Name/Title
1900/Hughes: Nuns at BloemfonteinDescription
"In the garden of the Convent, Bloemfontein", illustration for "War Illustrated" by Mortimer Ludington Menpes, a war artist attached to the British troops who occupied the formerly Boer town in March 1900. Menpes later published "War impressions, being a record in colour" in 1903 (London), which includes this illustration.
Menpes was particularly attracted to the surprisingly lush gardens in Bloemfontein. This painting is of Greenhill Convent nuns, who were Roman Catholic. During the Boer War, the convent gardens were used by military patients in the convent's hospital.
The Community of St Michael and All Angels at Bloemfontein, which was an Anglican religious order of nuns, also provided nursing care during the Boer War. This was the Community which would be joined by Margery Hughes at the age of 26 in 1913.
It may be that Margery Hughes became aware of the nuns in Bloemfontein during the Boer War or afterwards through Menpes's book. Perhaps she had seen this striking illustration and it had sown the seeds of her attraction to a life of religious devotion overseas.
