Scout Relief work in NW Europe

Summary of Cornelia Clutterbuck's 1945-1946 Diaries

Two well-worn volumes of Cornelia Clutterbuck’s hand-written scrapbook-diaries were donated to the Society’s archives in 2013. These volumes cover the period of her work with 102 Scout Relief in Belgium and Northern Germany in hospital and re-settlement facilities close to Belsen Concentration camp which had been relieved a month or so beforehand. Written initially under censorship conditions,

As with Cornelia’s many other scrapbook-diaries, already summarised by Harold Beck, these volumes are illustrated with her own drawings and watercolours, post-cards and photographs, some of which have been scanned by Harold Beck and are displayed, with captions, in the attached gallery. These can be viewed by double-clicking on the first image (or any chosen image) and using the ‘next’ button at the top.

Harold Beck has summarised the narrative of the diaries, with illustrations, and this is attached as a downloadable document below. We are investigating whether a printed facsimile publication might be possible.

Cornelia made a typed transcript of these diaries, with further illustrations. One of the three copies she made is in the care of the Hertfordshire Scouts archives.

Downloads

Comments about this page

  • I have only just come across this information, but was so pleased to see both my parents mentioned, as well as their photos, in this record made by Cornelia Clutterbuck.  My father was John Trout, the leader of the team from December 1945, shown above on the right standing next to my mother, Phyllis Sullivan.  He proposed to her just three weeks after they’d first met before they embarked for war-torn Europe, my mother driving an army lorry across the shattered continent. My father had been captured in Amsterdam in 1940, tortured and held for four years in various concentration camps, and then “exchanged” before the end of the war, only to volunteer to return to Germany to do this vital humanitarian work. What an amazing generation. They were all heroes. Thank you Harold Beck (who are you?) for editing and publishing Cornelia’s diaries.  I, too, have a similar diary, found in my parent’s attic after my father died.

    ed. This comment was attached to the photo, but we have made a copy so that it can be seen by all visitors to this page

    By Trisha Parsons (28/08/2019)
  • I have only just come across this information, but was so pleased to see both my parents mentioned, as well as their photos, in this record made by Cornelia Clutterbuck.  My father was John Trout, the leader of the team from December 1945, shown above on the right standing next to my mother, Phyllis Sullivan.  He proposed to her just three weeks after they’d first met before they embarked for war-torn Europe, my mother driving an army lorry across the shattered continent. My father had been captured in Amsterdam in 1940, tortured and held for four years in various concentration camps, and then “exchanged” before the end of the war, only to volunteer to return to Germany to do this vital humanitarian work. What an amazing generation. They were all heroes. Thank you Harold Beck (who are you?) for editing and publishing Cornelia’s diaries.  I, too, have a similar diary, found in my parent’s attic after my father died.

    By Trisha Parsons (10/08/2019)

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