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British War and Victory Medals (V. L. Holme); Scottish Women’s Hospitals 1914-18 Service Medal; Serbia, Order of St. Sava, 2nd type, Fourth Class breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel; Serbia, Cross of Mercy 1912; Russia, St. George’s Medal for Bravery, Fourth Class, the reverse officially numbered ‘1029044’; Russia, Medal for Zeal, small silver, on St. Stanislaus riband.
Vera “Jacko” Holme was born in Birkdale, Lancashire, in 1881, the daughter of a timber merchant and, on attaining adulthood, journeyed south to pursue her interests in singing and the violin.
Suffragette
A member of the chorus of the Doyly Carte Opera Company at the Savoy Theatre by 1908, she also became a member of the Actresses’ Franchise League, one of a number of booming Suffragette movements - fellow founding members including Sybil Thorndike and Lily Langtry. Described by Emmeline Pankhurst as ‘a noisy, explosive young person, frequently rebuked by her elders for lack of dignity’, she was a natural candidate for membership of the more militant Women’s Social and Political Union (W.S.P.U.), and quickly gained attention for her campaign work.
In May 1909, she interrupted a speech being made by Augustine Birrell, M.P., and Secretary of State for Ireland, having managed to conceal herself in the chosen venue, with a colleague, Elsie Howey, on the afternoon of the rally - high up on a narrow platform behind the organ pipes. She later recounted events in a musical piece set to the tune of the “Lost Chord”, from which the following lyrics have been taken:
‘Our voices rang out from the twilight,
But nowhere could we be found;
They looked from floor to ceiling -
The stewards came searching round.
We asked for votes for women,
And that justice should be done;
But Birrell he would not answer,
And the audience made such fun!’
In August 1909, when a wealthy supporter of the W.S.P.U. purchased Mrs. Pankhurst a motor car, Holme was appointed her chauffeuse, having gained knowledge of such matters while touring the provinces with a theatrical company. And she made a colourful companion, wearing an eye-catching uniform in the Union’s colours of purple, green and white, with a peak cap decorated with the R.A.C’s Badge of Proficiency.
But in between such duties, Holme continued to support the W.S.P.U’s campaign of disobedience, and was among 159 women arrested in November 1910, when a deputation to Downing Street smashed the windows of Cabinet Ministers’ homes. But on appearing at Bow Street Court she was charged with obstruction only and, as no evidence was offered by the prosecution, she was discharged.
Notwithstanding this early encounter with the Law, her next appearance, at a Caxton Hall gathering, was truly spectacular - for she was charged with delivering a message of defiance to the Prime Minister after his earlier refusal to meet a deputation at Downing Street. Dressed in riding habit and tricolour sash, she rode from the Hall at a canter, but her progress was slowed by a huge crowd, through which nonetheless her horse pushed a passage until she was stopped by the police at St. Stephen’s Church - where she handed over the message for the Prime Minster to mounted Inspector.
And she was back in the thick of it in November 1911 when, in opposition to the proposed Manhood Suffrage Bill, she was among the demonstrators to gather opposite Parliament Street. Fierce struggles having broken out, Holme dashed straight at a mounted policeman, seized his horse’s bridle and tried to turn its head against the cordon - she was dragged off by the police and then arrested after another struggle. Charged with obstruction once more, she appeared at Cannon Row, informing the magistrate that “as the Government would not accept them [women] as citizens, no-one could blame them for acting as outlaws.” She was duly sentenced to five days imprisonment, having declined an alternative offer of a five shilling fine.
The Scottish Women’s Hospital - Serbia - Prisoner
In the period leading up to the outbreak of hostilities, Holme had moved in with her lover, Mrs. Evelina Haverfield, a relationship that would have a direct bearing on her subsequent activities - for, in August 1914, Haverfield founded the Women’s Emergency Corps, an organisation that actively encouraged women to serve as doctors, nurses and messengers. Holme’s became a Major in the newly established Corps, in addition to serving in Haverfield’s Women’s Volunteer Corps, appointments that ultimately led to her being given charge of the Scottish Women’s Hospital (S.W.H.) transport.
Spurned by a sneering British establishment, the founder of the S.W.H., Dr. Else Inglis, remained unmoved, and concentrated her resources on our Allies, such resources being supported by Haverfield’s Corps - thus the gallant nursing parties that set out for Serbia in 1915, the first under Dr. Eleanor Soltau to Kraguievatz in January, and the second to Valjievo in April, at which latter place Holme arrived in a large seven-seater staff car, with a Motor Ambulance donated by Welsh Suffragists, that June. At the time of her arrival fighting had ceased for what was to be a more peaceful summer after the Serbians had pushed back the invading Austrians at the Battle of the Ridges. She frequently drove Dr. Inglis on the many expeditions to try and acquire necessary supplies. On one occasion they set off together to try and locate a pair of scales for weighing drugs. Finding an appropriate set in an apothecary's shop the women found he was very reluctant to part with them as they were required for his own business. However, he was ‘persuaded’ to change his mind when Dr. Inglis commented “It is for your men that we need them,” and parted with the scales for no charge.
By September there were strong rumours of amassing forces of several nations preparing to invade. Although contingency plans were drawn up for the escape of the women, Dr. Inglis was determined to stick by the Serbians as long as they fought and retreat them if necessary burning all their stores. Their worst expectations were justified when in November 1915 Serbia was the target of a German-Austrian invasion. Some women chose to evacuate by trekking across the Albanian mountains but others were allocated to stay, Dr. Inglis and Holme among them. Although their freedom was short-lived as they were taken prisoner by the invading forces shortly afterwards, nonetheless they continued their work of helping the sick and wounded in harsh conditions with medical supplies and food very scarce.
During this period, when the news came that they were to be moved once again, Doctors Haverfield and Corbetts, together with Holme, concocted a plan to stay behind by hiding in a peasant cottage with assistance from the locals and with the intention of emerging when eventually the Allies arrived. They remained concealed for several days, but the Unit was not moved and then, in circumstances that are far from clear, Dr. Inglis came with two Austrian guards to get the three fugitives - Inglis's biographer comments that maybe she was fearful of reprisals on the small village in which they were hidden. Eventually in February 1916 the women were taken to Budapest, then Vienna and finally Switzerland from where they were repatriated.