Hearts and Pomegranates: The Story of Forty-Five Years, 1875-1920

In this memoir, Dame Katharine Furse (1875-1952) recounts her early childhood in Britain, Switzerland, and Italy and her wartime efforts. In 1909, she joined the British Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), and on the outbreak of the First World War, she was chosen to lead the VAD office in London. After resigning a few years into the war due to disputes about the living conditions of VAD volunteers, Furse became director of the Women's Royal Naval Service, an organization so successful that it spawned other women's auxiliary forces, such as the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and the Women's Royal Air Force.