 When World War I began , Macmillan looked for peace activism on the part of NUWSS . Instead , she found a majority of British women were in favour of helping the men win the war . Her pacifism was not at all passive — soon after hostilities broke out , she travelled to Flushing , Netherlands on a mission of mercy . By late October 1914 she was providing food for refugees from the fall of Antwerp . Macmillan signed the Open Christmas Letter , a peace @-@ seeking exchange between women of warring nations , in late 1914 . 
