Venetia Enlists

In January 1915, Venetia Stanley began training as a nurse at the London Hospital in Whitechapel, a decision that deeply disturbed Prime Minister Asquith, who recoiled at the idea of her performing menial work and caring for patients he dismissively described as unworthy. He regarded her nursing as a kind of profanation, yet her move to London intensified their relationship on paper: in the first three months of 1915, he wrote to her 141 times, sometimes more than once a day. Her demanding hospital schedule strained the relationship, as Asquith refused to moderate his claims on her time and resented any interference with their Friday drives. Increasingly anxious and possessive, he worried more about Venetia’s health than the wounded soldiers she treated, while she began to use nursing—and later service in France—to create distance from his emotional dependence, deepening his despair as the war intensified.