E.F. Raynes Plante Autograph Albums (1914-1918)

Five autograph albums belonging to nurse E.F. Raynes Plante and signed by soldiers recuperating at the Red Cross hospital at 6 Third Avenue, Hove, Sussex, England, 1914-1943 (bulk 1914-1918). Soldiers recuperating at the Red Cross hospital in Hove, near Brighton, England wrote poems and sentimental tributes, made drawings and paintings, and pasted photographs in the autograph albums of E.F. Raynes Plante, who served at the hospital throughout World War I and was, or became, nurse in charge of Jellicoe Ward. Entries range from a soldier injured 14 September 1914 through one who arrived 27 November 1918. In nearly every instance the soldiers give the reason why they are at the hospital and where their injury (from fighting) or illness (trench-foot, frostbite, pneumonia, and rheumatism, from miserable living conditions) was sustained; some report their current problem as a second or third different incident. The soldiers originated first from all over England, Scotland, and Wales, and after 1916 were joined by comrades from Australia, Canada, and the United States. In all about 40 soldiers drew something in Nurse Plante's albums in pencil, ink, or colored paints, with various degrees of sophistication: insignia, trenches, battle scenes, vehicles, ships, portraits, or cartoons. The albums contain 55 photographs, typically of the soldiers themselves, individually or in groups, sometimes with or of the staff in casual portraits or more formally-posed groups.