# Edith Cliff
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{{Short description|Commandant}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
thumb|right|Meanwood Towers, birthplace of Edith Cliff
thumb|Front cover of scrapbook compiled by Edith Cliff during the First World War.
'''Edith Cliff''', [OBE](/source/Officer_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire), (1871–1962) was the [Commandant](/source/Commandant) of [Gledhow Hall](/source/Gledhow_Hall) Military Hospital in [Gledhow](/source/Gledhow), [Leeds](/source/Leeds), [Yorkshire](/source/Yorkshire), England from its opening in 1915, throughout the First World War until it closed 1919.
Edith Maud Cliff, daughter of William Dewhirst Cliff of [Meanwood Towers](/source/Meanwood) in Leeds[{{cite web|title=Lights, Camera, Action…Libraries|url=https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2014/03/28/lights-camera-action-libraries/|website=Leeds Library|accessdate=23 November 2017|date=28 March 2014}}] was born in 1871. A woman of independent means, she began to train as a [Voluntary Aid Detachment](/source/Voluntary_Aid_Detachment) (VAD) nurse in 1911. After the outbreak of the [First World War](/source/First_World_War), her cousin [Albert Kitson, 2nd Baron Airedale](/source/Albert_Kitson%2C_2nd_Baron_Airedale) offered his home, Gledhow Hall, for use as a VAD hospital. It opened in 1915 and Cliff was appointed its commandant, that is, officer in charge, a position she held throughout the war. Cliff was awarded an [OBE](/source/Officer_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) in the [1919 New Year Honours](/source/1919_New_Year_Honours) for her service.[{{cite web|title=Edith Cliff, Commandant of Gledhow Hall Military Hospital|url=http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=2016512_175760|publisher=Leodis|accessdate=23 November 2017}}][{{cite web|title=Miss Edith Maud Cliff O.B.E. |url=http://www.redcross.org.uk/About-us/Who-we-are/History-and-origin/First-World-War/Card?fname=Edith&sname=cliff&id=43683&last=true|publisher= The [Red Cross](/source/Red_Cross)|accessdate=23 November 2017}}]
Cliff's scrapbook, ''The Great European War, Gledhow Hall Hospital'', documents life there between 1915 and 1919 in letters, photographs and newscuttings.[{{cite web|title=The Gledhow Hall scrapbook |url=https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2014/07/25/the-gledhow-hall-scrapbook/|publisher= Leeds Libraries|date=25 July 2014|accessdate=23 November 2017}}] Leeds Libraries consider this one of the treasures of their collection, along with a 1480 ''[Book of Hours](/source/Book_of_Hours)''.[{{cite web|title=Treasures|url=https://secretlibraryleeds.net/treasures/|website=Secret Library Leeds|date=3 August 2016|accessdate=23 November 2017}}]
In 1935 Edith Cliff married [Sir Thomas Willans Nussey](/source/Willans_Nussey),[{{cite web|title=Nussey, Thomas Willans |url=http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2016.pl?sur=&suro=w&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=NSY887TW&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50|publisher=Cambridge University|accessdate=23 November 2017}}] a [barrister](/source/barrister) and [Liberal Party](/source/Liberal_Party_(UK)) [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament) until 1910. They were in their mid-60s when they married.
Edith Cliff, Lady Nussey, died aged 90 in 1962.