Autograph book, Marion Walker, 1918

Autograph book, Nurse Marion Walker, 1918

Collected in 2013

Autograph book front cover, reddish brown leatherette cover with gold coloured embossed lettering in the centre reading, 'Autographs'

This autograph book belonged to Marion Walker (1896-1965) from Ossett. During the First World War, she volunteered as a nurse at Heath Hall in Wakefield. It had been turned into the White Rose Auxiliary Hospital, a convalescent home with 100 beds. Soldiers came to the hospital to recover from injuries and illness.

Carrying an autograph book was a common practice for auxiliary nurses in the First World War. They collected signatures from the soldiers in their care. Marion's patients signed the book between 1917 and 1919. They often added mottos and messages or left cartoons and doodles on the pages.

Inside an autograph book, open on a double page spread, there is a humorous drawing of a soldier in black ink on the right hand page, it has been titled and signed in pencil in the bottom right corner.

'The Blighty Smile' by E Clayton, 1918

Marion's book gives a moving glimpse into wartime resilience. The soldiers expressed their gratitude to the nurses. Despite their injuries and the hardships of war, their entries are full of friendship and love, humour and hope:

‘Distance parts but does not sever, a friend remains a friend for ever.’

‘If writing in albums remembrance ensures/ With the greatest of pleasure, I’ll scribble in yours./ Some write for pleasure. Some write for fame./ But I simply write to sign my name.’

One of the pages has a poem written by Private T. Evans, entitled Thoughts of You:

I think of you every morning.
As the breeze comes whispering by.
And the sun is slowly waking.
Far away in the eastern sky.
And. I. wonder, dear, I. wonder,
As the dawn creeps over the hill,
If a tender thought it will bring to me,
To say that you love me still.

Inside of an autograph book open on a double page spread, a poem is written on the right hand page

Private Evans' poem in Marion's book

After the war, Marion Walker and Thomas Evans got married.

Sadly, Marion's brother, Clifford, was not so lucky. He served with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) and later the Army Services Corps. He suffered with flu and pneumonia and died in a French hospital on 5 November 1918.