Monica Stanley

Monica M. Stanley (fl. 1915) was a hospital head cook who served with the Stobart Field Hospital in Serbia during World War I.

Serbia

In May 1915, Stanley took a three-month leave from her job, which was later extended to six months in view of her important work, to travel with the Women’s Imperial Service League to establish a field hospital at Kragujevac.[1] The hospital was established by Mabel Stobart and overseen by Kate King-May. Stanley was in charge of provisioning and overseeing the kitchen.[2]

In the summer of 1915, Stanley contracted typhus and was treated at the Berry Unit in Kragujevac, then the British Fever Hospital in Belgrade. She transferred from running the kitchen to handling the field hospital’s accounts. After being evacuated during a shelling attack in August, she returned to England in October.[1][3]

Diary

Stanley published an account of the time, My Diary in Serbia,[4] which is useful for study of the field hospital and the experience of women volunteers in the Balkan front, including the chaplain's wife, writer Mable Dearmer, who died of typhoid during her time there.[5] Stanley's position as head cook and provisioner means her diary also gives a glimpse into Serbian food practices at the time.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ a b White, Sally (2018-01-15). Ordinary Heroes: The Story of Civilian Volunteers in the First World War. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-7667-8.
  2. ^ Stobart, Mabel Annie (1916). The Flaming Sword in Serbia and Elsewhere. Hodder and Stoughton. p. 26.
  3. ^ DiNardo, Richard L. (2015-04-14). Invasion: The Conquest of Serbia, 1915. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 87. ISBN 978-1-4408-0093-1.
  4. ^ Stanley, Monica M. (1916). My Diary in Serbia, April 1, 1915-Nov. 1, 1915. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company, limited.
  5. ^ Hammond, Andrew (2007). The Debated Lands: British and American Representations of the Balkans. University of Wales Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-7083-1965-9.
  6. ^ Byrd, Melanie; Dunn, John P. (2020-12-02). Cooking through History: A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Food with Menus and Recipes [2 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. pp. 317–8. ISBN 978-1-61069-456-8.
  7. ^ Krippner, Monica (1980). The Quality of Mercy: Women at War, Serbia, 1915-18. David & Charles. pp. 80, 83. ISBN 978-0-7153-7886-1.
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