Evelina Haverfield

[SasaYU]

Evelina Haverfield (1867-1920) was the daughter of the third Baron and Lady

Abinger. She grew up in a family which valued public and military service.

She married in 1887 Major Henry Haverfield, an officer in the Royal Artillery,

and following his death in 1895 she married a second time, in 1899, a fellow

officer and friend of her first husband, Major John Balguy.

An accomplished horsewoman, skilled in outdoor sports, and a prominent

activist in the women's suffrage movement before 1914, at the outbreak of

war Evelina rallied women to help meet the threat of a possible German

invasion of Britain.

She originally proposed forming a women's volunteer rifle corps for home defence so as to

support the Territorials defending the coast. This initial organization rapidly grew into a much

broader support for the war effort, in the Women's Emergency Corps, the Women's Volunteer

Reserve, and the Women's Reserve Ambulance (Green Cross) Corps.

In early 1915, with the threat of a German invasion greatly diminished, Evelina joined the

Scottish Women's Hospitals and devoted the next two years to overseas service with them.

She served in Serbia as a hospital administrator and was part of a small group taken prisoner when

the armies of the Central Powers overran Serbia in October and November 1915.

Under appalling conditions of poverty and military oppression, Evelina and those with her,

struggled heroically through the winter to provide food and basic care for their wounded Serbian

patients and some of the local civilian population. In the spring of 1916, Evelina and the other

'Scottish Women' were released through the International Red Cross and returned to England.

In August 1916 Evelina went to Romania in charge of 18 ambulance and transport vehicles as

part of two units of the Scottish Women's Hospitals. These units were in support of Serbian

soldiers fighting on the eastern Allied front. The stronger enemy invading armies drove the

Russian, Romanian, and Serbian defenders out of southern Romania and north of the Danube

river delta.

During this twomonth

retreat by the Allied forces, Evelina and the transport drivers were

working nonstop

under constant enemy fire, in desperate situations, while rescuing wounded

soldiers and driving them to safety.

By early 1917, with the fighting on the eastern front over, and unable to return to Serbia

because of the enemy occupation there, Evelina returned to England, where she remained until

after the Armistice of November 1918. In England she raised money for clothing and canteens for

Serbian soldiers, gave public speeches on behalf of Serbian relief, and helped to found a Serbian

Red Cross Society in Britain.

After the Armistice she returned to Serbia to supervise the distribution of much needed food,

clothing, and medical supplies. When this was done, in 1919, she made plans to found a home

for Serbian war orphans in a Serbian mountain village. It was there, in Bajina Bashta, that she

contracted pneumonia, probably brought on by overwork and fatigue, and died prematurely at

the age of 52, revered and honoured by the Serbs for her five years of humanitarian work on

their behalf.

Courtesy

firstworldwar.com

Edited March 29, 2010 by SasaYU

[SasaYU]

Evelina Haverfield received the Order of St. Sava, classes IV. and V. The Order of the White Eagle was posthumously bestowed.

[SasaYU]

A letter of General Bojovich, commanding officer of the First Serbian Army to Evelina Haverfield.

[SasaYU]

[peter monahan]

Wow! Fabulous! Don't know what else to say except that, if she was a relative of mine those medals and photos would be front and center in the most important room in my house. Talk about a person who made a real difference to the world!

Peter, lost in admiration

[and getting soppy about it! ]

[SasaYU]

My thinking, exactly.

[Ulsterman]

Bloody Heck!

Now THAT was the type of woman that made Britain great!

I wonder if she got the trio (Pip, Squeek and Wilfred) as well?

[Igor Ostapenko]

Can you make big scan of part with ribbon bar of photo ?

I have this medals bar of british nurse , Mounted by SPINK .

Russian st. George "For Bravery" medal not for man - EXTREMALLY RARE !

Serbian and montenegrin awards for Balkan Wars or WWI .

Russian medal -end of 1916 or 1917 year

[Igor Ostapenko]

Sister Evelina Haverfield from S.W.H. after Balkan Front was in the Romanian Front and

recive Russian For Bravery Medal -

" During the last three weeks of this disastrous campaign, Evelina and the transport drivers continuously drove south as far as they could go into the fighting area, and loaded their ambulances and touring cars with wounded and exhausted soldiers, and drove them north out of range of the enemy fire. This daring rescue operation won Evelina a Russian military medal for bravery under fire. "

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