World War One
Nurses Book
Mary Hicks
World War One Stepping Hill nurse’s book opens window to the past
Mary Hicks worked as a nurse at Stepping Hill Hospital in the first part of the 20th century. In 1906 she started an ‘autograph book’ where patients who Mary cared for recorded their thoughts about staying in the hospital through sketches, poems, messages and doodles.
When the First World War started, Stepping Hill became a military hospital which cared for wounded soldiers coming back from the front line. From 1914, most of the entries in Mary’s book came from soldiers. The pages reveal a mix of emotion and humour on the trials of the war, with many writing about missing their families and loved ones.
We have created this online version of the book so that you can take an artistic glimpse into the lives of both soldiers and nurses at the time.
About the book
Nurse Hicks left nursing when she married Ernest Bromley in 1920. She had four sons with her husband during the next
