1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Macnaughtan, Sarah Broom

19389571922 Encyclopædia Britannica — Macnaughtan, Sarah Broom

MACNAUGHTAN, SARAH BROOM (1864-1916), British novelist, was born at Particle, near Glasgow, Oct. 26 1864, the sixth child of Peter Macnaughtan, secretary to the British Steam Navigation Co. She was educated at home in Glasgow, and on the death of her parents came to England, living first in Kent, and then in London. Her first novel, Selah Harrison, appeared in 1898, and it was followed by several others, the best known being The Fortune of Christina M'Nab (1901); A Lame Dog's Diary (1905) and The Expensive Miss Du Cane (1907). She travelled a good deal, and had considerable experience in army nursing, gained partly in South Africa. At the beginning of the World War she joined Mrs. St. Clair Stobart's ambulance unit, and was head orderly through the siege of Antwerp, afterwards working under fire on the Belgian front. For this she received the Order of Leopold. In 1915 she went to Russia, penetrating as far as Persia, where illness overtook her. She returned to England in May 1916 and died in London July 24.

She had published A Woman's Diary of the War (1915), and a further account of her work, edited by her niece, Mrs. Lionel Salmon, My War Experiences in Two Continents, appeared in 1919.