(now Lord Howe), Hon. Secretary;
Mr. Ludwig Neumann, Hon. Treasurer; General Eaton (now Lord
Cheylesmore); and Mr. Oliver Williams.
Lady Georgiana Curzon was a born leader, and it was but natural that the
capable ladies aforementioned appointed her as their chairman.
Passionately devoted to sport though she was, she willingly forsook her
beloved hunting-field, leaving a stable full of hunters idle at Melton
Mowbray, for the committee-room and the writing-table. The scheme was
one fraught with difficulties great and numerous, and not the least
amongst them was the "red tape" that had to be cut; but Lady Georgiana
Curzon took up the good cause with enthusiasm and ability, and she and
her colleagues worked to such purpose that, on March 17, 1900, a base
hospital containing over 500 beds (which number was subsequently
increased to 1,000), fully equipped, left our shores. So useful did
these institutions prove themselves, that as time went on, and the evils
of war spread to other parts of South Africa, the committee were asked
to inaugurate other hospitals, and, the funds at their disposal allowing
of acquiescence, they established branches at Mackenzie's Farm, Maitland
Camp, Eastwood, Elandsfontein, and Pretoria, besides a small
convalescent home for officers at Johannesburg. Thus in a few months a
field-hospital and bearer company (the first ever formed by civilians),
several base hospitals, and a convalescent home, were organized by the
Imperial Yeomanry Hospitals Committee, who frequently met, with Lady
Georgiana Curzon presiding, to discuss ways and means of satisfactorily
working those establishments so many thousands of miles away.
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