Lost Love, Service, and the British Red Cross
After young Latter-day Saint Nellie Smith lost her fiancée in the First World War she continued to look outwards and help others while treasuring her faith
Few organisations can claim a legacy as noble as the British Red Cross. In the late nineteenth century, a wave of humanitarian fervour swept across Europe. In the United Kingdom, this spirit found a voice in the form of Octavia Hill, a pioneering figure who played a pivotal role in establishing what would become the British Red Cross. Since then it has played an active role in relieving and serving others in the many conflicts and disasters that followed.
The fundamental goal of the British Red Cross was, and is, to alleviate human suffering during times of crisis. The organisation adopted the foundational principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement: impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality. The organisation committed itself to humanity, ensuring that aid would be administered without discrimination, political influence, or any motive other than alleviating human suffering.
The Red Cross in Edinburgh
Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, was a crucial centre of activity for the Red Cross during the First World War. In November 1914 Mary Abercorn, Governor of Work Parties and Clothing Committee for the Edinburgh Red Cross published a notice in The Scotsman stating that they had sent thousands for garments “to the sick and wounded, both in Scotland and abroad”. The encroaching cold weather, however, meant there continued to be a need for more clothing. The Red Cross also asked for picture postcards to give to the soldiers who were convalescing so they could exercise their minds as well as their bodies. Abercorn also commented on those she was working alongside:
I should like to say in conclusion that the work of my Committee has been greatly simplified from the beginning by the wonderful kindness, generosity, and industry of the many work parties and individual workers in Edinburgh and the East of Scotland.1
The Red Cross’s efforts were legion. New hospitals were opened around Edinburgh to deal with the growing number of injured servicemen. In July 1916, for example, the St. George’s Red Cross Auxiliary Hospital was opened in Church Hill, Edinburgh.2 Training courses were run for prospective nurses to increase the number of trained professionals able to help.3 Innovative efforts to drum up resources and support to aid their work were undertaken by a highly committed and driven group of workers.
There were many different tasks to complete. There were those who functioned as nurses, but others undertook transport duties, organised rest stations, formed working parties and set up hospitals. People were also trained to convert local buildings into shelters and rest stations for the sick and wounded. It isn’t difficult to picture large numbers of women signing up to do whatever they could, sewing, cleaning, cooking, and looking after the wounded. During the war, many men and women volunteered, worked, and supported the efforts of the Red Cross. One such person was Latter-day Saint Ellen (“Nellie”) Smith who was a faithful member of the Edinburgh branch.
Nellie Smith
Nellie’s parents, George and Ellen Smith, joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Edinburgh in 1896 when Nellie was three years old. She was raised in the faith and on 3 January 1901, at age eight, she was taken to the Leith Turkish Baths. Her family likely watched on as she stood in a row with about six other people. They were each asked to recite the Articles of Faith before entering into the water when Nellie was baptised by Thomas McMaster. Afterwards, she was confirmed a member by James Holland and given a “lovely blessing.”
At age fourteen Nellie began working at Smith and Ritchie Printing and Paper Works. She later met Alexander (“Alec”) Henderson and the two started dating. After war broke out in 1914 Alec joined the Seaforth Highlanders and in September 1915 was involved in the Battle of Loos. The British forces sought to break through German defences. Chlorine gas, artillery bombardments, and even tactical aerial bombing were utilised to prepare the way for infantry advancements. Yet, the German defences held firm and by 8 October 1915 the battle was over with a German victory.
The battle was exhausting and devastating. For example, the twelve attacking battalions lost 8,000 men out of 10,000 in just four hours. Ultimately there were almost 50,000 British casualties in the battle. Alec survived the battle and was preparing to enjoy furlough back in Scotland where he was planning to marry Nellie. The story goes that as he was boarding the train to return home a sniper’s bullet hit Alec and was badly wounded. He died soon after.
Nellie would have been rightly heartbroken. Yet further pain came a year later when her brother, George, who was a faithful Latter-day Saint, died in the Battle of the Somme. We can only imagine the pain that Nellie would have felt, but despite these losses, she retained her faith in the midst of her trials.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was involved in national relief efforts throughout the war. Partnerships were formed with the British Red Cross and Relief Societies were involved in gathering supplies, making clothing, and tending to the injured. Some Latter-day Saints also took a formal role in the British Red Cross. Nellie Smith was one of those.
Nellie’s uniform involved a white dress, a white apron, and a white cap with a veil, with a white stiffened belt, also known as a “Kelso” belt around her waist. On the front of her white apron was a stitched red cross, and a brooch. The uniform, without the blue dress, would indicate that Nellie was active in a Voluntary Aid Detachment in a non-medical role. It’s unclear what exactly Nellie did for the Red Cross, but perhaps future research will uncover the details. After three months of regular service, an individual would be given a Red Cross badge and she was clearly formally involved with the organisation.
It wasn’t long before the Church received recognition for what it and its members were doing. On 1st August 1916, a Relief Society conference was held in Glasgow. It was reported that congregations around Scotland had been involved in work for the Red Cross or other aid work for wounded soldiers and needy individuals and had been receiving attention as a result.4 In 1916 the Edinburgh branch Relief Society was recognised and approved by the War Office as being affiliated with the Red Cross on account of its contributions to providing relief in the war effort.5
After the War
As came war, so too did peace.
After the armistice was signed in November 1918, there was a wave of British Latter-day Saints who emigrated to North America. Members of Nellie’s family also emigrated. In the years after the war Nellie served in the branch’s Sunday School organisation. She was a teacher and assistant in the Sunday School Superintendency before being sustained as Superintendent. She was faithful in these duties.
On 18 June 1922, Nellie was probably attending the weekly sacrament meeting when the infamous tarring and feathering of Latter-day Saints in Edinburgh took place. A group of young university students “raided” the Saints’ meeting and poured paint over the missionaries before dousing them with feathers, and tearing pages out of hymn books.
A year later, in 1923, Nellie led the Sunday School session of the Edinburgh branch conference which was held at the Free Gardner’s Hall. The programme was described as “well-arranged” with part of the meeting turned over to a dialogue entitled, “Water Baptism”.6 The next year at another conference she conducted a session on the theme of “The Restoration” in which her pupils participated with some missionaries and others speaking and singing.7
It was in the early 1920s that the Edinburgh branch’s Relief Society was re-organised. Members of the society had turned their attention to the plight of orphaned Russian children who were suffering from a famine. The Allied forces had blockaded the country after the 1917 revolution and as the blockade was lifted organisations in the British Isles began sending aid, including Relief Societies. Additionally, the branch president spoke encouragingly of the Sunday School.8
Several years later, on 28 February 1925, Nellie and her parents began their long-held dream of emigrating to Utah by leaving Liverpool onboard the S. S. Montclare. The branch had organised a farewell party for them with a musical programme, games, and refreshments.9 Two weeks later they arrived in Salt Lake City where they were greeted by their family who had prepared a home for them. Years later Nellie wrote of her first experience of attending the church’s General Conference in April 1925 shortly after arriving in Utah:
…what a thrill that was to be standing in that great Tabernacle singing we thank thee O God for a Prophet and to see President Grant on the stand, it made chills run all over me, I wanted to cry with pure joy.10
Nellie never did marry, but on 13 November 1974, three years after her death, she was vicariously sealed to Alexander after the family received permission to do so.
War had taken Nellie from her beloved Alec, but in death, they were reunited for eternity.
‘Edinburgh Red Cross,’ The Scotsman, 28 November 1914, p. 11.
‘News from the Front,’ The Nursing Times, Vol. 12, No. 584 (1916), p. 810.
‘British Red Cross Society,’ The Scotsman, 15 September 1915, p. 1.
Annie Gallacher, ‘Relief Society Gatherings,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 78, No. 33 (1916), pp. 523-524.
‘Recognized by the War Office,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 78, No. 15 (1916), p. 230.
‘From the Mission Field,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 85, No. 41 (1923), p. 655.
‘From the Mission Field,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 86, No. 48 (1924), p. 765.
‘Minutes of the Scottish Conference,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 84, No. (1922), pp. 331-333.
‘From the Mission Field,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 87, No. 10 (1925), pp. 159.
Personal Record of Ellen Smith. Courtesy of Kathleen Brough.
Fantastic narrative and the picture is priceless! I love this connection of the Relief Society with the British Red Cross.