Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Assistant Administrator Mary H. Laird, Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps, late Scottish Women’s Hospitals, whop served with great enthusiasm in France and Salonika, winning the lasting affection and admiration of her contemporaries

British War and Victory Medals (A.Adtr. M. H. Laird. Q.M.A.A.C.); France, Third Republic, Medal of Honour, Ministere de la Guerre Bronze Medal for Devouement Epidemies, the reverse officially embossed ‘Miss Laird 1917’, good very fine (3) £140-£180

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Norman Gooding Collection.

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Mary Holmes Laird lived at Windsor House, 15 Kirklee Terrace, Glasgow, and initially served during the Great War as an Orderly with the Girton and Newnham unit of the Scottish Women’s Hospital. Detailed to the creation of a tented hospital in the grounds of the Chateaux de Chantelun in Troyes, she later wrote two articles of her early experiences which were published in the Old Comrade’s Association Gazette in September and October, 1937:

‘Most of our patients at that time were “malades” - that is ill, and quite ill with fatigue. Our duties were to sweep and scrub the tent floors, help Sister with beds, go for meals for the patients, and do exactly as we were told... These men were tired beyond measure and had been in the trenches for many months. Some of them hadn’t the slightest idea what may have happened to their families or where they would be, so added to their own danger was the anxiety about their wives and little children... We loved our patients and when it came to sending them away the whole tent would be heartbroken, but we had to cheer up for the sake of the others left.’

Transferred to Salonika from 25 May 1915 to August 1916, Laird continued to devote her time and energies to the care of sick and wounded French soldiers and was later recognised by the French authorities for her efforts on 8 November 1917. Returned home to Scotland for rest, she joined the Q.M.A.A.C. and returned to France on 26 May 1917 as Forewoman Cook. Transferring to the administrative branch, she served at Rouen, Bapaume and St. Pol, the latter involving the leadership of women at the local Graves Registration Unit. Leaving the Q.M.A.A.C. on 5 November 1919, she later took local employment at the Women’s Student Union of Glasgow University. Described as a ‘kind woman’ by Miss Effie Anderson, Laird died on 13 November 1937.

Sold with copied research, including two published articles and the recipient’s obituary by Miss Anderson.