Margaret Box, my Great Aunt, spent the Christmas of 1918 far from the rest of her family, working as a nurse with the Elsie Inglis Unit of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals. On the 28th of December 1918 the unit, including Margaret, were assigned to the hospital in Sarajevo, from where she wrote to her mother.
My Dear Mother,
I received Father’s letter of the 17th Nov on Christmas Eve – please thank him very much. We are still here doing nothing, but in a horribly awkward position with Germans running the Hospital. I hope we move on soon, probably the unit is returning home shortly but I have asked to be transferred to another unit.
We had a very jolly Xmas on the whole & managed to make a Xmas pudding. also had a fancy dress dinner.
Someone just going to take a mail very soon – terrible haste.
Hope you had a happy X.
Margaret
Notes
It seems as if, for Margaret and her friends, Christmas 1918 had similarities to many people’s experience of Christmas 2020, unable to spend it with their families, in a state of enforced idleness, but doing their best to celebrate as normal.
With letters from England taking over a month, and, according to John Box (Margaret’s Father) note, letters from Sarajevo sent via a returning nurse, still taking until January 18 to arrive there would be no Christmas Day family catch-ups by telephone or video chat for them.
Germans running the Hospital
I think the Elsie Inglis Unit had been sent to Sarajevo because the Germans were due to withdraw, but when they arrived the Germans were still in charge, but did not really seem enthusiastic about running the hospital, which was not very clean. There will be more about this in Margaret’s next letter.