English Governess in the Great War - The Secret Brussels Diary of Mary Thorp

Mary Thorp, an English governess working for a Belgian-Russian family in German-occupied Brussels, kept a secret war diary from September 1916 to January 1919. This long-forgotten diary sheds light on an important aspect of the First World War: civilian life under military occupation in a transnational conflict.

List of contents

• Introduction: "Still I feel I did my duty": Diary of an English Governess, 1916-1919


• Historical Background: "Life in an Occupied City: Brussels"


• Mary Thorp's Diary


• Part 1: No "eleventh hour": September 1916 - February 1917


• Part 2: "Qui vivra verra": March - December 1917


• Part 3: "We still hear the same eternal cannon": January - October 1918


• Part 4: "The Book of Peace!!!": October 1918 - January 1919


• Epilogue


• Notes


• Appendix: Thorp Family Tree


• Bibliography

About the author

Sophie De Schaepdrijver is Walter L. and Helen P. Ferree Professor of Modern European History at Pennsylvania State University. She has written on First World War Europe, with a focus on military occupations. Her latest books are Bastion: Occupied Bruges in the First World War and Gabrielle Petit: The Death and Life of a Female Spy in the First World War. She has co-written and presented a television documentary, Brave Little Belgium.

Tammy M. Proctor is Professor of History at Utah State University. She is the author of several books on the history of gender, youth, and war in modern Europe, including Civilians in a World at War, Scouting for Girls: A Century of Girl Guides and Girls Scouts, and Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War.

Summary

Mary Thorp, an English governess working for a Belgian-Russian family in German-occupied Brussels, kept a secret war diary from September 1916 to January 1919. This long-forgotten diary sheds light on an important aspect of the First World War: civilian life under military occupation in a transnational conflict.

Product details

• Authors: Sophie De Schaepdrijver, Sophie (Professor of History De Schaepdrijver, Tammy M. Proctor
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 21.04.2021
• EAN: 9780190087616
• ISBN: 978-0-19-008761-6
• No. of pages: 290
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; European History, Diaries, letters & journals, First World War, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Diaries & Journals, 20th Century, HISTORY / World, Memoirs, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Letters, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / 20th Century, General & world history, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, British & Irish history, United Kingdom, Great Britain, General and world history, Diaries, letters and journals, c 1914 to c 1918 (including WW1), HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / World War I, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs