| Description | Forms record of Mrs Smart's work for the Aberdeen Netherlands Welfare Association and in aid of Dutch service men during the second world war.
The volume has an embroidered cover, which features depictions of military vehicles, flags, a piper, a Dutch seaman, and a Dutch lion rampant. Down the left-hand side there would appear to be the names of places visited by members of the Dutch merchant navy during the war. The text in the upper portion reads “Nederland zal herrijzen” (“the Netherlands shall rise again”).
Book is signed by many Dutch service men who visited Mrs Smart (often giving their Dutch address as well as where they were currently stationed). Sometimes the men inclluded photographs or sketches (two photographs dating from 21 April 1944 show men who appear to be of South East Asian ethnicity, possibly Indonesian). There are also lists of attendees at Association events. These often marked Dutch holidays such as Sinterklaas (St Nicholas’ Day) and the birthdays of Queen Wilhelmina and princesses Juliana and Beatrix. There is also a letter from the office of Wilhelmina thanking Henriette and her associates for their efforts in serving the cause of the Dutch government in exile, and an essay or song titled "Klacht van eene Oorlogswees" (Complaint of a War Orphan).
There are also cuttings relating to the convalescence of Dutch children in Scotland after being malnourished during the German occupation of the Netherlands, and an invitaion to an Afternoon Tea held by the Town Council of Abereen for Dutch Children on the 30 August 1945. Two entries with accompanying sketches appear to be from the children fostered by the Smarts.
At the back it includes a message sent from Henriette to her father in Breda via the Red Cross Message Bureau in July 1940. |
| Administrative History | Mrs Henriette Smart (nee Ontrop) lived at 11 St Swithin Street, Aberdeen. She originally hailed from Breda in the southern portion of the Netherlands, but she spent much of her early life in the Dutch East Indies where her father held a post as a colonel in the army. It was there that she met a Scotsman, Robert Smart, and the pair eventually married and moved to Aberdeen in 1931. She ran a hosiery shop at 514 Union Street from 1934 as "Madame Ontrop".
At the outbreak of the Second World War she became president of the committee for the promotion of the welfare of members of the Dutch merchant navy (the Aberdeen Netherlands Welfare Association). The Association raised funds for the Dutch fighting forces, and ran weekly meeting at 8 Queen's Road to entertain Dutch visitors to the North East. Their was also a visiting committee who visited Dutch nationals in hospital. Mrs Smart was also described as a "crack shot"as an Auxiliary in the Women's Home Defence Unit (Aberdeen Evening Express, 6 Sep 1944). Mrs Smart intended on enrolling in the Dutch Navy once the Netherlands was liberated, to help recruit girls for the Navy, but this proved not to be possible. She instead acted as foster parent to two Dutch refugee children. |