The work of the V.A.D. members besides nursing, includes cooking, storekeeping, and secretarial work, which are classed under the heading of General Service. This is the branch of work for which Mrs. Charles W. Furse, as Commandant-in-Chief of the V.A.Ds. of the Joint Societies, is now responsible. The posting of the V.A.D. nurses to hospitals at home and abroad also goes through her hands. Widow of the well-known painter, and daughter of John Addington Symonds, Mrs. Furse was for several years before the war one of the most interested and prominent of V.A.D. workers. When Sir Alfred Keogh’s scheme for the organisation of voluntary Red Cross workers came into being in 1909, Mrs. Furse was one of the first women to enrol. In 1912 she became Commandant of the first Paddington Detachment, London 128. During the next two years she encouraged enterprise among the members by organising classes in cooking, laundry, and hygiene, in addition to the study of first aid and home nursing. By this time Mrs. Furse had become a member of several committees dealing with Red Cross and V.A.D. work, and was already recognised as an authority on these subjects. On the outbreak of war her services were at once commandeered by the British Red Cross Society. For the first months of war Mrs. Furse undertook the management of the Enquiry Department at Devonshire House, which became the headquarters of the V.A.D. In September, 1914, she submitted a scheme to the War Office for V.A.D. rest stations on the lines of communication. In October she was ordered to go to France with sufficient members from her own detachment to start this work, which has been much extended, and has met a great need.