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A Mother for All - Part 4

© John Barham

At this point we will focus beyond the everyday stresses of running the hotel, to concentrate on Mary's activities away from it. Chief of these was the provision of care to the sick and wounded in the camps and in the field.

During a typical day at the British Hotel, officers would exchange their latest news on who had been wounded or had fallen sick. Mary got into the habit of riding up to the camps in the afternoon to seek out the suffering in their tents. She became a familiar sight on the Col track, with her two mules tethered together, one carrying comforts - cool drinks, broth, cake, jelly, blancmange - and the other her bag of medical supplies - lint, needle and thread, bandages and of course creams and medicines.

She would often arrive unannounced at the tent of the surprised invalid. 'More than one officer have I startled' she wrote 'by appearing before him and telling him abruptly that he must have a mother, wife or sister at home whom he missed and that he must therefore be glad of some woman to take their place.' Invariably of course she was well and thankfully received.

More often than not though, she was answering a call. Most officers before a spell in the trenches which promised to be particularly dangerous would spend their last night at the Hotel, during which many would ask Mary's blessing, and her promise that she would care for them if they were wounded. Many of course never returned - Mary suffered along with their close friends.

Tragedy struck even closer on the 18th June when both flank column leaders lost their lives during the abortive assault on the Redan. Sir John Campbell was Mary's highest ranked patron. His wife had lodged at Mary's house in Jamaica and their son had been born there. Colonel Lacy Yea had been a frequent guest at the Hotel and was on the friendliest of terms with Mary.

In fact, with advance information that the attack was to take place, she was ready and waiting on the plateau and spent the whole day there, tending the wounded where she found them. She wandered regardless in and out of range of the Russian guns, becoming a minor casualty herself; when obeying the desperate exhortation to 'lie down Mother' from soldiers around her a little too violently, she dislocated a thumb. Much of the day she spent working in the field hospital which had been set up adjoining the Worontsov Road. Her role was to tend to the less seriously wounded while the surgeons were occupied with the worst cases, dressing and bandaging and administering drinks and light food.

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