Hope Butler

Elsie Hopestill "Hope" Butler Wilson (August 18, 1893 – January 26, 1984) was an American ambulance driver and canteen operator in France and Serbia during World War I. She organized a unit of women volunteer ambulance drivers with Marguerite Standish Cockett.

Hope Butler in uniform, from a 1918 publication.

Early life

Elsie Hopestill Butler was the daughter of Robert Gordon Butler and Mary Leland Thorp Butler of New York City.[1] As a young woman she lived in Philadelphia. Her sister Marjorie Butler Harrison was active as a clubwoman in Philadelphia.[2][3] Her other sister was Eleanor Butler Marindin.[4] Their great-grandfather was Civil War general Benjamin Butler.[5]

In World War I

Hope Butler and Marguerite Standish Cockett, an American doctor, "organized the first American ambulance unit driven by women in the French army."[6] They wore uniforms as French soldiers, and were housed with them. Later they joined the Red Cross in Serbia, and built a canteen[7] as part of the Women's Division of the YMCA.[8] After two years in Europe, Butler returned to the United States to give lectures and raise funds for war work,[9][10] then was back in Europe for post-war efforts, including a turn on the YMCA's women's baseball team, touring to entertain American troops.[11]

Butler, like some other women volunteers, wore her hair short while working in Europe, a fact that was considered newsworthy at the time.[12] "One couldn't keep one's hair clean, getting under cars to mend them, sleeping in garages, on planks anywhere," she explained, "so I cut mine off."[6] In 1918, Butler served as a courier for the British delegation at the Allied Congress of Women in Paris.[6] She was honored with a decoration by the French Government after the war.[13]

Personal life

In 1925, Hope Butler became the third wife of Francis Mairs Huntington Wilson, a writer and former diplomat, when they wed in Zurich.[14] She was widowed when he died in 1946.[15] She was still alive in December 1951 when her mother's will was probated.[16]

References
  1. William Allen Butler and Willard Parker Butler, Book of the family and lineal descendants of Medad Butler, late of Stuyvesant, Columbia County, N.Y (New York Public Library 1919).
  2. "In a Social Way" Philadelphia Inquirer (February 21, 1912): 8. via Newspapers.com
  3. "Asks Child Foster-Homes" New York Times (April 25, 1929): 32.
  4. "Miss Butler Weds Henri L. Marindin" New York Times (February 15, 1925): 26.
  5. "Robert Gordon Butler" Records of the Class, 1883–1908 (Harvard University 1908): 16–17.
  6. "About Hope Butler" The Woman Citizen (November 2, 1918): 4.
  7. Kristine Carlson Asselin, Women in World War I (ABDO 2016): 43–44. ISBN 9781680771022
  8. "My Canteen and the Marines" The Marines' Bulletin (Christmas 1918): 55, 58.
  9. "Soldiers Reverence Y. M. C. A. Women" Philadelphia Inquirer (November 5, 1918): 14. via Newspapers.com
  10. "Returned Y. M. Girl Talks of Work Abroad" New Castle Herald (October 22, 1918): 5. via Newspapers.com
  11. "Woman's Nine Plays Baseball at Coblenz" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (June 25, 1919): 12. via Newspapers.com
  12. "Women War Workers Sacrifice Hair Because Long Hair and War Work Don't Mix at All" Oxnard Daily Courier (November 20, 1918): 2. via Newspapers.com
  13. "Honors Won by Miss Butler" Baltimore Sun (September 25, 1919): 9. via Newspapers.com
  14. "Huntington Wilson Married in Zurich" New York Times (September 29, 1925): 27.
  15. "F. M. H. Wilson Dies; Former Diplomat" New York Times (January 1, 1947): 34.
  16. "Media Woman Wills Estate of $30,000" Delaware County Daily Times (December 19, 1951): 3. via Newspapers.com
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