Knitting for Victory
May 6th, 2016 by bachmann
While in England in 1915, awaiting her call to France as a nurse, Maud Churchill Nicoll was run over by an automobile. The serious accident left her an invalid, but she still devoted herself to the war effort in Europe through knitting, crocheting, and sewing clothing for the allied soldiers. With the help of her husband, Delancey Nicoll, a prominent New York lawyer who defended such notables as Joseph Pulitzer, she published an instructional book for both novice and expert knitters. The publication provided a surprisingly comprehensive set of sewing patterns and instructions for some 70 articles of clothing designed to aid the soldiers inhabiting the merciless trenches across France. The articles of clothing Nicoll designed were based upon her first-hand conversations with troops from a nearby camp as to what they desired for warmth, protection, and comfort. Included in her book were such distinct and unusual items as a sleeping helmet, mine sweeper gloves, trench stockings, and a ditty bag. The need for these articles was not superfluous as tens of thousands of soldiers died from exposure to the harsh winter elements, rather than directly through combat. The profits from the sale of the book went to the American Red Cross.
Maud’s husband provided an introduction:
This little book was composed under unusual conditions. My wife, whose book this is, was one of those Americans who, from the outbreak of the War in Europe, was passionately attached to the cause of the Allies, and religiously believed, after the invasion of Belgium and Northern France, that it was the duty of our country, without delay or attempts at neutrality, to come to their support. In December, 1914, she began a course in nursing at the Y. W. C. A., and by April of 1915 had completed her course and received her diploma. In July, 1915, she went abroad for service in England, but had hardly begun when she was run down by an automobile and barely escaped with her life. Ever since then she has lived in London, necessarily spending a large part of her time in bed, and after two and one-half years of treatment is still unable to walk, except a little with crutches. During her long convalescence she devoted herself to knitting and sewing for the soldiers and sailors.
- Description:
- Nicoll, Maud Churchill. Knitting and sewing :how to make seventy useful articles for men in the army and navy. New York : G.H. Doran, c1918.
- Persistent Link:
- http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:2224634
- Repository:
- Widener Library
- Institution:
- Harvard University
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