This thesis examines the history of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals [SWH] and Dr Elsie Inglis during the First World War. It argues that the significance of the SWH has been obscured through the creation and perpetuation of Inglis as a singular heroine. Inglis role in the SWH was significant but a wider perspective on the history of the SWH allows research into the wider social and political networks within which Inglis and the SWH operated. The thesis considers how the SWH became as a vehicle for women’s suffrage that evolved into an emblem for South Slav nationalism. The thesis argues that for the duration of the war, Serbia became a common cause for the women’s suffrage movement, while pro-Serb and pro-Yugoslav federalists found it useful to make brief common cause with British suffragists. The thesis uses sources from SWH Archives at the Glasgow City Archives and the Women’s Library to provide original insight into the contribution of the administrators and fund raisers without which the SWH would not have been able to run its front line units and argues that the SWH mobilised the support of those women whose activism in the women’s suffrage campaign had been halted due to the war. Support for the SWH enabled these women to maintain their prewar ties and networks and utilise the skills and experience gained through many years of campaigning. The thesis also considers the wider political networks which underpinned SWH strategies in Serbia. The affiliations that Inglis and the SWH made to enable them to work in Serbia enabled them to intervene in international political debate and activism. The propagandist, Robert Seton-Watson became a mentor and adviser to Inglis and the SWH and Inglis became part of his elite political circle which campaigned for a federal state of South Slavs in the Balkans. Finally, the thesis considers the consequences of Inglis’ death on the SWH and the aftermath of the war. The thesis therefore makes a novel contribution to the historiographies of suffrage, liberal internationalism, humanitarianism and heroization and how these different themes came together within a common cause.
| Date of Award | 7 Jan 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Rebecca Gill (Main Supervisor) |
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