This is Grace, "Julia", Lady Drummond. In 1914, she was the widow of Sir George Drummond, who had been the President of the Bank of Montreal. More on Sir George here.
Her son, Guy, had given up his Captaincy so that he could serve in the First Contingent. He was now in England and living on Salisbury Plain.
These pictures sum up the pre-war experience for them. Here she is, on the left, about 1905 - 10 at the Drummond summer cottage Huntlywood. In 1910, Sir George with the moustache on the left, sells this to my Great Aunt Marguerite Allan their cousins.
Here is the house.
Here is their town house in Montreal.
They reflect the Drummond's place in Montreal society. At this moment, at the end of October, she was packing up the Drummond House in Montreal. Her plan was to move to England and be close to Guy and do some war work for the Red Cross.
She would spend most of the war here at Brown's Hotel.
But being at the top was not going to save any family from what was to come. Julia was no stranger to tragedy. She had been widowed once before and had also lost her eldest son as a baby.
Here is Guy, shortly before his death in April 1915. From that moment, having lost both her boys and both husbands, Julia made the decision that was to make her one of the most beloved women in Canada.
She was going to make sure that no Canadian man would ever be alone or be uncared for so long as they were in Europe. And this would include even after being captured, wounded or killed.
She was to set up an organization that would make any other look pallid. She would enlist the help and devotion of thousands of women in the great work of creating a human side to this terrible war.
Along with General Currie, I think that she is the person who rose to the occasion that the war created and gave her all to the men who served.
Here she is after the war. No society flame here. All the loss is contained in her face.
Her's is a story that I will tell in detail as the next 4 years unfold.
There is hope in her story too. For before, he died, Guy was married and had a boy.
The family side continues too for her sister was to be at the same table as my Aunt Marguerite on the Lusitania.
