MSP calls for tribute to WWI women medical volunteers

Lothian MSP Ian McKee is calling on the UK Government to give official recognition to 1000 women volunteers who risked their lives to provide medical care to soldiers during the First World War.

Edinburgh doctor Elsie Inglis and her "Scottish angels" set up hospitals on the Western Front and served as surgeons, anaesthetists, radiographers, nurses, ambulance drivers, cooks, auxiliaries and administrators to care for the wounded.

Now Dr McKee has tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament, backing the campaign to erect a permanent monument in the Royal Mile and establish an annual bursary.

He said: "What I'm asking for is official British Government recognition for these Scottish women volunteers who risked their lives treating 300,000 allied wounded in pioneering frontline field hospitals from the Somme to Russia in the Great War.

"Edinburgh is the city of their origin and a monument dedicated to them in the Royal Mile is well overdue."