#LestWeForget that today is not all about male sacrifice & achievement. A thread of some Scottish women who did their bit. 👇Dr Flora Murray ran military hospitals in Paris, London & Boulogne. She wrote about the challenge of being taken seriously as a female dr. Say what? /1 
Give up a little of your #RemembranceSunday thoughts to the 24,000 women who volunteered in the Scottish Women's Hospitals which recruited widely & operated in France and in Serbia. These women were legends. The HQ was on St Andrews Square in Edinburgh where Tiles Bar is now. /2
#WeWillRememberThem This achievement is the greater cos when Dr Elsie Inglis went to Edinburgh Castle to volunteer to organise hospitals, she was told 'Dear Lady go home and sit still' Luckily Elsie didn't. She died in 1917 having inspired all around her & saved 1000s of lives./3
Helen MacDougall was devoted to Elsie - 1 of the first to join up. She served in Serbia where she & Elsie were taken prisoner by the Germans. They were freed in Austria (enemy territory) & had to climb thru the Alps to freedom. AMAZING. She then went back to the front in France 4
Millicent Fanny St Clair Erskine founded & ran an ambulance service during WWI. She was awarded the French Croix de Guerre & the Belgian Royal Red Cross. Unlike men, women were under little pressure to take these kinds of risks. They could have stayed home and knitted socks. /5
Not everyone in danger was on the front lines. Engineer, Dorothee Pullinger (who I have written about in these threads before for other amazing reasons) managed 13 munitions factories across Scotland during the war. This was dangerous war work indeed. /6
Women were also active in the pacifist movement. I wear a white poppy today in memory of Margaret Sackville founder of @ScottishPEN and woman of great conscience and Rose Klasko Kerrigan who lost her job in a factory in Glasgow because she did not support the war. /7
Bonus: Glasgow artist Norah Neilson Grey served as a nurse & sketched military hospitals. There were hardly any war correspondents during WWI (power didn't want uncensored news coming home) so women who wrote & drew what was happening are now v important historical sources. /8
I cd go on cos there are endless stories of bravery talent success & sacrifice but what I want to say most is that these stories stand testament to female contribution of all kinds. It is a scandal that women are not included in WWI war memorials. They should be. #RemembranceDay
