1
S. April 26th. 1918. Dear Madam, Belgian Red Cross
I am in receipt of your kind letter of the 3rd inst for which please allow me to thank
you.
When forwarding bales to the above Fund will
you kindly address them as follows:- Belgian Red Cross,
48 Grosvenor Gardens,
London, S.W. 1. and advise me. Yours faithfully, Mrs. Dallas Pratt,
Hon. Secretary,
Irish War Hospital Supply Depot,
40 Merrion Square,
Dublin.
This letter is part of a three-sided correspondence between the Irish War Hospital
Supply Depot in Dublin, the Belgian Funds Committee in Manchester, and the Belgian
Red Cross in London. The Belgian Funds Committee, represented by John H. Billinge
as Hon. Secretary and Treasurer, arranged for the Irish War Hospital Supply Depot
to regularly ship medical items to the Belgian Red Cross in London, where they were
used to treat wounded Belgian soldiers. Eleanor Dallas Pratt, Catholic wife of a respected
Anglican surgeon based in Dublin, served as Hon. Secretary to the Irish War Hospital
Supply Depot. The letters on behalf of the Belgian Red Cross were written by M. Albert
Maeterlinck and C. E. R. Abbott. Maeterlinck was a Belgian national and returned home
in January 1919. All files are kept at the Manchester Central Library. The bound volume
also contains the lists all dispatched supplies and letters of thanks or supplication
from soldiers and their families.