Pottery class, Seale Hayne Military Hospital, Devon

This photograph shows the Seale Hayne Neurological Military Hospital in Devon where Margaret Preston and Gladys Reynell taught a range of crafts from August of 1918. Rupert Reynell, the brother of Gladys, was a neurologist there who implemented new psychological and physical treatments for the shell-shocked soldiers.

Preston wrote about her time: 'My work was to take from twenty-five to thirty men every two or three weeks...to the shed known as the Pottery...It consisted of basket-making for twisted and stiffened hands; of pottery for the shell-shocked men. This was to aid them to regain confidence in their own abilities as well as to interest them while they were waiting for their cures. There were others who came to the shed with complaints that allowed them only to amuse themselves. These did monotypes, batik, and other handicrafts [such as stencilling].'