violetta Thurstan

Health & Social Care, Crafts, Writer, Education & Learning,

1879 - 1978

Suggested by Maggi Livingstone, lead archivist at the Hypatia Trust

Maggi writes,
“Violetta spoke several languages including German and Arabic having travelled with her family as a child. She returned to England in 1899 and trained as a nurse at Whitechapel Hospital in 1900. In 1913 she joined the Red Cross as a matron leading a group of nurses to work behind enemy lines at Charleroi in Belgium in 1914. Violetta was awarded her first medal for bravery for her treatment of all wounded soldiers in Belgium. She was sent to Denmark and onto Russia to set up field hospitals for the wounded resulting in a second medal from the Russians.  Violetta wrote her first of three memoirs, Field Hospital, Flying Column, about her experiences in Russia, while on sick leave. On her return to the front line, she continued to fight for resources and to build new hospitals – the subject of her second memoir. Violetta remained in central Europe nursing until the end of WW1 and was awarded five medals in all for bravery.

At the end of the war Violetta worked with the Red Cross to repatriate and house stateless refugees - the subject of a third memoir. After WWI she used her linguistic skills to travel with the Bedouin nomads and learn about weaving and dyes.

In WWII Violetta, aged 68, lied about her date of birth to work as an interpreter for the Royal Navy in Plymouth. She moved to Cornwall in her 70’s, living in Penryn and Flushing and becoming chair of the Embroiderers’ Guild, teaching crafts and writing books on weaving and dyes that are still in use today. She travelled as a craft advisor to Greece in 1966 and attended a World Crafts Council meeting in London in 1967. In 1973 she was involved in setting up Cornwall Crafts Association and age 94 she was made a fellow of the Society of Designer Craftsmen. One of her rugs is in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. She also published two novels in her time in Cornwall. She died at home in Penryn on 13 April 1978, aged 99. 

Violetta was the most remarkable woman and seems to have been a natural leader. It is difficult to do her justice. Her biography, Violetta Thurstan, a Celebration, is quite comprehensive and Ann Bellingham one of her biographers said “she was fantastic but probably not likeable!”