. Also included are medals and an autograph book belonging to East Riding First World War nurses.
Admission is free and the exhibition continues until 5 December.
To complement the exhibition will be a lecture: ‘Defining the First World War Nurse’ by Dr Rosemary Wall from the University of Hull on Tuesday 27 October at 6.30pm.
For more information and to book tickets, call (01482) 392699, call into Archives on the ground floor of the Treasure House.
