Flora Sands [1] ( Eng. Flora Sandes ; January 22, 1876 , Noether Poppleton , North Yorkshire - November 24, 1956 , Suffolk ) - British nurse, captain of the Serbian army (the only British woman serving in the Serbian army), member of the First World War war . Before the war, Flora worked in the St. John’s Ambulance , but after mobilization she voluntarily entered the ranks of the Serbian army and quickly rose to the rank of senior sergeant. The captains made already at the end of the war [2] . Cavalier of the Order of the Star of Karageorge.
| Flora Sands | |
|---|---|
| English Flora sandes | |
 Flora Sands in Serbian uniform | |
| Nickname | Our Englishwoman ( Serbian. Naša Engleskinja / Nasha Engleskiњa ), Brother |
| Date of Birth | January 22, 1876 |
| Place of Birth | Nether Poppleton , North Yorkshire , UK |
| Date of death | November 24, 1956 (aged 80) |
| A place of death | Suffolk , UK |
| Affiliation |  Serbia Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
| Type of army | infantry, orderlies |
| Years of service | 1914-1944 |
| Rank | captain |
| Part | 2nd Iron Infantry Regiment named after Prince Mikhailo |
| Battles / wars | World War I : Monastir Operation |
| Awards and prizes |  |
| Retired | retired |
Content
- 1 Biography
- 1.1 The early years
- 1.2 Military career
- 1.3 After the war
- 2 In popular culture
- 3 See also
- 4 notes
- 5 Literature
- 5.1 Autobiographies
- 5.2 Other works
- 6 References
Biography
The early years
Flora Sands was born on January 22, 1876 in the town of Noether-Poppleton, North Yorkshire . She was the youngest daughter in an Irish-Scottish family. Father - Samuel Dickson Sands ( English Samuel Dickson Sandes , 1822–1914), a former rector (priest of the Church of England) in the county of Cork . Mother - Sophia Julia Sands, nee Besnard ( born Sophia Julia Sands, née Besnard ) [3] [4] . The family moved to Suffolk , Marlsford, when Flora was 9 years old, and then moved to Thornton Heath with Croydon , Surrey [3] [5] [6] . Flora was brought up by a governess [4] , from childhood she was fond of horse riding and shooting, and also repeatedly said that she would like to be a boy [7] . She also studied driving a car, driving an old French racing car [7] , and later got a job as a secretary [7] . She knew perfectly French and German. In her free time, Sands studied at the Sister Yomensky First Aid Corps founded in 1907. It was a women's paramilitary organization in which they studied medical affairs, horse care, communication and were actively engaged in physical training - horse care was not accidental, because orderlies from this corps took the wounded on horses. In 1910, Flora Sands moved to the Women's Sick & Wounded Convoy , founded by Mabel St. Clair Stobart, who left the Yeomen corps. The convoy served in Serbia and Bulgaria during the First Balkan War . In 1914, when the First World War began , Flora wanted to enroll in nurses, but she was refused due to insufficient qualifications [8] .
Military career
Sands, despite the failure, entered the Ambulance of St. John (branch in England and Wales) under the leadership of Maybel Gruitch . On August 12, 1914, a group of 36 female doctors went to Serbia to help everyone in need [3] [7] [9] . All of them arrived in the city of Kragujevac , where the main Serbian forces were, which restrained the Austro-Hungarian offensive [10] . Flora Sands joined the Serbian Red Cross Service and began working as a nurse of mercy at the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Serbian Army [3] . When the retreat of the Serbian forces through Albania to the sea began , Sands left the location of his unit and, for his own safety, signed up with a fake name to the Serbian regiment. This was not surprising for two reasons: first, in Albania, the tradition of oath virgins has long been established, which took over all men's duties; secondly, in Serbia, absolutely all women volunteered for the army, because they wanted to help the army with everything they could, and had no less hatred for the Austro-Hungarian invaders. However, Sands became the only representative of Great Britain to take such a step.
Flora gradually got used to the harsh conditions of military life: constant marching throws, lodging for the night in trenches in cold weather and constant skirmishes with Austrians and Bulgarians tempered the Englishwoman. The Serbs began to consider her a kind of talisman, so they treated her well. Flora's sluggishness was perceived by many as a lack of fear and personal courage, moreover, during the artillery shelling and rifle volleys from the enemy Flora did not receive a single scratch. Superstitious Serbs took care of her and sent her to the reserve whenever possible. She rose quite quickly to the rank of corporal [7] . In 1916, during the Battle of Monastir, however, she was seriously injured by a grenade after hand-to-hand combat [7] . The Serbs pulled the Englishwoman out of the battlefield only by a miracle, and the remaining wounded were captured by the Bulgarians, where they were killed. Sands was seriously injured in her right hand, with grenade fragments in her back and right side (there were 24 injuries in total). Doctors managed to remove the fragments and alleviate the suffering of the Englishwoman, but Flora, the commander who arrived, warned that she would not be able to get to the front line anymore and after recovery would only be able to serve at headquarters. At the British military field hospital in Thessaloniki, where she was undergoing treatment, Flora found out about other women who served in the Serbian army, including Milunka Savić from the 2nd Infantry Regiment, which was also in the hospital after being wounded. For her courage, Flora was awarded the Order of the Star of Karageorgia - the highest Serbian military award [11] - and promoted to senior sergeant (sergeant major) [9] .
In 1916, Sands published an autobiography, English sergeant in the Serbian Army, based on letters and diaries. The proceeds from the sale of the book went to the aid of the Serbian army [12] . Also, parcels from the UK began to come to her, but the means and supplies were still not enough, and Sands herself was shocked by the number of wounded and hungry. With the support of Evelina Haverfield Sands created the Foundation for Assistance to Serbian Soldiers and Prisoners of War, named Evelina and Flora [13] . All funds from this fund went to help victims of the disasters of the war. Due to a serious wound, Flora remained in the hospital until the end of hostilities, but at the same time she assumed the duties of the chief doctor and continued to help the soldiers [14] . After the war ended, in April 1919 she was promoted to officer and in October 1922 after being promoted to captain, she was finally demobilized [4] [11] .
After the war
In May 1927, Flora Sands married Yuri Yudenich , a Russian military commander, general of the White Army [5] . For some time, the couple lived in France, but then moved to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and settled in Belgrade. Sands became the taxi driver (the first Belgrade taxi driver), and in 1927 published another autobiography. She lectured on military affairs and medicine in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, France, Canada and the USA, wearing a uniform all the time [15] .
In 1941, Sands and Yudenich volunteered for the front of the next war , but already against Germany. Unfortunately, the war ended with the rapid defeat of the Yugoslav troops and the occupation of the country, and Flora and Yuri were captured by the Germans. With great difficulty, both managed to get out [11] : Sands, disguised as a woman’s dress, got out of jail by deceit. Yudenich was released and sent to the hospital due to poor health, in September 1941 he was gone [4] . Flora moved to England, where she lived the last years of her life.
On November 24, 1956, Flora Sands, captain of the Serbian army, passed away [4] .
In popular culture
- In 1997, Serbia Radio Television showed Slobodan Radovic’s documentary “Our Englishwoman” [16] [17] [18] .
- In Thornton Heath ( Borough Croydon , London ), one of the pubs is named after Flora Sands [19] .
- Folk singer Reg Meouross wrote the song "The Ballad of Flora Sandes", which is a retelling of the life story of Flora Sands. The song was on the album England Green and England Gray [20] .
See also
- Savich, Milunka
- Theodoroy, Catherine
- Bochkareva, Maria Leontyevna
- Ivanova, Rimma Mikhailovna
- Women in wars
- Feminism
Notes
- ↑ Sands also appears.
- ↑ Alison Fell. Viewpoint: Why are so few WW1 heroines remembered? . BBC News (October 27, 2014). Date of treatment October 27, 2014.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Taylor & Francis Group. A Historical Dictionary of British Women . - Routledge , 2003. - P. 383. - ISBN 1-85743-228-2 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Wheelwright, Julie. Yudenitch, Flora Sandes (1876–1956) // Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . - Oxford University Press, 2004. - DOI : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 49662 .
- ↑ 1 2 Wheelwright, Julie. Amazons and Military Maids . - Pandora, 1989 .-- ISBN 0-04-440356-9 . (inaccessible link)
- ↑ Twinch, Carol. The Little Book of Suffolk. - Breedon Books. - ISBN 1-85983-587-2 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hazen, Walter A. Everyday Life . - Good Year Books, 2006. - P. 61. - ISBN 1-59647-074-7 .
- ↑ Allcock, John B. Black Lambs & Gray Falcons: Women Travelers in the Balkans . - Berghahn Books, 2000 .-- P. 91.
- ↑ 1 2 Jones, David E. Women Warriors: A History . - Brassey's, 2000. - P. 134. - ISBN 1-57488-206-6 .
- ↑ Davies, Norman. Europe: A History . - Oxford University Press, 1996. - P. 908. - ISBN 0-19-820171-0 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 Condell, Diana. Working for Victory ?: Images of Women in the First World War, 1914–18 . - Routledge , 1987. - P. 41. - ISBN 0-7102-0974-6 .
- ↑ Smith, Angela K. The Second Battlefield: Women, Modernism and the First World War . - Manchester University Press , 2000. - P. 52. - ISBN 0-7190-5301-3 .
- ↑ Crawford, Elizabeth. The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866–1928 . - Routledge , 1999. - P. 280. - ISBN 0-415-23926-5 .
- ↑ History - Fact Files - Flora Sandes . BBC (January 28, 2005). Date of treatment March 30, 2008.
- ↑ Cromwell, Jason. Transmen and FTMs: Identities, Bodies, Genders, and Sexualities . - University of Illinois Press , 1999. - P. 65. - ISBN 0-252-06825-4 .
- ↑ Our Englishwoman on IMDB
- ↑ Our Englishwoman Archived May 24, 2014 on Wayback Machine on fastserbia
- ↑ Our Englishwoman on YouTube TV Drama
- ↑ THE FLORA SANDES
- ↑ Chilton, Martin . Reg Meuross, England Green & England Gray, album review , The Daily Telegraph (September 4, 2014). Date of appeal September 15, 2014.
Literature
Autobiographies
- Sandes, Flora. An English Woman-Sergeant in the Serbian Army. - Hodder & Stoughton, 1916.
- Sandes, Flora. The Autobiography of a Woman Soldier: A Brief Record of Adventure with the Serbian Army 1916–1919. - HF & G. Witherby, 1927.
Other works
- Anon. . Obituary: Miss Flora Sandes: Combatant in Serbian Army (December 1, 1956), p. 8.
- Burgess, Alan. The Lovely Sergeant. - Heinemann, 1963. ( This work is based on Sandes' two autobiographies and other historical sources, but also includes imaginative dialogue and passages .)
- Lee, J. A Nurse and a Soldier: Gender, Class and National Identity in the First World War Adventures of Grace McDougall and Flora Sandes (Eng.) // Women's History Review : journal. - 2006. - Vol. 15 . - P. 83-103 . - DOI : 10.1080 / 09612020500440903 .
- MacMahon, Bryan. Captain Flora Sandes of the Serbian Army (English) // Irish Sword : journal. - 2005-2006. - Vol. 25 . - P. 419-436 .
- Miller, Louise. A Fine Brother: The Life of Captain Flora Sandes. - Alma Books, 2012.
- Wheelwright, Julie. Flora Sandes: Military Maid (Eng.) // History Today : magazine. - 1989. - Vol. 39 . - P. 42-48 .
- Wheelwright, Julie. Amazons and Military Maids: women who dressed as men in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness . - Pandora, 1989 .-- ISBN 0-04-440356-9 . (inaccessible link)
- Wheelwright, Julie (2004), "Yudenitch [Yudenich], Flora Sandes (1876–1956)" , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press , DOI 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 49662
Links
- Flora Sands Literature - Internet Archive
- Flora Sands Books at LibriVox
- Men's life of Flora Sands (inaccessible link) (Russian)
- Exhibition "Women in the First World War" (Russian)