The service was created by Helen Mary Gaskell, using Lady Battersea's large but empty London home Surrey House (near Marble Arch) as a base.
[1] Gaskell obtained official approval from Lord Haldane, then War Minister, and Sir Arthur Sloggett (head of the Royal Army Medical Corps).
Initially it was aimed at the wounded in military hospitals, but the Admiralty requested it be extended to those on active service too, including medical staff and coastguards.
At the same time, some people regarded it as a chance to clean out their rubbish while gaining credit for 'charity', so tens of thousands of old parish magazines were sent in, only to be thrown away.
[4] When Thomas Jones CH and others set up the Army Bureau of Current Affairs in 1940 to provide 'mental stimulant' to World War II troops,[5] this was partly continuing the BWL's aims, although Gaskell's contribution appears to have been largely overlooked until as late as the 21st century.