Category Archives: Research

Everything – and anything – that deepens my knowledge and understanding of the world of my characters. Including watching Peaky Blinders.

Shellshock in 1920

Posted on Oct 1, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram Finally, a #WW1 medical card completed in an English hospital. This is what the doctor wrote about the 27 year old Royal Artillery Driver: “Broke down under the strain of war. Became emotional and lacking … Continue reading →

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Frontline​ care in the Great War

Posted on Oct 1, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram Field Medical Cards (Army form 3118) from #WW1 #Great War used by doctors in Regimental Aid Posts (Field Ambulance) close to the front line. If the soldier required further treatment his card would go with … Continue reading →

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Devotion to duty

Posted on Oct 1, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram It wasn’t all dancing for Canadian #nurses serving in France in #WW1. Along with their British and US counterparts these women suffered serious injury and death whilst caring for the wounded of all nationalities. The … Continue reading →

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Dancing on active service shock

Posted on Oct 1, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram It’s not fair! Canadian nurses serving in France during #WW1 #GreatWar were allowed to dance! With men! (Well, fellow officers anyway…) This was Strictly Forbidden for British nurses. Extract from 1919 Report of the Work … Continue reading →

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Excitable with peculiar mannerisms…

Posted on Oct 1, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram Another afternoon in the #NationalArchives, this time browsing references written by matrons for nurses wishing serve in France in the #GreatWar #FirstWorldWar #WW1 with Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps #QARANC. The women are all … Continue reading →

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Margaret MacMillan Reith Lectures (research review)

Posted on Sep 27, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram This year’s #ReithLectures by my favourite #historian Margaret MacMillan are well worth a listen (search online or in your podcast app). The title of the 2018 series of lectures is The Mark of Cain. Erudite, … Continue reading →

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The joy of primary research

Posted on Sep 27, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram Fascinating and strangely emotional day @nationalarchivesuk looking at #WW1 #GreatWar medical records. It’s one thing to read in a text book about the German Spring Offensives of #1918; it’s quite another to see the evidence … Continue reading →

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The Incurable Romantic (research review)

Posted on Sep 11, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram The Incurable Romantic by Frank Tallis (2018) is compulsive background reading for a writer of #historicalromance. Falling in love is “a combustable state that reproduces the symptoms of psychiatric illness” and, when love goes wrong, … Continue reading →

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Lawrence of Arabia (research review)

Posted on Sep 3, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia by Micheal Korda (2011). I listened to this thoughtful, even-handed biography on @audible_books whilst driving; odd hours here and there over a couple of months – … Continue reading →

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The Joy of Writing Sex (research review)

Posted on Aug 30, 2018 by

View this post on Instagram I read The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers by Elizabeth Benedict (revised edition 2001) on Kindle, which may accounts for the boring cover image. Sorry about that – and apologies also … Continue reading →

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