Welsh Hospital Netley WW1

Welsh Hospital Netley (near Southampton) WW1

Nurse Mary Rodwell - Suffragette - Klled 17th November 1915 (Hospital Ship Anglia)

Suffragette and WW1
Nursing Heroine

Miss Mary Rodwell (Brockdish, Norfolk) was a member Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (Q.A.I.M.N.S.R.). She was killed on the night of 17th November 1915 when the Hospital Ship Anglia was returning from Calais to Dover with 390 injured soldiers, 56 crew members and a compliment doctors and nurses during World War 1.

The nursing complement included Matron, Mrs. Mitchell, Nurse Walton, Nurse Meldrum, and Nurse Mary Rodwell, At around 12:30 pm, in pitch darkness and one mile East of Folkestone Gate, the Hospital Ship "Anglia" hit a mine laid by a German U boat, within 15 minutes the ship had sunk. Claiming the lives of over one hundred soldiers, crewmen and also the life of nursing sister Mary Rodwell.

According to the Nursing Times 27th November 1915, "The horror of that first moment have been indescribable when the doomed vessel plunged her bows into the water at an angle which suggested her instant death, and the staff were faced with the problem of getting nearly 200 cot cases up from wards and lower wards in almost impossible conditions. "

The water at once rushed into the lowest wards, and the orderlies who went to investigate reported that it was up over their heads. From the other wards every man who could move himself scrambled as best he could to the deck, and some of the wounded, officers and men alike, did all in their power to save the others, hunting out lifeboats for them and fastening on All the time the nurses were working steadily, chiefly concerned with the lifebelts, but bringing up all the wounded who could be moved along those slanting corridors."


Some of the men reported sister Rodwell had been injured in the initial explosion. The Matron and sister on deck when urged to get into a boat, which had come alongside, would not hear of it. saying "we have the right to be last this time" "I offered to help one nurse you come with me and I'll get you to safety. i am a very strong swimmer. You'll be safe with me. But she shook her head an said she could not leave her men. So she was with them to the last ".

Between 127 and 164 were killed in the sinking of the Hospital ship Anglia, The survivors described sights which were worse than anything they had seen at in Flanders.
The Army Orders in relation to the tragic sinking of the hospital ship Anglia contained the following Statement:



"The Army Council desire to place on record their appreciation of the presence of mind and devotion to duty shown by the Royal Army Medical Corps personnel on the occasion of the sinking of the hospital ship Anglia which struck a mine on November 17th 1915.

"Through the courage and presence of mind of the Matron Mrs Mitchell, and devotion of the nursing sisters, most of the cot cases were evacuated, from the ship. in this work, lieutenants P.L.T. Bennet and H.W. Hodgson Royal Medical Corps, were conspicuous and aided by Private Darwen and McGuire of the same corps, they succeeded in saving wounded from the lower wards when they were awash and almost submerged Mary Rodwell friends testified that "she was well aware of the risks she ran in serving the sick and wounded on a hospital ship.

The Matron and sister rescued from Anglia say that they cannot speak too highly of her (Nurse Mary Rodwell). The last the Matron (Mrs Mitchell) saw of her was shortly before the explosion, when she came up to fetch some warm woollies for her patients When war broke out she felt it her duty to volunteer for foreign service, and was from February till may 1915 on hospital trains, and on the Anglia since May.

Mary Rodwell prophetically wrote a letter dated 8th September 1915

The large hospital ships have gone to the Dardanelles leaving us only the small ones for France. I saw the XXXXX she takes 3,000 patients and is enormous. I prefer a smaller boat myself, in case anything should go wrong. and just now the German mines are a great many over here. we have also seen (German) submarines at times. ......"So far we have been lucky with the hospital ships. We had a narrow escape with bombs a few weeks ago. The explosion threw us out of our bunks .... The high explosive bomb was only forty yards from us, and several fire bombs only 10 yards from us burnt themselves out on the pier without doing any damage, as they were on a stone pier, but the noise of the explosive bombs was terrific. We just rocked and dashed, the boast listing very much, but recovering itself without any damage done except lights and telephone broke, but a trawler near had some men killed and injured"

Hospital ships regularly had no escort and on one trip the ship's passengers even included the King, who's entourage suffered from sea sickness and who Mary Rodwell nursed.

The wreck of the hospital ship Anglia is now an Official War Grave, which lies on a sandy bed, where she was struck on that tragic night. A number of those killed are recorded on the war Memorial at Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton including Mary Rodwell.

Mary Rodwell was born at Brockdish, Norfolk (near Diss) on June 7th, 1874 the daughter of Mr J. Rodwell, she later lived in the village of Oakley on the Norfolk/Suffolk border.

She trained at Hendon Infirmary Hospital in North West London from 1901 to 1904. Later nurse Rodwell worked at Samaritan Free Hospital, Maryleboune Road, London and later still in private nursing homes in the Capital.  

When war broke out she felt it her duty to volunteer for foreign service, and was from February till may 1915 on hospital trains, and on the Anglia from May 1915. It was reported in the British Nursing Journal that she was a supporter of their magazine (as opposed to the (Royal) College Nursing of Nursing Journal the Nursing Times) and that she was supporter of a nursing regulatory body which the (Royal) College of Nursing then opposed. 

Mary Rodwell  would have undoubtedly therefore have supported the development of nursing trade unionism as outlined by Maude MacCallum's Professional Union of Trained Nurses Nursing Union established in 1919. Miss Elma Smith Matron at Hendon Infirmary stated"She herself could wish for no better end than to die with the patients under her care".

Mary Rodwell was also recorded as being an enthusiastic suffragist being an member "ardent" supporter of the Crystal Palace and Anerley Women's Freedom League (WFL). She seems to have become involved in the local branch while living with her uncle Robert Eagle in Upper Norwood, South London (22 Palace Road). 

After her tragic death the The Crystal Palace & Anerley Women's Freedom League stated that Mary Rodwell's "name will be held in honour and reverence"

The WFL was a "progressive" more working class women orientated breakaway group from the WSPU established by Charlotte Despard, Edith How-Martyn and Teresa Billington-Grieg on 22nd October 1907. The WFL objected to the lack of democracy in the WSPU, it's deferance to wealthy women rather than tackle the issues facing working women's, they also opposed the WSPU's vandalism and particular it's arson campaigns.

The WFL while willing to break the law in furtherance of "Votes for Women" through direct action, Muriel Matters a WFL famously sailed over London in a hot air balloon showering London with "Votes for women" leaflets, The WFL was completely non-violent (over 100 of its members went to jail for direct action demonstrations and refusing to pay taxes and ) 

The colours of the Women's Freedom League (WFL) were Green, Gold and White.

Mary Rodwells name appears at the church in Ditchingham, Norfolk.

On 2nd July 1920 a memorial bronze plaque was unveiled at Colindale hospital, it was stated that the memorial would remind nurses "who come after, of their courage self abnegation and devotion to duty when the hour of trial came".

 
 


NOTES

BJN British Journal of Nursing  11 December 1915 (and others)
Nursing Times 27 November 1915

RAMC WW1

Nurses at The Royal Star & Garter Home (Richmond) 1916

COHSE had a branch of the Union at the Royal Star & Garter Home from the end of WW2 and NUPE at a later date

Royal Star & Garter Home Matron Miss Elsie Formby (1908 - 2000)

WW1 Memorial - St Mary's Hospital, Paddington

WW1 Nurses Joining Up - August 1914

Nurses wishing to volunteer for active service must do so at the office of the British Red Cross Society, which is now established at Devonshire House, Piccadilly, London, (now Green Park tube station) by the kindness of the Duke of Devonshire who has placed the whole of the ground floor at the disposal of the committee. 

Devonshire house is easily identified by the Red Cross flag which floats over it. Nurses engaged in hospitals or on the staffs of private nursing institutions or district nursing associations should first get the assent of the matron or superintendent.

On inquiring at the medical department of the Admiralty we learn that many applications are made there by nurses of varying qualifications the authorities are not in need of nurses or desirous of enrolling them and it is unlikely that the services will be utilised if offered their.

Many hundreds of applications are also made at the War office. In both instances application should be made through the British Red Cross Society.

Applications for enrollment in the international nursing corps of active service in the war, up from three years certified nurses should be made at headquarters of the International Council of nurses for 431 Oxford Street London executive of the National Union of Trained Nurses is desired to offer them to the central office at 39 Great Smith Street, Westminster as a clearing house of trained nurse volunteers

------------------------

War having been declared the voluntary aid detachments (VAD) have ceased to be under the orders of the British Red Cross Society are now under the local military authorities with whom they are registered. The organisation of the society will be employed to assist any detachment mobilised by Reid furnishing stores and drugs and in supplying hospitals and general comforts

---------------------------------------------

Canadian surgeons and nurses who are not attached to the regular Forces the Territorial Forces or the British Red Cross Society and who were willing to give their service to the Canadian voluntary hospital contingent are requested to send their names with particulars of qualifications and experience to W MacLeod Moore honorary secretary general buildings order which London WC

-------------------------------- 

First London General Territorial Hospital opened at St Gabriels College, Cormont Road Camberwell  (nurses are all seconded from St Barts but wear the Grey & Scarlet of military nurses

Picture Guy's Hospital nurses leave for the Front - 17th August 1914

Source British Journal of Nursing 15th August 1914

New Zealand Military Hospital & Maori Battalion - Walton on Thames - WW1

New Zealand Military Hospital opened August 1915 - Closed 1920

Mount Felix House, Walton on Thames, Surrey


Private James Livingstone Porter served with the Otago Infantry Battalion.  He worked as a moulder before joining up early in the war and departing from Port Chalmers in October 1914.  He died of wounds sustained at Gallipoli in October 1916.
 
Corporal Thomas Wallace Phillips was part of the Auckland Mounted Rifles and the 2^nd Reinforcements, he is mentioned on the War Memorial at Cambridge, New Zealand.
 
Private William Fox’s name is recorded wrongly on the banner as ‘Cox’.  He was a member of the Canterbury Infantry Battalion with the 4^th Reinforcements.  The spelling mistake has been transferred once more from the banner to the modern commemorative plaque which is now installed in the church!

Acting Corporal John Brian Dalton had previously had a long association with the Hawera Mounted Rifles Volunteer Force.  He embarked from Wellington on 17^th April 1915 to serve with the Otago Mounted Rifles as part of the 4^th Reinforcements.  He was slightly wounded at Gallipoli but had become seriously ill by the time he reached England, where he was admitted to the hospital at Walton-on-Thames and died on the 2^nd December 1915.

Corporal Henry Hudson was part of the Main Body of the Wellington Infantry Battalion who left Wellington in 1914.  He died two years later from heart failure following pneumonia.

Driver Arthur Hall was part of the Army Service Corps.  He died of heart failure following an operation at Walton-on-Thames in June 1916.
Driver William Henry Russell was part of the 9^th Reinforcements of the New Zealand Field Artillery, he died of his wounds in September 1916.
Rifleman Edward Rout was employed as a general labourer by J. Cole of Papatoetoe before joining the 1^st Battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade.  He died of wounds inflicted to his right shoulder and right leg in October 1916.
Private Kingi Hamana was part of the 1^st Maori Contingent, B Company.  He died of tuberculosis in October 1916.
Private John Lewis Boyd was part of the Auckland Mounted Rifles and the 7^th Reinforcements.  His injuries left him paralysed from the waist down.  He remained in England after being discharged from the New Zealand Expeditionary Force as his mother lived in Hampshire.  He died in 1932 and was buried at Walton-on-Thames, so his name must have been added to the banner long after it was originally installed in the church, and only shortly before it was removed to make way for a more permanent memorial.

Sapper Jack Fleming was married to Anne Charleswood and had two daughters, Annie Elizabeth and Nellie.  He left his family in Auckland when he embarked in April 1916 with the New Zealand Field Engineers.  He died of disease in October the same year.
 
Private Montrose Baker from Gisbourne was a member of the Wellington Infantry Battalion and the 7^th Reinforcements.  He died from his wounds.


Private William Henry Rishworth of Dunedin was wounded by shrapnel whilst serving with the Otago Infantry Regiment in the 12^th Reinforcements.  He later died of his wounds at Walton-on-Thames.

Rifleman George Blinko was a cabinetmaker from Hastings who served with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade before contracting pneumo-coccal meningitis and dying on 6^th January 1917.

Private Robert Black was husband of Alice Ann Black from Rarotonga and an accountant before he joined the Wellington Infantry Regiment.  He died of disease in April 1917.

Miss T. W. Bennet was a nurse in the VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) who worked at the New Zealand General Hospital No. 2.  Unfortunately we have so far not been able to uncover any more information about her.

Colonel Charles Mackie Begg was a surgeon in the New Zealand Medical Corps and became the Director of Medical Services for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.  He died at his home in Twickenham from influenza and pneumonia in 1919.

Information from the Museum of New Zealand

New Zealand VAD Nurse

Wilmet Annie Bennett VAD Nurse, aged 32-  Daughter of the late Joseph Bennett, of Otahuao, Masterton, Wellington. died of an appendicitis 21/11/1918 buried at Walton on Thames

 

Maori Battalion 

 

The Maori Contingents red and black blaze was New Zealands first cloth distinguishing patch to be adopted in WW1. (and may reflect the traditional colours of the Maori people)

 

Buried at Walton on Thames

Private Ramera (Raniera) Wairau embarked from Wellington in September 1915 as part of the 2^nd Maori Contingent.  He died of tuberculosis in 30 October 1916. Son of Ra and Wahati Wairau, of Opoutama, Hawke''s Bay.

Private Kingi Hamana New Zealand Maori Pioneer Battalion 03/10/1916 Son of Rongo and Pine Hamana, of Te Wairoa, Hawke''s Bay.

 

 

Private Taura from Atiu, Rarotonga, joined the Rarotongans Unit of the 3^rd Maori contingent, despite not being able to speak any English.  Son of Tuakina Atiu, of Rarotonga, Cook Islands. He contracted tuberculosis and died 07/01/1917

 

 

 Maori Battalion,

 "Te Hokowhitu a Tu" -
'The 70 twice-told warriors of the War God'.

 

 

 

Charing Cross Nurse Lost On The Lusitania

Mabel Bourke (nee England) was lost on the sinking of  the Lusitania along with Ella Lawrence, 50, was a British national from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  Both women had volunteered for service under the Serbian Red Cross in the Balkans.

Mabel Bourke appears on the list of passengers incorrectly as Burke, trained at Charring Cross and was also a midwife in the East End 

Source: British Journal of Nursing

Marie Depage, known as Marie de Page, 43, was a nurse from Brussels, Belgium who worked with her husband Dr Antoine Depage to tend to the war wounded.  (Ocean Hotel - La Panne) 

She had been in the United States to fundraise for Belgian military medical aid, and was returning home on Lusitania to see her son Lucien, who was being called into military service.  During the sinking, Marie Depage and Dr James Houghton helped many children to safety.  Marie Depage was lost in the sinking and her body was recovered,

Her body was brought back to The Ocean Hotel at La Panne where Dr Depage worked at the Red Cross Hospital – nurses followed the the funeral procession of the very popular Marie Depage through the sand dunes

Picture British Journal of Nursing

Netley Hospital WW1 banner

Netley Hospital, Southampton was a military hospital during World War 1, the main hospital had been expanded considerably to cope with causalities from the front. At it's peak had over 2,500 beds and an estimated 50,000 patients were treated at the hospital during the war.

This unique picture of World War 1 soldiers and a banner which has Power House Camp - Netley Light Infantry - (power hose probably referring to the electricity/gas supply).

click to enlarge photo above

Jessie Ritchie - WW1 QAIMNS

DUNDEE NURSES
KILLED IN WW1

Jessie Ritchie

Cargill, Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland.
Sister of James Ritchie of The Neuk, Rosemount Blairgowrie, Pertshire, Scotland.

Trained at the Royal infirmary Dundee Scotland.

later worked for the Nurses Co-operative in London based at Cavendish Square.

Served in the Boer War and was the Matron at the Orange River (concentration) Refugee Camp 1902.

Meet General Smuts on 2nd June 1902.

Joined the British Expeditionary Forces in France during the first days of World War One as a Staff Nurse in the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service, transfered to Egypt and later to the Salonika front in Greece.

Died of dysentery 13th August 1916

Buried: Salonika Lembet Road Cemetery
The Cemetery is on the northern outskirts of Thessalonika, Greece

Commemorated on Wolfill Village Hall, Perthshire Memorial

AGNES GREIG MANN

Dundee Staff Nurse: AGNES GREIG MANN QAIMNS aged 25, drowned as a result of the German U boat mining of the H.M.H.S. "Salta." 10th April 1917 buried Ste. Marie Cemetery, Le Havre;

WW1 National Asylum Workers Union

National Asylum Workers Union

Private Fred Cartmell; 8th Battalion King's Own Royal Lanacter Regiment, Rainhill Asylum staff and union member

He was invalided home early in from wounds received in September 1917 returned to the front and was killed in action 26/09/1917 aged 27. Husband of Emma Cartmell 25 New Road, Rainhill, Lancashire, Tyne Cot Cemetery.

Private Frederick Curtis; 1st battalion Welsh Guards active union member at Maidstone Mental Hospital, killed in France July 31st 1917 aged 32. Duhallow Cemetery. Son of Elizabeth Waterman, Edinburgh Villa, Barming Heath, Maidstone.

Sergeant Oliver; 2nd North Midlands Royal Garrison Artillery. died in hospital in France aged 32 on 27/08/1917 mentioned in dispatches, Dozinghem cemetery . He was a reservist at outbreak of the War an an attendant at Wakefield Asylum and a member of the local union branch. Husband 12 Denstone Street, Mount Pleasant, Wakefield. Son of Louis Kossuth Batty.

Private H. Wilson; (Charles Henry Wilson) 8th East Surrey Regiment was killed in action at Messines Ridge near Ypres on July 23rd 1917, buried at Ypres Menin Gate, union member at Napsbury Hospital.

Henrietta Mellett and Canadian Nurses WW1

Henrietta Mellett

Irish-Canadian Nurse

By Marc Leroux

Sometimes fate gives us a chance to do things that we might otherwise miss.

A couple of weeks ago I was updating the cause of death for all the Nursing Sisters in the Canadian Great war Project. When I got to Henrietta Mellett, I noticed that the Cause of Death in Ed Wigneys Roll of Honour was listed as “Drowning”.

Henrietta Mellett was born in Galway, Ireland October 21, 1883, and enlisted into the Canadian Army Medical Corps (No 15 General Hospital) at London, Ontario on 22nd January 1918 . She appears on the 1911 Census, so she immigrated to Canada sometime prior to 1911.

As with any attempt to reconstruct events from over 90 years ago, there is some degree of speculation, but it is likely that her family had moved from Galway to Dublin and was living there in 1918. It is likely that Henrietta Mellett was returning to England on 10 October 1918 after visiting them. She was aboard the mailboat R.M.S. Leinster, with a crew of 77 and 694 passengers, bound for Holyhead, Wales when it was attacked and sunk by the German submarine UB-123 just before 10:00 AM. The Leinster went down about 6 km outside of Dublin Bay. The official loss of life was 501 personnel, and it was possibly higher.

Fate came in to play when I saw that her body had been recovered and she was buried in Dublin. My wife and I were planning an Irish vacation, so last Tuesday, 3 weeks after looking up her cause of death, on a drizzly morning, I found myself in Mt. Jerome Cemetery in Dublin. I located her grave, as well as the grave of Private Fryday, the only other Canadian buried there. Nursing Sister Mellette is buried with her brother and sister, with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission marker atop the grave.

It is very satisfying to be able to be fortunate enough to have found that she was buried there, and to be able to make the trip to the Cemetery to honour her memory.

Canadian Nurses WW1

By Michael Walker

Canadian Nurses who died WW1

46 of the 3,000 women who served as "nursing sisters" in the Canadian Army Medical Corps lost their lives during the war. Of info available, six were killed or mortally wounded (of which three died in the deliberate bombing of the military hospital in Étaples, France);

15 died at sea, with the sinking of the hospital ship, Llandovery Castle; 15 died of disease; and seven died later in Canada

AN IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY 1920.

Short, simple and deeply impressive was the ceremony, says The Canadian Nurse, which took place in the wide corridor just outside the Legislative Chamber of the Parliament Buildings, Toronto, when the memorial tablet to the memory of the nurses of the Ontario Military Hospital, Orpington, Kent, England, who gave their lives during the war, was unveiled by Major Margaret C. MacDonald, R.R.C. Matron-in-Chief of the Canadian overseas military forces.


Family and many persons of note attended the ceremony. Present for the occasion were the near relatives of the heroines whose names appear on the tablet :

Nursing Sister Mary McKenzie,
formerly of Toronto, who was drowned in the sinking by the enemy of the hospital ship Llandovery Castle;

Nursing Sister S. E. Garbutt,
who went overseas for service in June, 1917(?), and died of cancer the following (20th August 1917);

Nursing Sister M. Lowe,
Of Binscarth, Manitoba, who was killed during the bombing outrages at Etaples in May, 1918 ; (28th May 1918)

Nursing Sister D. H. Baldwin,
who died as a result of wounds received during the enemy raids at. Doulens, France, in May, 1918 ; (30th May 1918)

Nursing Sister M. E. Greene,
who died of double pneumonia, at No. 24 British General Hospital, Etaples, France, in October, 1918. (9th October 1918)

Hon. Dr. H. J. Cody, former Minister of Education, read the memorial service and dedicated the tablet, erected by the matron and nursing sisters of the Orpington (Canadian) Hospital unit.

May 29 1920 British Nursing Journal ROLL OF HONOUR NURSES CANADA WORLD WAR ONE CANADIAN ARMY MEDICAL CORPS

Alpaugh. A
Baker. M. E
Baker. M. E
Bolton. G. E.
Campbell. C.
Champagne. E.
Cumming. I.
Dagg. A. St. C.
Donaldson. G.
Douglas. C. J.
Dussault. A.
Follette. M. A.
Forneri. A. F.
Fortescue. M. J.
Fraser. M. M.
Frederickson. C.
Gallaher. M. K.
Grant.G. M.
Herman .V. B.
Henshaw. I.
Hunt. M.
Jaggard. J. B.
Jarvis. J.
Jenner. L. M.
Kealy. I. L.
King. J. N.
MacIntosh. R.
MacLeod. M.
McDiarmid .J. M.
McDougall .A.
McEachen. R.
McGinnis. M. G.
McKay. E. V.
McKenzie. M. A.
McLean. R. M.
Mellett. H.
Munro. M. F. E
Roberts. J.
Rogers. N. G.
Ross. A. J.
Ross E. G.
Sampson. M. B.
Sare. G. I.
Sparks. E.
Stamers. A. I.
Templeman. J.
Trusdale. A.
Tupper. A. A.

CANADIAN ARMY NURSING SERVICE

Baldwin. G (30 May 1918) wounds
Davis. L.A (21 February 1918) K/N
Garbutt S. E (20 August 1917) K/N
Green. M (9 October 1918) Disease
Lowe. M (28 May 1918) wounds
MacDonald. K.M. (19 May 1918) wounds
MacPherson. A (30 May 1918) wounds
Pringle. E.L (30 May 1918) wounds
Wake. Gladys M.M (21 May 1918) wounds
Whitely. A (21 April 1918) wounds

SINKING OF THE LLANDOVERY CASTLE

At the end of the month of June 1918, the "LLANDOVERY CASTLE" was on her way back to England from Halifax. She has on board the crew, consisting of one hundred and sixty-four men, eighty officers and men of the Canadian Medical Corps, and fourteen nurses, a total of two hundred and fifty-eight persons. There were no combatants on board. The vessel had not taken on board any munitions or other war material. This has been clearly established.

In the evening of 27^th of June, 1918, at about nine-thirty (local time) the "LLANDOVERY CASTLE" was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean, about one hundred and sixteen miles south-west of Fastnet (Ireland), by a torpedo from the German U-boat 86. Of those aboard only twenty-four persons were saved, two hundred and thirty-four having been drowned.

For a superb account of nurses in WW1 read "It's a long way to Tipperary " (British & Irish nurses in the Great War) by Yvonne McEwen

Michael Walker

UNISON The Nursing Union - London

Women's Reserve Ambulance - World War One

Evelina Haverfield nee Scarlett was born in Scotland on the 9th August 1867. On her marriage to Major Henry Haverfield she moved to Devon, Caundle Marsh, Dorset and later Peace Cottage, Brendon, North Devon.

She accompanied her second husband John Blaguy to South Africa, where he was in the military. Her sister Ella Scarlett- Synage) a doctor, was also in South Africa working with Millicent Fawcett in monitoring the British Concentration camps for Boer prisoners and their families.


On her return to Britain, Evelina Haverfield became a prominent suffragette, initially involved in in the West of England National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) she joined the Women's Social & Political Union (WSPU) 1909 and became secretary of Paddington branch of the WSPU in 1910.

Her horse riding skills were used to great advantage by the suffragettes when tackling mounted police and in providing mounted horse escorts for suffragette events.

She was arrested for her part in the suffragette "Black Friday" on 18th November 1910 an accused of assaulting a police officer, on her arrest she was reported as stating that " next time I will bring a revolver".

A year later, 1911 she was sent to Holloway jail for two weeks for her part in suffragette disturbances on 21st November 1911

By 1914 she had joined Sylvia Pankhurst's East London Federation becoming its treasurer.

It was during her suffragette work that Haverfield came into contact with Vera Holme, who would later become her Lesbian partner.


During World War One Haverfield was appointed Commandant in Chief of Women's Reserve Ambulance (Green Cross Society) in August 1914, but left after a disagreement and became involved in the Scottish Women's Hospital in Serbia from 1915.

She spent the rest of her life fighting for the rights of the Serbian people

Evelina Haverfield died on the 21st March 1920 of pneumonia in Bajina Basta , Serbia, and is buried in the local cemetery, later a children's health centre was named after her in the town.

Picure right of Evelina's grave (Thanks to Tom Allan)

WW1 Red Cross Nurses

Red Cross Heroines who will ride to the battle front

The War Illustrated 19th September 1914

When there is a lull in the screaming of the shells, and the last embers of a battle are being extinguished, it is then that the Red Cross heroes and heroines come out to assist those who had suffered in the fight. Brave men and women they are, taking their lives in their hands, and risking the stray bullets that fly around, in order to cheer the. last moments of dying, men, or bear the living to the shelter of a hospital.

The State, of course, provides aid for our sick and wounded warriors, but the British Red Cross Society supplements it, organising and supplying extra hospital accommodation, nursing and medical service, and all the little luxuries and comforts which mean so much to the invalid on his bed of pain.

The Duke of Devonshire has generously; loaned that substantial-looking building, in Piceadilly, London—Devonshire House—to the British Red Cross Society as a temporary headquarters for the organising staff, many of whom are voluntary workers. Queen Alexandra and Lord Rothschild, are heading an appeal for funds to carry on the noble work and patriots by the thousand have subscribed. In addition to the gifts of money and personal service, many people throughout the country, have offered to accommodate wounded soldiers in their homes.

Motor-cars have also been temporarily presented to the Society by their owners. Mrs. St. Clair Stobart, whose portrait appears opposite, desired to organise a Red Cross Hospital in Brussels, but she was arrested by Germans, and nearly shot as a spy. After many hardships she reached Holland and safety.

Note:
Mrs St Clair Stobart,

founded the Women''s Sick and Wounded Convoy Corps that worked with the Belgian Army, also worked for providing health care to civilians in France and Serbia during the war,

dispensaries for civilians

Canadian Nurses WW1

Canadian Nurses who died WW1

46 of the 3,000 women who served as "nursing sisters" in the Canadian Army Medical Corps lost their lives during the war. Of info available, six were killed or mortally wounded (of which three died in the deliberate bombing of the military hospital in Étaples, France); 15 died at sea, with the sinking of the hospital ship, Llandovery Castle; 15 died of disease; and seven died later in Canada

AN IMPRESSlVE CEREMONY 1920.

Short, simple and deeply impressive was the ceremony, says The Canadian Nurse, which took place in the wide corridor just outside the Legislative Chamber of the Parliament Buildings, Toronto, when the memorial tablet to the memory of the nurses of the Ontario Military Hospital, Orpington, Kent, England, who gave their lives during the war, was unveiled by Major Margaret C. MacDonald, R.R.C. Matron-in-Chief of the Canadian overseas military forces.



Family and many persons of note attended the ceremony. Present for the occasion were the near relatives of the heroines whose names appear on the tablet :

Nursing Sister Mary McKenzie,
formerly of Toronto, who was drowned in the sinking by the enemy of the hospital ship Llandovery Castle;

Nursing Sister S. E. Garbutt,
who went overseas for service in June, 1917(?), and died of cancer the following (20th August 1917);

Nursing Sister M. Lowe,
Of Binscarth, Manitoba, who was killed during the bombing outrages at Etaples in May, 1918 ; (28th May 1918)

Nursing Sister D. H. Baldwin,
who died as a result of wounds received during the enemy raids at. Doulens, France, in May, 1918 ; (30th May 1918)

Nursing Sister M. E. Greene,
who died of double pneumonia, at No. 24 British General Hospital, Etaples, France, in October, 1918. (9th October 1918)

Hon. Dr. H. J. Cody, former Minister of Education, read the memorial service and dedicated the tablet, erected by the matron and nursing sisters of the Orpington (Canadian) Hospital unit.

May 29 1920 British Nursing Journal

ROLL OF HONOUR NURSES CANADA WORLD WAR ONE

CANADIAN ARMY MEDICAL CORPS

Alpaugh. A
Baker. M. E
Baker. M. E
Bolton. G. E.
Campbell. C.
Champagne. E.
Cumming. I.
Dagg. A. St. C.
Donaldson. G.
Douglas. C. J.
Dussault. A.
Follette. M. A.
Forneri. A. F.
Fortescue. M. J.
Fraser. M. M.
Frederickson. C.
Gallaher. M. K.
Grant.G. M.
Herman .V. B.
Henshaw. I.
Hunt. M.
Jaggard. J. B.
Jarvis. J.
Jenner. L. M.
Kealy. I. L.
King. J. N.
MacIntosh. R.
MacLeod. M.
McDiarmid .J. M.
McDougall .A.
McEachen. R.
McGinnis. M. G.
McKay. E. V.
McKenzie. M. A.
McLean. R. M.
Mellett. H.
Munro. M. F. E
Roberts. J.
Rogers. N. G.
Ross. A. J.
Ross E. G.
Sampson. M. B.
Sare. G. I.
Sparks. E.
Stamers. A. I.
Templeman. J.
Trusdale. A.
Tupper. A. A.

CANADIAN ARMY NURSING SERVICE

Baldwin. G (30 May 1918) wounds
Davis. L.A (21 February 1918) K/N
Garbutt S. E (20 August 1917) K/N
Green. M (9 October 1918) Disease
Lowe. M (28 May 1918) wounds
MacDonald. K.M. (19 May 1918) wounds
MacPherson. A (30 May 1918) wounds
Pringle. E.L (30 May 1918) wounds
Wake G. M.M (21 May 1918) wounds
Whitely. A (21 April 1918) wounds

For a superb account of nurses in WW1 read "It's a long way to Tipperary " (British & Irish nurses in the Great War) by Yvonne McEwen

Michael Walker

UNISON The Nursing Union - London