The Autograph Book of Nurse Beryl Ellis

Beryl Ellis worked as a nurse at Moor Green Lane Hospital, Birmingham, during the First World War. Patients and nurses often became friends, with nurses frequently writing to families on the behalf of the men under their care. During the War autograph books were commonly circulated to capture memoirs of friendship and these artefacts now provide a rich portrait of War-time life. Beryl's autograph book contains a wonderful collection of messages, drawings, and verse recorded by the wounded soldiers she was nursing at the time.

Images of Beryl's autograph book were submitted to the Great War Archive by Mick Calcott from Acocks Green, Birmingham.

'Portrait of a Soldier' by Percy Matthews

Percy Matthews trained at the Ramsgate School of Art. During World War I he served on the Western Front as a Private in the Kentish Buffs, and later in Salonika as a Lieutenant in the Middlesex Regiment. It was in Salonika that he produced his remarkable sketches of scenes and characters from military and civilian life. His son Peter donated these sketches to the Imperial War Museum in 2007, where they are currently undergoing conservation.

Image contributed to The Great War Archive by Elizabeth Masterman.