In Part 1 of my three part story of Harriet's life, we saw how she was orphaned at the age of 14, worked as a shop assistant but then trained as a nurse and rose to the position of Sister in various hospitals, enrolling in the Territorial Force Nursing Service on 27th January 1913. There is a lot of online information of the service, which came into effect following the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act of 1907and I have added some useful links below.
Harriet fulfilled the qualifications to join the TFNS - she had over three years' nursing experience at a recognised hospital and was over the age of 23.She was called up in August 1914. Part of the contract that she signed confirmed that she would be willing to go overseas if necessary.
Harriet's records are held by the National Archives at Kew, have been digitised and are free to view online (see link below). Harriet's service record consists of 148 pages!! This is an unusally high number of documents. There are dozens of official documents (many somewhat long winded!). Another reason for the large volume is that Harriet attended 5 medical boards - each produced much documentation.
After she had been called up, Harriet nursed at the First Southern General Hospital in Birmingham. She nursed there for nearly two years, before being sent overseas where she arrived in Salonika on 3rd July 1916.
First Southern General Hospital
There is a lot of information about the Salonika campaign online. The campaign along what is now the Greece-Macedonia boarder, known as
the Salonika front,was established in 1915 by the allied
forces in an attempt to protect Serbia against attacks from the combined
Bulgarian, Germans and Austro-Hungarian forces. Serbia however still
fell, and once again the opposing forces found themselves dug in facing
each other in stalemate. As we have seen, Harriet arrived in July 1916. By October of that year she had contracted malaria. In the second half of 1916, at least 75% of all admissions to the hospitals were for malaria. The evidence suggests that contracting
malaria was considered an inevitability. Nurse Eleanor Shortt was
interviewed by the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in 1984 and when asked
about the dangers of serving in Macedonia she answered, ‘you might get
malaria … or sand fly fever or something like that’ in a matter-of-fact
way.
sketch of a nurse in Salonika by F. L. Mills
Malaria could potentially hinder a person’s
ability to find gainful employment as one could be ill sporadically as
the symptoms flared for years after the initial infection. This proved to be the case with the progression of the disease in Harriet and, while
disability compensation was awarded in many instances, the medical
officers in charge of the Medical Board for the Ministry of Pensions
were reluctant to award permanent pensions for an unpredictable
condition.
One of the TFNS nursee who paid the ultimate price in Salonika
Harriet arrived back in England in October 1916 aboard the hospital ship HS Gloucester Castle. She continued to work - initially returning to the hospital in Birmingham but eventually requesting a transfer to a hospital in Portsmouth. Her request states that she still has chronic, ongoing symptoms following her bout of malaria including jaundice, extreme fatigue and anaemia. Despite efforts to keep working and doing her duty, Harriet -following five medical board examinations - was discharged as permanently unfit for duty. She had served for 4 years and willingly went overseas to what seems to have been one of the most inhospitable battlefronts.
As well as receiving her TFNS medal, Harriet recevied a silver war badge.
The nurses’ Silver War Badge medal was awarded to women who were unable to continue their
employment with the military nursing services on account of illness or
disability caused by their war service
After service overseas in a theatre of operations with an Expeditionary Force between the 4th August, 1914, and the 11th November, 1918, both dates inclusive, on account of disablement certified under the authority of the Army Council, to have been caused or aggravated by military service
438 members of the TFNS qualified for the badge - illustrating how many
nurses were disabled or chronically ill following their service.
Harriet enrolled in the TFNS 18 months before the start of the Great War. She was in her 30s and immediately volunteered for overseas work. I have seen several references in her records. They describe an efficient, compassionate, capable, energic and zealous young woman, who had a particular interest in training probationers. That such a dynamic woman became severely debilitated and unable to continue her work nursing the sick must have been devastating for her. So many women who did their duty in the War and whose lives were blighted by it are not remembered. As I hold her medal, I feel so priviliged. How did her life continue after the War? How did the war impact other members of her family?
We shall see in my next blog.
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
https://blog.bham.ac.uk/mh/2023/02/24/the-1st-southern-general-hospital-birmingham-and-the-role-of-the-territorial-force-nursing-service-during-ww1/
https://greatwarnurses.blogspot.com/2015/
http://www.fairestforce.co.uk/29.html
https://britisharmynurses.com/wiki/index.php?title=Uniforms_Boer_War_and_WW1
https://awayfromthewesternfront.org/research/women-away-western-front/battling-disease-in-salonika/
https://www.theculturalexperience.com/defining-features-and-hardships-of-the-salonika-campaign.php
https://salonikacampaignsociety.org.uk/category/hospitals/
No comments:
Post a Comment