The chief medical officer, Flora Murray, kept a scrapbook of events and activities at the hospital. It was made up of newspaper clippings, photographs and invitations. It even included drawings of her and Louisa’s dogs.
You can see the whole scrapbook online (see Supporting Links in Resources).
This page shows the visit of Queen Alexandra and her daughter to the hospital in 1916
Another page from the scrap book shows women carrying out some of the tasks.
How do we remember things?
On the Sunday nearest to 11 November, places of worship hold remembrance services. There are often ceremonies in towns and villages to remember wars and battles and people, particularly the soldiers, that died in them.
The main war memorial for Britain is in the centre of London and is called the cenotaph. It honours all the soldiers who died in war. Most villages, towns and even some schools have memorials like this. (Sometimes words like ‘fallen’ are used on memorials to mean died.)
Lots of people think it is important to remember wars and fighting so that we do not go to war again. There are lots of memorials for the First World War and other wars but none for the influenza epidemic.
Martin Bayly, who is an academic at LSE, argues that it is important to remember the influenza virus in the video below:
Scrapbooks
Scrapbooks and keeping leaflets or newspaper articles is another way people remember things. Flora Murray felt very proud of all the things that Endell Street Military Hospital did, and she recorded some of the things that happened in a scrapbook. The scrapbook also helped her through some difficult times in the war and pandemic. One hundred years later, we can now use it to help us understand the events that Flora lived through.
- Think about how you remember things like birthdays or family events, like weddings.
- Do you and your family take photographs? Send cards?
- Have you kept leaflets and cards from the last year?
What you are experiencing and have experienced in the COVID-19 pandemic is very important. Recording this time might help you to look back and remember the things you have been through – the good and the bad. Fortunately, things like this don’t happen very often. It is a ‘historic’ event. You can record your experiences of the last year and what you are going through now in a scrapbook or on paper using drawing, writing, newspaper cuttings, cards, screenshots etc. See Teachers Notes for links to activity sheets and ideas.
Glossary
COVID-19 or coronavirus – is a virus. Viruses are really small germs that carry illnesses. It is an air born disease i.e. it is carried through the air and is respiratory, i.e. it infects the nose and throat. (It is also known as SARS-CoV-2 as it is related to other viruses known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.)
Virus – a type of germ that can cause disease. Viruses cause minor sicknesses like colds, common illnesses like the flu, and very serious diseases like smallpox.
Influenza - an infectious disease that is caused by a virus. Symptoms include cough, sore throat, muscle aches and pains, fever, and headache. Influenza is commonly known as the flu.
Pandemic - an outbreak of an infectious disease that spreads across a large region (for example a continent), or even worldwide