THE WOMEN OF PERVYSE
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And Their "Wonderful Wolseley" Ambulance
The "-Women of Pervysc " and their "cellar house" have gained extraordinary fame in theBelgian army, the cellar house having been a concealed dressing station in the actual fighting area on the Belgian front, and the "women," the Baroness de T'Serelaes and MiF-i Main i Chisholm. From the early days of the war until the first week of the present monththey maintained the dressing station, employing a Wolseley ambulance presented by Sutton Coldfield and district. . From March, 1915, when the "Wonderful Wolseley" (as it became known) was put into commission over 2600 wounded and sick were evacuated in the three years of service, and last month it was sent to the makers for repair and overhaul. During that time the vehicle behaved splendidly, as_ the. Baroness te.stifies. It never broke down except when it fell into an unexpected shell hole and broke the front axle. That anti a few punctures constituted the . only troubles.The two ladies drove the ambulance themselves, their careful
driving (and lidthout question the careful ;Mention given tb the car by their chauffeur) going a long way towards keeping the mechanism' in condition and the ear on the road. "The Women of Pervyse " were men
tioned in despatches once after a striking feat when they turned back into a village which was under fire, and brought out a Wounded man who was in sad need of better attention than could be_given to. him. The orders of the day ran :-
" rexprime thus mm remerciements
. à, Madame Knocker* et it. Mademoiselle Chisholm pour le nouvel acte de 'el6vou-ement qu'elles mat pose le 25
.. courant en allant relever sin de nos bless.es dans nine endroit battu par l'artillerie ennernie."
Thesetwo mo-st coin-ageons ladies were, early in fife present month, badly gassed during a boinbardnient, a German gas shell bursting it the entrance to the "cellar house." A . book recounting their experiences in the war, under the title The Cellar House of Pervyse," was published by A. and C. Black, Ltd., a year ago.