Harriet Maud Goulder. From Shop assistant to Nursing Sister: The Story of a decorated Nursing Sister in the Great War Part 1. Early Life

I have recently been gifted several medals and awards relating to British women who served their country in the Great War. I was delighted to discover that one of them was awarded  to a member of  the Territorial Force Nursing Service. This is the rarest of the British medals for service during the Great War, with the relatively small number of 33,944 awards being made to officers, soldiers and nurses of the Territorial Force and Territorial Force Nursing Service who met the fairly stringent criteria. This number includes a total of only 277 to Nursing Sisters and Staff Nurses of the TFNS. What a privilege to be holding the medal once worn by Harriet Maud Goulder. What was her life like before she joined the Force, during her service and after the War? I was able to discover  her story - which included 148 pages of her service records! 

 

Before I explore Harriet's early life, I'm honoured to be able to show you her medal, one that in my view was hard earned, not simply "awarded"!  

 

 

Harriet's medal 

 

 

One of only 277 TFNS medals awarded 

 

 

Early Life 1879-1913

 

Harriet was one of 6 daughters born to Herbert, a bricklayer/builder and Eliza Goulder. She was born in Sheffield on 26th May 1879. Two other sisters, Ada and Alice, also became nurses but were not in the TFNS. Interestingly, Harriet was baptised twice. Once when she was a few weeks old and again in 1898 when she was 18. I have discovered that the adult baptism is known as a "believer's baptism". It is seen as a personal, voluntary declaration of faith: a conscious decision to commit to a Christian life. She was baptised at St Matthew's church by Father G C Ommanney, who was known as the "People Priest" . He lived among the "slums" and  had made the church a focal point for preaching and teaching the gospel in the community. It was clearly an inspiration for Harriet who dedicated a large part of her life in the service of  others.

 

 St Matthew's Church Sheffied

Tragedy was to strike the family of 8 in 1894 when Herbert and Eliza died within a few months of each other.They were in their early 40s. Harriet was just 14 and two of her sisters were under 10. According to the 1901 census she was a shop assistant in a book shop in Sheffield. She is living with her elder sister and her brother in law, along with two other sisters. However some time in the 10 years following the 1901 census Harriet had joined the nursing profession - perhaps inspired by her  baptism in 1898. The 1911 census states she is a "sick nurse".

 

According to the Royal College of Nursing Journal, by 1911 she had trained at Rotherham General Hospital and later worked at the Isolation Hospital at Keighley and had also been a Staff Nurse at a "cancer hospital" in London. 

 The isolation hospital, Keighly 1897

 

A far cry from her shop assistant days in Sheffield! But there was an even bigger challenge for Harriet, on 27th January - 18 months before the outbreak of the Great War - she enrolled in the Territorial Force Nursing Service. A step that would lead her overseas and to  nursing wounded and dying men from the battlefields.

  

 Serving her Country - The Territorial Force Nursing Service 1913-1918

 

This will be the subject of my next blog.

 

WITH GRATEFUL THANKS TO LAURENCE JOHN MANTON FOR HIS GIFT OF HARRIET'S MEDAL. 

 

http://www.scarletfinders.co.uk/92.html 

https://stmatthewscarverstreet.co.uk/history/

Ancestry.co.uk

FindmyPast 

https://www.keighleynews.co.uk/news/9578663.opening-of-isolation-hospital/