Early in August, Emma sat with Holly and Ivy in the drawing room speaking of her forthcoming trip to Venice. She had blossomed since her marriage and anyone could see that she and Walter adored each other.
‘I can’t believe that it’s only a few more days until we go,’ she said, her eyes shining. ‘I did try to persuade Walter to let Florence and Katie come with us but he wouldn’t hear of it. He says we’ll share all the rest of our holidays with the children but this one is just for us. He really is so considerate.’
Holly and Ivy exchanged an amused smile. Emma was clearly very happy and that made them happy.
The door opened then and Walter and Gilbert appeared.
‘Oh, darling, I was just telling the girls about where we’re hoping to visit while we’re in Venice and …’ Emma’s voice trailed away as she saw the grave expressions on the men’s faces.
‘Is there something wrong?’ she asked.
It was her father who nodded. ‘I’m afraid so, my dear. The prime minister, Herbert Asquith, has just announced that we are now officially at war with Germany.’
Emma’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘Oh no, surely not?’
‘I’m afraid it’s true, my darling,’ Walter told her solemnly. ‘And in light of this I think we should postpone our honeymoon until we know what’s going to happen. I wouldn’t wish to take you anywhere you might be in any danger.’
‘Apparently people are already surging through London gathering outside Downing Street and Buckingham Palace singing the national anthem,’ her father went on. ‘Recruitment centres are being set up all across the country even as we speak and all young men are being encouraged to enlist. Germany invaded Belgium this morning on their way to Paris so sadly the fighting has already started.’
Unable to take it in, Emma shook her head as she thought of Marcus. She had already grown very fond of Walter’s children. ‘But what about Marcus?’
Walter shrugged, his face pale. ‘I would much rather he didn’t enlist unless he had to,’ he admitted. ‘But he must make his own mind up and I shall stand by his decision. He’s a young man now, after all.’
It was Ivy who paled now. She and Marcus had grown quite close but it was only when she thought of him possibly going to fight that she realised just how much he had come to mean to her.
‘I’ll talk to him. He won’t go if I ask him not to,’ she said in a wobbly voice but Walter wasn’t so sure.
‘We’ll have to wait and see what his decision is,’ he said quietly, then he turned to his wife. ‘Are you ready, darling? I think I’d like to get home now.’
‘Of course.’ Emma snatched up her bag and after saying their goodbyes she and Walter departed.
‘I’ve had a horrible feeling this was going to happen for some long time,’ Gilbert said when they’d gone. ‘But don’t look so frightened. Hopefully it will be all over in no time with not too much harm done.’ And he left the room leaving the girls to their gloomy thoughts.
The next morning on her way to the hospital. Holly could hardly believe her eyes. A recruitment centre had appeared in the town centre and young men were queueing outside it, eager to enlist and go to war. They were laughing and happy as if they were about to embark on some great adventure and she felt sick as she wondered if they realised they might never come home.
‘The whole world has gone mad!’ Matron declared worriedly when Holly arrived. ‘Did you see those young boys in the town signing up to go to war? Some of them didn’t look older than fifteen or sixteen, they must be lying about their ages to get in. There will be no young men left in the town at this rate.’
‘I know.’ The sight had upset Holly too but there was nothing she could do about it so she quietly went about her work.
Harry came to the hospital later that day. ‘You aren’t thinking of signing up too, are you?’ Holly asked him.
He shook his head. ‘Not exactly, but if doctors are needed to treat the wounded abroad then I may well go.’
‘Oh, Harry, it’s all so senseless.’ She leaned heavily on the office desk. ‘Surely someone can do something to stop this madness.’
‘I think it’s gone too far for that now. The prime minister did give Germany a chance when he asked them to respect the neutrality of Belgium but they chose to ignore it. The newly appointed secretary of war, Lord Kitchener, has already called for at least 100,000 men to start a new army and the Royal Navy has been put on a war footing with orders to be prepared to open fire on the enemy at any moment.’
Harry was usually such a happy-go-lucky chap that it was strange to see him looking so sombre.
‘Try not to worry,’ he told Holly as he saw her nervously nibbling at her lip and without another word he went to see his patients.
Emma and Walter visited again at the weekend, and Walter was concerned. ‘I won’t have any men at all working for me at this rate,’ he told Holly’s grandfather. ‘They’re all going to sign up for the army.’
‘It’s the same in the mill and the pits from what I can make of it,’ Gilbert replied worriedly. ‘How everyone is supposed to keep the businesses going is a puzzle to me.’
‘I believe the prime minister has stated that women will be expected to take over the roles of some of the men for the duration of the war.’ Gilbert shook his head. It made him wonder what the world was coming to. After all, how could women possibly do men’s jobs?
‘And why shouldn’t women do men’s jobs?’ Ivy asked heatedly. She had just carried a tray of coffee and biscuits in and was instantly on the defensive. ‘The trouble is most men think all women are fit for is standing at the kitchen sink and bringing up babies.’
‘Not all men think like that,’ Holly said soothingly, seeing that Ivy was getting riled.
‘No, but most of them do,’ Ivy snorted indignantly. ‘That’s why the suffragettes are havin’ to fight to get us equal rights.’
Holly flashed her a warning look and Ivy had the grace to flush. ‘That’s my opinion anyway,’ she mumbled and shot out of the room.
Luckily, Walter seemed quite amused by her little outburst. ‘I do understand what she means,’ he said. ‘When I first bought the hat factory there were both women and men there doing exactly the same job and yet the women’s wages were far lower than the men’s. I didn’t think it was fair so they’re paid the same now.’
Emma looked at Walter adoringly. Married life to a good man was suiting her and she had never been happier, apart from worrying about the war that was. Only the night before she had asked him if he would have to go and fight and he’d tried to allay her fears.
‘At the moment they want the younger men,’ he’d told her gently. ‘But of course if it went on for any length of time there is a possibility that they would want men my age.’
‘I wouldn’t let you go and risk getting killed,’ she’d informed him with tears in her eyes but deep down she knew that if it came to that she wouldn’t be able to stop him. Walter was a very honourable man and he certainly wouldn’t want to be branded a coward or be presented with a white feather.
Thankfully Ivy came back in carrying Alice at that moment and everyone’s attention was immediately diverted to the little girl. She was now a happy little toddler into all sorts of mischief and Ivy often said that she needed eyes in the back of her head.
Emma produced a chocolate bar from her bag – she never came without one – and within minutes they were all laughing at Alice who fell on it as if it was the first treat she had ever had and the sombre mood lifted.
Throughout the month training camps appeared as if by magic all over the country. The first lot of new recruits left the train station to the sound of a brass band and so many people waving them off that families were standing shoulder to shoulder on the little platform. There were mothers and fathers, sisters, brothers, wives and sweethearts all waving wildly and praying silently that this would not be the last time they saw their loved ones. Once the train had disappeared from view, the mood became sombre and the crowd drifted away with heavy hearts.
In no time at all the British troops, alongside their French and Belgian comrades, were engaged in a bitter struggle for the town of Mons in France. The British Expeditionary Force, consisting of some 70,000 men, had crossed the Channel in a highly secret navy operation but despite their best efforts and skills the enemy proved too much and on 23 August the retreat began and civilians in Mons, who had been innocently attending a church service, were caught in the cross fire. Bloody battles were already being fought along an ever-shifting line from Belgium in the north to Alsace and Lorraine in the south, where the French opened their main thrust. The main danger lay in the north, for in less than a month the Germans had swept over most of Belgium, crossed the Sambre and Meuse and forced a French retreat to the Somme, which was the last barrier before Paris.
Slowly the victims of the war began to be shipped home and suddenly the little cottage hospital was bursting at the seams. There were young men with horrific injuries, some of them life-threatening, and the doctors and nurses were working almost around the clock to care for them.
It was reported in the newspapers that in London the Metropolitan Police had rounded up and detained over three hundred Germans who were suspected of being spies and they were now being kept in the vast Olympia complex in Kensington, which had been turned into a prisoner-of-war camp.
‘But what if they’re innocent?’ Holly asked her grandfather as they sat at the dining table. She had just finished a fourteen-hour shift and was almost dropping with fatigue. And she was due back on duty at six the next morning.
‘For now the prime minister can take no chances,’ he answered gravely. ‘All Germans must be treated as the enemy.’
Holly shook her head and drained the tea in her cup before going upstairs to drop into bed, exhausted.
The following month brought no better news from abroad when German submarines sunk three British cruisers off the Netherlands. A number of neutral ships and fishing vessels were also struck by mines in the North Sea. Suddenly it seemed that nowhere was safe and people lived in fear of what might happen next, and still the young men went in droves to fight for their king and country never realising that most of them would never come home.