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Fundraising for the Dardanelles: Mrs Cara Leland Broughton.
(i) Printed 'form' letter from Jean Hamilton (with recipient's name: Mrs Broughton, in pencil) acknowledging gift to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force; (ii) Receipt issued to Mrs Broughton by the Lady Hamilton Dardanelles Fund for gift of £15, signed in ink by [Lady] Jean Hamilton; (iii) Handbill issued by Mrs Moncrieffe's Fund, "Urgently required for the Dardanelles: The 'Gallipoli' or Improved Bell Stretcher Tent... These stretcher tents meet a want that has been created by the peculiar position on the Gallipoli peninsula where the wounded have not at their disposal field ambulances... but are obliged to lie on the ground without shelter, & tormented by flies..."; (iv) Another similar regarding the increased costs of improved Stretcher Tents (dated 10th Sept. 1915); (v) & (vi) printed letter & official receipt (signed by Marie Michell, Hon. Sec.) re Cara Broughton's gift of £30 to towards Stretcher Tents; (vii) Orig. 3pp. ms. letter (with OAS envelope, Passed by Censor &c.) from 245 L/Cpl. A. Forbes ASC, 2nd Mtd. Div. in Gallipoli to Mrs Broughton, thanking her for gifts of cigarettes.
#61081
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![[HLMainPic]](booksThumbs/61081.jpg "Click on the left or right of the image for more images")
During the Great War, especially during the early years, citizens, rich & poor, were exhorted to subscribe to a cornucopia of relief funds, ranging from those for Belgian Refugees to small comforts for the men in the trenches. Many of the organisers were 'society' ladies, & the campaign at Gallipoli was not without its sponsors, including Lady Hamilton, wife of Gen. Sir Ian Hamilton, with her Lady Hamilton Dardanelles Fund, and Mrs Moncrieffe (Gen. Hamilton's sister-in-law) with her "Mrs Moncrieffe's Fund" whose St. Marylebone War Hospitals' Supply Depot had a "Dardanelles Account." The small collection of documents here offered are a rare survival of these funds for men at the Dardanelles. The letter from the soldier (L/Cpl. Forbes) shows that Mrs Broughton also sent comforts to individual soldiers: "I am just writing a few lines in my dug-out, to thank you very much for the cigarettes which you are sending me every two weeks. I don't think there is a better tonic, as the chaps say, for our nerves when the shells & shrapnel come whistling over our heads..." (he goes on to describe some close shaves &c.). Note: Cara Leland Broughton, or Mrs Urban Hanlon Broughton, was an American heiress who married a relatively impecunious English engineer, Urban Broughton, when he was working for her father, the tycoon Henry Huttleston Rogers (of Standard Oil &c.) in 1895. Broughton became rich & successful in his own right, but the couple became enormously wealthy on the death of his wife's father in 1909. They lived in Park Street, Mayfair, & at a country house at Englefield Green. Two sons were ed. at Harrow & Urban was MP for Preston, 1915-18. Mrs Broughton made many generous gifts to various war charities. All items VG. See illustrations on our website.
£225
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