Saturday, August 16, 2014

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 2nd 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 4th 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 17th April 1915 to serve with the Otago Mounted Rifles as part of the 4th 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 2nd 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 9th 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 1st 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 1st Maori Contingent, B Company.  He died of tuberculosis in October 1916.
Private John Lewis Boyd was part of the Auckland Mounted Rifles and the 7th 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 7th 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 12th 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 6th 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 2nd 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 3rd 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'.
 
 
 

Memorial Banner; circa 1919; unknown maker; cloth, cotton, silk, metal, wood and cord; Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.


Detail of Memorial Banner; circa 1919; unknown maker; cloth, cotton, silk, metal, wood and cord; Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.

Friday, August 15, 2014

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

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Les Bennett (1920-2014) - COHSE Branch Secretary KGV Hydestile Hospital






Les Bennett a passionate supporter of "progress" and "justice" for mankind has passed away on the 6th April 2014 aged 94, he was born 20th March 1920 at Nursecombe near Bramley,

Les who as Branch Secretary of COHSE the health care union from 1948 was the driving force behind the union organising of health workers in the Godalming and Guildford area from the 1940's onwards. He was also a vociferous and passionate supporter of the National Health Service.

Under Les guidance the COHSE health union branch developed from a group of 10 hospital workers, to scared to make their union membership known, to a thriving union branch of over 1,000, a majority of whom were nurses.

Les Bennett was also a Hascombe Parish Council from 1953 for over fifty year, serving many years as Chairman. 

He was also a regular parishioner at Hascombe village church and life long labour party member.


Les was born the son of a Kent horticulturalist, after he left Bramley CofE school he started work aged 14 in a garden nursery, due  a motor car accident in which he received a fractured skull he was denied an opportunity to serve in the Royal Army Medical Corps during WW2, despite having being a member of the Red Cross at Shalford from 1938.
He then undertook various jobs in the building trade, it is hear that he received his education on the importance of trade unionism. He lost his job when the foremans son needed a job
In July 1941 as a Bath attendant at the newly relocated St Thomas Hospital, London, which had transferred patients to large mansion house in Milford due to the blitz in Easter of 1941.
The first thing the head porter told him was not to join a union, but that's exactly what Les and a few brave individuals did, meeting secretly at the Alton Ale House.
Les was elected as Branch secretary when many of the original founders of the branch moved back to London at the end of the War, taking a trade union postal course to acquire the skills needed to represent his members.
Les Bennett held the position of Branch Secretary from October 1948 until 1977.
One of Les Bennetts first actions as branch secretary was to write a letter to the COHSE journal exposing the scandal of local student nurses forced due to lack of income to pick onions on local farms to subsidies their meager earnings and to pay for rail tickets home

He was elected to the local Hascombe Parish Council in 1953 having beaten Major Goodman the local squire, a victor that caused him to be victimised but not by the electors who returned him for the next 50 years, many as Chairman
Les a quietly spoken man, brimming with inner confidence and a passion for justice, he was a devoted family man committed to caring for his wife Audrey especially during a long period of ill health towards the end of her life, and despite his many commitments to their children Valerie and twins Hazel, Lesley and Mary. He encouraged many young hospital workers to become active in  health care trade unionism, including Carles Martinez who was to succeed him as Branch secretary in 1977 and held the branch secretary position until 2007

Les Bennett ended his career as the much respected head porter at the hospital and was loved by his members who respected his tireless efforts on their behalf, he could also take pride in later years that as a result of his efforts, COHSE union membership at St Thomas Hospital, Milford Chest Hospital, King George V Sanatorium was close to 100%.
His legacy and battles for justice will live on and those who were fortunate enough to have known him will pay respect now and long into the future 

Les Bennett - Local Hero - Friend of The People





Photos

Les Bennett with Carles Martinez, who took over as Branch Secretary in 1977

and Les wife Audrey (his not in the picture were children children were Valerie, Hazel and Lesley)

With Mike Sumers COHSE Regional secretary

With Albert Spanswick COHSE General Secretary


COHSE is now Unison

Addenbrookes Hospital Cleaners Strike 1985-1986



Addenbrookes Hospital (Domestics) Cleaners Strike, Cambridge 1985-1986 against OCS Cleaning Company

Neasden Hospital Occupation 1986



Sunday, April 06, 2014

COHSE banner Durham Miners Gala 1988

COHSE banner at the Durham Miners Gala 1988
Yorkshire & Humberside

How Many Londoners are Dying for one of These? - NHS Bed - Billboard 1996

How Many Londoners are Dying for one of these? NHS Bed billboard 1996
UNISON, NHS Consultants Assoc and NHS Support Federation

COHSE NHS Rally 1985 - St Albans

COHSE NHS Rally St Albans, Hertfordshire 8th January 1985 huge attendance from members at Hill End and Shenley as well as local General hospitals.

Also include a miners speaker

Huge attendance and excellent speeches, notably from Paul Noone President of the Consultants Association


COHSE Colin Thomson - Marathon Runner



Colin Thomson COHSE health union regional officer based at Pontypridd and later Treforest COHSE office late 1980s to mid 90s, Yorkshire-man and regular marathon runner. Lived and trained in the Rhondda,

Completed his first 100 marathon's in 1993

Medical Committee Against Private Practice Campaign 1976

Medical Committee Against Private Practice 
Campaign 1976

TUC Demo - Nurses & Firefighters - Dec 2001


UNISON Nurses join FBU Firefighters for a TUC Demonstration December 2001 in defence of Public Services

Friday, April 04, 2014

Nurses Protest At Governmnets PRB Pay Veto


UNISON London nurses protest at the Coalition Governments decision to veto the Independent Pay Review Body recommendations and stop pay rises to 70% of London nurses for the next two years, despite massive nursing shortages in London and huge pay rises for MP's.

 

LONDONERS DESERVE A PAY RISE
NHS WORKERS DESERVE A PAY RISE
FAIR PAY NOW

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Maudsley Hospital COHSE Banner

COHSE Branch banner Maudsley Hospital circa 1988

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Beatrice Drapper - NUCO and "Angel of Deptford"


Beatrice M Drapper – Deptford “Angel of Mercy” or “Our Beatrice”
Born Deptford, South London

Student at Scott-Lidgett’s, Bermondsey University Settlement and an orignal member of the "Beatrice" Dunkin, Club for Girls

Beatrice Drapper stated "I owe all my success in life to the Settlement"
Lived at 7 Evelyn Street,

Helped in the election of Will Crook’s as MP for Woolwich, one of the first Labour MP’s

A school manager from 1902-1927, Swimming and Gymnastics lecturer for the London county Council Schools & Welfare Board

Labour Councillor for North West Ward, Deptford from 1919 – 1956 (resigned 7/3/1956)

One of the first elected women Mayor’s in Britain, Deptford Mayor 1927-1928
Married Mr E. C. Drapper also a Labour Councillor who died in 1945

Helped establish NUCO at St Alfege’s hospital, Greenwich in 1918
Helped organise the feeding of Dockers families during the 1912 dock strike and was a leading figure in the campaign against the Chair of the Port of London authority who kept the Dockers in poverty. She was not alone 

“O God strike Lord Davenport dead” prayed Dockers leader Ben Tillett
From 1919 voluntary worker for the Poor Law Workers union (later National Union of County officers and COHSE ) from 1929 – 1946 paid employee of the union.

She was heavily involved in a case involving Peggy O'Neil a nurse suffering from TB of the spine (not then an industrial injury) and a bed patient for six years, with Beatrice help she was able to help Nurse O'Neil start a new life in America.

Justice of the Peace 1921 for Blackheath division

Elected to Greenwich Board of Guardians 1907 -1930 as a Labour representative (three years as Chairman)

During the 1921 she helped feed up to one thousand Dockers at deptford Central hall during the strike "cycling from her home at 5am in the morning in order to serve breakfast".She bought two shops in Deptford and converted them into a club for striking women tin workers who she helped organise into a union, serving 200 meat and veg meals daily at 4d a meal. 

The tin workers suffered terrible conditions and were pitifully paid. When they were taken to court for daring to strike she organised coaches to take the women tin workers to the Law courts hearings

Member of Lewisham hospital management committee
Officially opened the Woodlands Nurses home for nurses, Greenwich, December 1925
Appointed Chair of Chelsea Juvenile Court in 1945


Later moved to 46 Coniston Road, Bromley, Kent
Cremated Southend cemetery 4th December 1961

Beatrice Drapper retired December 1946 after 17years employment by the union


1962 COHSE Nurses Pay Campaign




1982 NHS Pay Campaign - 22nd September Demonstration




Sunday, March 09, 2014

Nursing Students Fightingback 2000 - Fighting Eviction



Nursing students at Woodlands Nursing Home, Greenwich, London faced immediate eviction from their nursing home in February 2000, with little notice, no alternative accommodation and in the middle of their nursing examinations.

UNISON organised the student nurses who ran a high profile campaign, starting with the storming of a Greenwich hospital board meeting and then went public about their plight, they also successfully balloting for strike action, securing a 99% mandate for strike action.

The huge opposition from the nursing students to the plans and support from the public led to the plans being put on hold until after the exams, a rent cut, a moving allowance and help with finding alternative accommodation

COHSE Nurses Demo Kingston 1988






Kingston Hospital COHSE and Rcn nurses at the gates 1988 (COHSE nurses on strike - Rcn lunchtime protest) 1988 Campaign

COHSE Nurses Stop the Pit Closures Demo 1992

COHSE nurses on the stop the Pit closures demo October 1992 .

Hyde Park, London

COHSE East Midlands & South Yorkshire Region

Friday, February 21, 2014

Newham Mayor 1969

Mrs Marjorie Helps, Mayoress of the London Borough of Newham in 1969, COHSE (now Unison) member at Plaistow Hospital

Picture Colm O Kane COHSE Regional Secretary and Mr E Chaubert COHSE Regional Chairman