A new display, just opened at Soldiers of Shropshire Museum at Shrewsbury Castle, tells the revealing First World War (1914-18) story of Shrewsbury’s Emmie Chester from the contents of her precious suitcase.
In the summer of 1917, twenty-four-year-old Emmie Chester left her quiet, comfortable family life in Belle Vue Shrewsbury to embark on a journey to Rouen, France, as a member of the newly established Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC).
Over two years, amidst and in the aftermath of the First World War, Emmie worked behind the front lines for the British Army, experienced love and loss, forged life-long friendships and had to choose between returning to care for her family or pursuing a new adventure in the form of a promotion in Geneva.
Remarkably, Emmie had preserved her story in a suitcase full of mementoes relating to her service life and earlier this year Emmie’s great niece Susan Davies donated contents to the Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.
To showcase Emmie’s story, museum team members Denby Humphries and Dr Robert MacKinnon have installed a new permanent exhibit for visitors to Shrewsbury Castle, using documents, photographs, medals and souvenirs from her suitcase.
For Dr MacKinnon, perhaps the most pertinent item on display is a telegram. In April 1919, Emmie was invited to work as a permanent member of army staff in Switzerland with the newly formed League of Nations. The next month, a telegram arrived for her: ‘MOTHER ILL COME AT ONCE NO ONE AT HOME, – COPE’. She quickly came to Shrewsbury. Answering the door was her mother who appeared fine.
Susan’s mother, who was 6 at the time, believed ‘the family were determined to claim Emmie back before it was too late’.
For Dr MacKinnon, ‘Emmie was likely pushed to re-enter the domestic sphere and look after her ageing mother and father. For many women at this time, having mobilised for war and having experienced a large degree of economic and social independence, traditional and unequal gender relations were to reassert themselves post-war’.
Emmie resigned from the WAAC several months later, removing from her uniform and preserving in her suitcase WAAC buttons, a cap badge and lapel badges.
Emmie lived with and cared for her mother and father until their deaths in 1936 and 1949.
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