Dorothy Bliss WW1 Drawings

John Roadley

Dorothy Bliss lived with her mother in The Old Manor House between about 1915 and 1923 when she married and moved away. In 1915 she was part of the Harston Voluntary Aid Detachment and spent much of the war at the Great Shelford VAD hospital as a nurse and masseuse. Whilst there she produced a series of drawings to illustrate  ‘In Blue and Grey’ a book about the work of a VAD hospital, the proceeds of which went to the Red Cross.

The book was described in the Cambridge Daily News of 8 October 1917 as  ‘A dainty  and delightful little booklet descriptive of work in a VAD hospital, written by Miss Lorna Cobbold of West Wratting Park and illustrated by Miss Dorothy Bliss of Harston. The little volume will be appreciated especially by the workerd in our voluntary hospitals but its intrinsic merits are such that it should secure a much wider public. The drawings of Miss Bliss are happily conceived and cleverly executes. The printing and format of the book which is issued by W P Spalding, is worthy of the material and that is the highest praise we can give it. Any profits on the sale will be donated to the Red Cross.’

The original drawings shown above were discovered in 2020 by Andrew Sim and displayed at  ‘Holding the Line – Sim Fine Arts 11th Annual War Art Exhibition’ http://www.simfineart.com Each drawing was priced at £700.

This page was added on 29/12/2020.

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