Propaganda

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Stanley Osborn took this photograph of Lady Paget at the site of an alleged Serbian massacre of Bulgarian soldiers.

Lady Paget’s presence in Skoplje was used by both the Allies and the Central Powers to bolster support for the war effort. Many who knew of their being taken prisoner assumed the worst for Lady Paget and her staff. When an erroneous report was made by the Berlin Overseas News Agency that Lady Paget had defected to the Bulgarian cause, a friend fervently reported that she remained loyal to Britain and the Serbian people. Members of other British relief agencies who made it back to London were quick to report that Lady Paget stayed to continue the work begun in Skoplje. The Bulgarians too, wanted to make use of the British mission. Lady Paget and male members of her staff, including Osborn, were taken by the Bulgarian Governor in Skoplje to the alleged site of Serbian atrocities, committed against Bulgarians. Lady Paget understood this to be an exercise in propaganda, leading to a difficult exchange at the scene: “The Governor requested that I would draw near and personally examine the bodies, but I said it was unnecessary, as only expert evidence could be of any use to them. This made him very angry.” Osborn, Lady Paget and the other foreign doctors dodged the cameras “so as not to lend any official bearing to the views” that this was the site of a massacre.