Violetta Thurstan

Born in 1879, Violetta Thurstan was a British nurse and author whose life combined public service, travel, and writing. She studied through the University of St Andrews’ Lady Literate in Arts program, an early route that opened higher education to women, and later became known for her work in nursing and relief efforts.

During the major conflicts of the early 20th century, she served in demanding conditions and wrote from direct experience. Her books include Field Hospital and Flying Column and The People Who Run, works that drew on wartime service and humanitarian crises rather than distant observation.

Thurstan lived a remarkably long life, dying in 1978, and left behind both published work and archival papers that continue to attract historical interest. She is remembered not just as an author, but as someone who put herself in the middle of events and then wrote about them with firsthand knowledge.