South African Memories: Social, Warlike & Sporting from Diaries Written at the TimeWilson, Sarah Isabella Augusta, Lady
History
South African Memories: Social, Warlike & Sporting from Diaries Written at the Time
Wilson, Sarah Isabella Augusta, Lady
South Africa -- Description and travel; South African War, 1899-1902 -- Personal narratives
There has been ample testimony of the excellent way in which this
admirable scheme was created and carried out. Numerous letters, touching
in their expressions of gratitude, were received from men of all ranks
whose sufferings were alleviated in the Yeomanry Hospitals; newspapers
commented upon it at the time, but it is only those who were behind the
scenes that can tell what arduous work it entailed, and of how
unflinchingly it was faced by the chairman of the committee. Constant
interviews with War Office officials, with doctors, with nurses; the
hundreds of letters that had to be written daily; the questions,
necessary and unnecessary, that had to be answered; the estimates that
had to be examined, would have proved a nightmare to anyone not
possessed of the keenest intellect combined with the strongest will. It
involved close and unremitting attention from morning till night, and
this not for one week, but for many months; and yet no detail was ever
momentarily shirked by one who loved an outdoor life. Lady Georgiana
realized to the full the responsibilities of having this vast sum of
money entrusted to her by the British public, and not wisely, but too
well, did she devote herself to discharging it.
Her services to the country were as zealous as they were invaluable. By
her quick grasp of the details of administration, by the marvellous tact
and skill she exercised, and by the energy she threw into her
undertaking, every difficulty was mastered. At this present time many
hundreds of men, who were ten years ago facing a desperate foe, can
reflect gratefully, if sadly, that they owe their lives to the generous
and unselfish efforts of a brave woman who is no longer with us; for,
after all, Lady Georgiana Curzon was human, and had to pay the price of
all she did. Her great exertions seriously told upon her health, as was
only to be expected, and long before the conclusion of her strenuous
labours she felt their effects, although she ignored them. Lady Chesham
was no less energetic a worker, and had as an additional anxiety the
fact of her husband and son[42] being both at the front. It was
imperative that one of these two ladies, who were responsible for
starting the fund, should personally superintend the erection and the
opening of the large base hospital at Deelfontein, and as Lady Georgiana
Curzon had made herself almost indispensable in London by her adroitness
in managing already sorely harassed War Office officials, and in
keeping her committee unanimous and contented, it was decided that Lady
Chesham should proceed to the scene of the war. My sister gladly gave up
this stirring role for the more prosaic, but equally important, work in
London, and when I returned home, in July, 1900, I found her still
completely absorbed by her self-imposed task. Already her health was
failing, and overtaxed nature was having its revenge. During the next
two years, in spite of repeated warnings and advice, she gave herself no
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