page_title: Mabel St Clair Stobart
section_title: Women's Sick and Wounded Convoy Corps
hierarchical_section_title: Mabel St Clair Stobart / Women's Sick and Wounded Convoy Corps
caption_attribution_description: English: Women's Sick and Wounded Convoy Corps Group of the Women's Sick and Wounded Convoy Corps in Camp at Radlett in 1912, previous to their service in Bulgaria. Mrs St Clair Stobart is sixth from left, centre row.
context_page_description: Mabel Annie St Clair Stobart was a British suffragist and aid-worker. She created and commanded all-women medical units to serve in the Balkan Wars and the First World War. She became the first woman to achieve the rank of Major in any national army. She was also the author of several books and articles.
context_section_description: Stobart firmly felt that a major war was coming and women could contribute to this war effort by providing medical care along with other support activities. During her life, Stobart never had any official medical training. She initially joined the newly created First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) but left after a short time. She had issues with the funding of the organisation and the perceived view that it was not doing enough to promote women within the military. She soon founded the Women's Sick and Wounded Convoy Corps (WSWCC) in 1910. 
  The Balkan Wars broke out in October 1912 between the Ottoman Empire and former territories of Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia. The British Red Cross Society (BRCS) had sent a team to the conflict, but explicitly did not send any women, as the society thought that the conditions would be "quite unsuitable for women." Stobart disagreed and sought a way for her Corps to be sent. She enlisted the help of Noel Buxton, an MP and Chairman of the Balkan War Relief Committee. Stobart approached Buxton at a club and he suggested she travel with him in a few days to make her case directly to the Bulgarian government. Stobart quickly arranged her unit in two days. They would stay in England and await word from her if they received permission.
  After travelling on the Orient Express, Stobart, her husband, Noel Buxton and his brother, the MP Charles Buxton, arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria. Stobart received a positive response from the head of the Bulgarian Red Cross, but permission of the head of the military medical division was still needed. Rather than waiting for him, Stobart set off to the front to see him. After giving an impassioned speech about British women, Stobart was granted permission for her unit to come and be "...near the front as possible".
  Stobart cabled the news to the unit in England, and three women doctors, six fully trained nurses, and four trained helpers, along with three cooks, travelled to Sofia, Bulgaria. After arriving, they were dispatched to the front lines near Kırklareli. After seven days of travel on ox across mountainous terrain, they arrived and set up operations. The unit spent five weeks in the country, treating the wounded and sick until the armistice was signed.
  When she arrived back in England, she published a book about the WSWCC and women in war. The book, War and women, from experience in the Balkans and elsewhere, was dedicated to the Tsaritsa (Queen) of Bulgaria,  Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz. The Tsaritsa had been a nurse during the war and had made a personal donation of bedding and supplies for the WSWCC unit.
  Stobart went on a visit to Canada for three months. During her time away, the members of the WSWCC decided that the unit should be incorporated with the British Red Cross Society. Stobart strongly protested and left the organisation she founded.
caption: Group of the Women's Sick and Wounded Convoy Corps in Camp at Radlett in 1912. St Clair Stobart is sixth from left, centre row.
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