Clara Barton
Biography and Correspondence
Clarissa “Clara” Harlowe Barton (Dec. 25, 1821-Apr. 12, 1912) became involved in nursing when she was 10 years old, as she took care of her brother who had suffered a fall from a barn roof. She was naturally very shy and timid and did not make friends easily, often succumbing to bouts of depression. Her parents convinced her to become a schoolteacher, and this helped her a great deal with her self-confidence. She worked her way up to running a large successful school in 1852, only to be replaced by a male principal, since such a role was seen as unfitting for a woman.
In 1855 she took a job at the U.S. Patent Office in Washington D.C. as a clerk, one of the first women to work in such a position with a salary equal to the male clerks. The abuse and political opposition to her role was so great her position was ultimately reduced to that of “copyist” and she was fired.
On April 19, 1861 some of the first wounded of the Civil War were brought to Washington, and they came from the 6th Massachusetts Militia, including young men from Clara’s hometown and even former students. She became involved in collecting supplies, nursing the wounded, and writing letters for the soldiers she cared for. She was soon appointed to work on the front lines caring for the Union wounded, becoming known as the “Angel of the Battlefield.” After the war she ran the Office of Missing Soldiers, helping loved ones find and bury their loved ones who were in unmarked graves.
After the war, Barton became associated with Susan B. Anthony and the work of women’s suffrage. She also travelled to Switzerland, where she learned of the work of the Red Cross, and she would ultimately become the leader of the American Red Cross. She worked in the Franco-Prussian War and was decorated with the Golden Cross of Baden and the Prussian Iron Cross for her nursing work. She was also on the front lines with the American Red Cross at the Johnstown Flood in 1889 and the Galveston Hurricane in 1900. Some of her final work was a response to the massacre and famine in Armenia of Armenian Christians by the Turks. Even up until her death at 90 years old, Clara Barton, who was not particularly religious, identified herself as a Universalist.
Victoria Street, London, S.W.
189-
Dear Mrs. Smith-
We are very desirous of meeting the committee (Duke of Westminster Com.) and can extend our stay until Wednesday morning 11 o’clock when it is arranged for us to leave. We shall be most happy to meet the committee on Tuesday evening.
We shall be home at or after 4 o’clock tomorrow afternoon and would be most happy to meet Mr. and Mrs. Harris at that time, or rather at any time after that hour that it is their preference to call.
Thanking you for your kindness I am,
Most cordially,
Clara Barton
You will kindly inform us where and at what hour we can meet the committee on Tuesday evening.
Note: Mr. and Mrs. Harris may refer to James Rendel Harris (1852-1941) and his wife Helen Balkwill Harris, who were Quakers. They were involved in relief and mission work in Turkish Armenia in the 1890’s dealing with massacres of the Armenians at that time. Clara Barton was also involved in relief work in Asia Minor under the Red Cross at this same time. Hugh Grosvenor, the First Duke of Westminster (1825-1899) was involved in a number of charities and Helen Harris mentions a relief centre receiving help from the “Duke of Westminster’s Fund” in one of her published letters about the work in Armenia. The Duke had also previous been head of the Queen’s Jubilee Nursing Fund, and through association had come to know Florence Nightingale. In 1896, when she was 75, Clara Barton led a contingent of Red Cross workers to the Ottoman Empire because of famine and the Armenian massacres by the Turks. It is not clear what was Hannah’s involvement with the Duke of Westminster Committee.
