War godmother

A war godmother (French: marraine de guerre; Dutch: oorlogsmeter) is someone who volunteers to provide succour to or in other ways support a serving soldier - a 'godson' (filleul) - who might have no close family ties.

On 11 January 1915, the concept of war godmothers arrived with the creation of La famille du Soldat - a conservative Roman Catholic association - in Angers, France, presided over by Jules Cambon and fr:Eugène Beyens (1855-1934).

Bérard and supported by the French Minister for War, Alexandre Millerand and La Revue des marraines, hand-written by Mlle.

In Belgium, Queen Elisabeth helped to start a war godmother operation and Lieutenant Joseph de Dorlodot began Oeuvre des Marraines de Guerre [Charity of War Godmothers], which had links to equivalent organisations in Cardiff and London.

The Verbond der Oorlogsmeters voor Belgische Soldaten [League of War Godmothers for Belgian Soldiers] operated in Nottingham.

On 4 December 1915, La Vie parisienne, published by the Iris agency, printed classified advertisements for soldiers seeking companions, all through an intermediary.

Belgian soldiers on the Yser Front read a letter from a marraine de guerre in a posed propaganda photograph, 1915.
This hand-written journal, La revue des marraines (The war-godmothers' review) was printed by Mlle. Picard in Paris for the soldier filleuls ('godsons') in the trenches during World War I.