Edith Maud Drummond Hay R.R.C. 2nd Class 3.6.19 (1872 – 1960) – artist and WW1 volunteer

Edith Maud Drummond Hay was born on 28th February 1872 in Kinfauns in Perthshire, Scotland. Her parents were Henry Maurice Drummond Hay, a Colonel in the Army who was a Scottish naturalist and ornithologist, and his wife, Charlotte Elizabeth Richardson Hay.  On their marriage, Henry took the family name of Hay, adding it to his own surname.   Edith was one of four sisters - the others being Constance, Alice and Lucy - and the girls had two brothers - Henry Maurice Drummond Hay, James Adam Gordon Richardson Drummond Hay.  

When Peter Drummond-Hay and his family moved into his great aunt’s house in the Perthshire village of Glencarse back in the 1980s, he uncovered a treasure trove of wartime memories.

Edith was affectionately known in the family as ‘Aunt Tuck’. She left a fascinating legacy - a collection of illustrated diaries, including an album of her experiences as a volunteer with the British Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) during the First World War, when she joined the Perth/38 Detachment.  According to her Red Cross Record Card, Edith served in several hospitals, including some in France, and she was awarded the Royal Red Cross, Second Class in June 1919 for her war work.   Edith never married and died on 20th February 1960.   The Grant of Probate for Edith mentions the name David Charles Scott-Moncrieff, which makes me wonder if there is a link to the WW1 poet Charles Kenneth Scott-Moncrieff (1889 – 1930).

The family donated Edith’s WW1 album to the Red Cross in London, where it is at the Red Cross Museum.  The British Red Cross’s 2020 Calendar features some of Edith’s WW1 paintings.

"Embarking at Folkestone" by Edith Maud Drummond Hay

Sources:  British Red Cross 2020 Calendar, Find my Past

https://vad.redcross.org.uk/Card?sname=Hay&id=64335

https://vad.redcross.org.uk/Card?sname=Hay&page=2&id=100475

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/perthshire-family-discover-aunt-tucks-8335249

https://www.geni.com/people/Colonel-HM-Drummond-Hay/6000000015351769856

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Drummond-Hay

Photograph of Edith from https://museumandarchives.redcross.org.uk/objects/8828

Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA (1898 –1986) was a British artist and sculptor

I appreciate that Henry Moore is not less well  known but what is perhaps not known is that he served during the First World War

Born on 30 July 1898 in Castleford, West Riding of Yorkshire, UK, Henry’s parents were Raymond Spencer Moore and his wife, Mary, née Baker.). His father was Irish and became pit deputy and then under-manager of the Wheldale colliery in Castleford.  Educated locally and encouraged by his parents to study, Henry began modelling in clay and carving in wood at an early age. He decided to become a sculptor when he was eleven years old, after hearing about Michelangelo's work in Sunday School.

Henry volunteered to serve in the Army during the First World War but was initially turned down by the Artists' Rifles regiment (the obvious choice) because he was considered too short. However, but eventually he was accepted by the Civil Service Rifles – he was the youngest man to serve in that Regiment - and assigned to the 3rd Battalion. Posted to the Western Front, Henry and was wounded during a gas attack that took place on 30th November 1917 in Bourlon Wood, during the Battle of Cambrai.  He was sent back to Britain and spent two months in hospital, before becoming recovered after hospital treatment and became a physical training instructor.  

“It was in those two years of war that I broke finally away from parental domination which had been very strong. My old friend, Miss Gostick, found out about ex-servicemen's grants. With her help I applied and received one for the Leeds School of Art. This was understood from the outset merely to be a first step. London was the goal. But the only way to get to London was to take the Board of Education examinations and to win a scholarship.”

Henry Moore in James Johnson Sweeney, 'Henry Moore', Partisan Review, New York, March-April 1947, p. 182

After an illustrious career, Henry died on 1st August 1986

Find out more here: 

https://www.henry-moore.org/about-henry-moore/biography/childhood-and-education