The Mail on Sunday newspaper has documented this through papers from the British government. Lady Almina was a colorful socialite when the First World War broke out. She converted several rooms in Highclere into operating rooms with a post-operative ward.
Lady Almina became a tireless advocate for the soldiers and devoted most of her resources to making life as good as possible for them while they were in her care. Officers who were treated there said they were served beer by servants and described the place as «paradise».
The second series in Downtown Abbey describes this and the episode with the sex scandal where a 
of the nurses being discovered «in fagrante delicto» with one of the patients is taken from reality. The nurse was promptly removed from the castle by Lady Almira, who personally took care of the patients.
The Mail on Sunday reports that British government documents indicate that there were several women among the 760 people who refused to be officially honored for their efforts during the First World War. The newspaper speculates on why they refused this honor and concludes that it is possible that they considered such awards distasteful after seeing the atrocities of the First World War.
Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland, was a celebrated beauty who ran an ambulance unit and several field hospitals near the frontline.
Lady Stirling Maxwell turned her Scottish home, Pollok House, into a hospital and one of her London residences into a home for blind soldiers
Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey, has said: «I'm sure many of these women were genuinely modest about their achievements and didn't want to be what we today call celebrities. For our generation, modesty and finding satisfaction in work itself - rather than in public flattery - is very hard to believe, but for these women, being recognized on the street would have been torture.
