09/07/2023
The little girl in this photograph is Ruby Crane.....from the age of 3 years old Ruby walked blinded soldiers around a rehabilitation centre called St Dunstans at Brighton in Sussex, where Rubys Father was the head gardener....she knew they were blinded and just returned from the first World War.....wandering in the grounds she would take ahold their hand and ask them where they wanted to go ( individual workshops ) and guide them there....people were so affected by little Ruby walking the blind soldiers around they would send her dolls and toys as a thank you for all the support she was giving to the men and women affected by sight loss.....little Ruby was rewarded with a long life as she passed away in her late nineties, in 2011.
Ruby recalled..... " I always remember how my little hand seemed so small in their big hands....they were so pleased to have a child come and talk to them....it was something different away from the monotonous grind of not being able to see things, I think. "
Ruby was so popular that she featured on the front page of the St Dunstans first Annual Report for 1915/1916 and later Flag Day emblems incorporated a similar design that featured Little Ruby.
Evaline Brueton Consulting Historian-Disability Pride month series
