Born into a wealthy Scottish shipping family, Muriel was raised to not view her gender as a restricting factor and, at a fairly early age, was made the driver of the family car. Following her success at Brooklands, she was the chauffeur for the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU, better known as the suffragettes), driving Emmeline Pankhurst on her national tour in 1909.
Determined to do her bit during the First World War, Muriel joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) in January 1915 as an ambulance driver, taking her Cadillac with her as a converted ambulance, ‘Kangaroo’. Travelling to Calais, Muriel worked at the Belgian military hospital called Lamarck, the British forces having rejected the FANY’s offer of support. She was personally awarded the Order of Leopold II by King Albert I of Belgium for evacuating wounded Belgian troops under fire at Dixmude. Having been second in command of the Calais convoy, on 1st January 1918, she became the commanding officer of the St Omer convoy, a joint unit of FANY and Red Cross. This unit was working close to the frontline supporting the British troops, who were finally accepting the FANY’s help, as the German advance took its toll.
On 18th May, Thompson’s unit saw a particularly grim night. Called out to tend to the civilian wounded following a bombing raid, the women worked unrelentingly to rescue casualties despite a second raid dropping shells around them. They then proceeded to clear casualties from an ammunition depot that had been hit as explosions continued to go off. Muriel Thompson was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Military Medal for her work on that night, with a further fifteen Military Medals and two Croix de Guerre awarded to other members of the unit.
Artist’s Response
I used Muriel Thompson’s story, which was about a suffragette that became an ambulance driver during WW1. I chose this story because I thought it might be interesting and different to create a print about an important woman that helped during the war. Since she was an ambulance driver and she helped wounded soldiers, I included both these things in my print and to add a pop of red to make it more eye-catching.
I worked with two art students from Gray’s School of Art who helped and gave me inspiration. I did a wood print because I thought it might look more dramatic if I hand-carved it. If I could do this all over, I would have cut the feet of the soldiers differently because they looked confusing. The best part of the process was carving the wood because it was smooth, which made it easy and fun to cut.
Ines Blamengin
The International School Aberdeen (ISA)
Ines Blamengin is 14 years old and originally from France. Ines has been studying at ISA for three years and has lived in Scotland for over five years.
