Sarah Broom Macnaughtan (26 October 1864 – 24 July 1916) was a Scottish novelist. With the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, she volunteered with the

Red Cross Society The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the world's largest group of non-governmental organizations working on humanitarian aid, is composed of the following bodies: *The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), is an indep ...

and was sent to Russia, then Armenia. She wrote much about the plight of refugees from the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

. She died of an illness contracted while abroad.

Life

Born in

Partick Partick (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and to the north Broo ...

, Scotland, the fourth daughter and sixth child of Peter Macnaughtan and Julia Blackman, she was educated at home by her father. After her parents died, she moved to Kent in England, then to London. There she began a writing career with her first novel, ''Selah Harrison'', published in 1898. Her best-known works were ''The Fortune of Christina M'Nab'' (1901), ''A Lame Dog's Diary'' (1905), and ''The Expensive Miss Du Cane'' (1900). Meanwhile she travelled to Canada, South America, South Africa, the Middle East and India, among other locations. Sarah took part in the

women's suffrage movement Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

, aided victims of the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

of 1912 and 1913, performed social services for London's East End poor and worked for the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

. With the outbreak of the

, she volunteered with the

. In September 1914 she travelled to Antwerp, Belgium, as part of an ambulance unit. After the evacuation of the city, she gave assistance in northern France, opening a soup kitchen in

Adinkerke Adinkerke (French language, French: ''Adinkerque'') is a village in the municipality of De Panne in western Belgium close to the France, French border. It forms a conurbation with the coastal town of De Panne, which in turn is part of the west Be ...

. For her work under fire in Belgium, she received the

Order of Leopold Order of Leopold may refer to: * Order of Leopold (Austria), founded in 1808 by emperor Francis I of Austria and discontinued in 1918 * Order of Leopold (Belgium), founded in 1832 by king Leopold I of Belgium * Order of Leopold II, founded in Congo ...

. Later in the war she moved to Russia, planning to provide medical assistance. She moved on to Yerevan, Armenia, where there was a refugee crisis after the

. Macnaughtan reported that Yerevan, with a population of 30,000, had about 17,000 refugees. She noted in her diary: "These unfortunate people have been nearly exterminated by massacres, and it has been officially stated that 75 per cent of the whole race has been put to the sword." However, she fell ill on a trip through Persia and had to return to England, where she died from the illness. She was buried in the family plot in

Chart Sutton Chart Sutton is a civil parish and small village on the edge of the Weald of Kent, England. It lies approximately to the south of Maidstone. The village is small, with around 800 inhabitants, but has a village hall, a pop-up shop and a park; ...

. An unfinished manuscript of hers became the basis for a book, ''My Canadian Memories'', which was finished by her friend Beatrice Home and published in 1920. Macnaughton icRoad in Leaside, now part of Toronto, was named after her for her writing services.

Media portrayal

Sarah Macnaughtan is one of the 14 main characters in the series '' 14 – Diaries of the Great War'', played by actress

Celia Bannerman Celia Bannerman (born 3 June 1944) is an English actress and director. Career Celia Bannerman was born at Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and trained at the London Drama Centre. In 2023 she played Phebe in " As You Like It" at the RSC. She started ...

. The documentary portrays her activities in Tiflis and Armenia. She is the only protagonist to die during the conflict, though this is actually not revealed until the very end, when birth and death dates are listed.

Bibliography

*''Selah Harrison'' (1899) *''The expensive Miss Du Cane'' (1900) *''The fortune of Christina M'Nab'' (1901) *''A lame dog's diary: a novel'' (1905) *''Three Miss Graemes'' (1908) *''Us four'' (1909) *''The Andersons'' (1910) *''Four-Chimneys: a novel'' (1912) *''Peter and Jane, or, The missing heir'' (1912) *''Snow upon the desert'' (1913) *''A green Englishman, and other stories of Canada'' (1914) *''They who question'' (1914) *''A woman's diary of the war'' (1915) *''Some elderly people & their young friends'' (1915) *''My war experiences in two continents'' (1919) *''My Canadian memories'' (1920) with Beatrice Home.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macnaughtan, Sarah Broom 1864 births 1916 deaths 19th-century Scottish novelists 20th-century Scottish novelists 19th-century Scottish women writers 20th-century Scottish women writers 20th-century Scottish diarists Writers from Glasgow Scottish women novelists Witnesses of the Armenian genocide Red Cross personnel British women memoirists British women in World War I Scottish suffragettes People of the Balkan Wars Scottish expatriates in Belgium Scottish expatriates in Russia British expatriates in Armenia Women in the Second Boer War Women in the Balkan Wars

Life

Media portrayal

Bibliography

See also

References

External links