The life and times of Millicent Annie Acton: The forgotten matron of Malta.

I am in the process of researching female members of the Territorial Force Nursing Service (TFNS). Specifically some of the tiny number of women who were awarded the TFNS Medal. I have found a list of recipients on the wonderful Scarlet Finders website (website link at the end of the blog). Millicent's name is at the beginning and is  an unusal surname and so I decided to start from the top! What I didn't expect to find were letters written by her on her records and, with a wonderful stroke of luck - a letter she wrote to the mother of a soldier who died in her hospital. What a find! More on that later..............

 

 

A TFNS Mesal. Millicent was entitled to this because she served in the TFNS before the War

 

It is a fascinating story.  But the most important aspect, to me, is that a woman who was matron of one of the busiest hospitals in the War and who was awarded the TFNS medal and the  Royal Red Cross (and Bar) is barely mentioned across the whole of social media.  Long forgotten, Millicent trained at the turn of the 20th century, nursed in the UK for 10 years, joined the TFNS firstly as a volunteer and then a member of the military nursing  force (rising to Matron) and after 4 years returned to continue her nursing in London. She nursed for a total of 40 years. She wss clearly a remarkable woman. This is her story.

The Early Years

 

 Millicent Annie Russell Acton was born on 5th January 1870 to Richard Russell Acton and Louise Shippham, one of 7  children.. Louise's great grandfather, Charles, established the now famous Shippham brand - known for it's fish and meat pastes. The business was based in Chichester and her father helped expand the business in the late 1800s. He introduced the distinctive "Shippham paste" jars. Even in the 50s and 60s, this brand wsa iconic in the UK.

 

 

Richard died in 1890 and her mother now a widow, was shown on the 1891 census as living on her own means. However, Richard left a relatively small amount of money. Two of her children were working - a son, Percy ws a clerk and Nora was a governess.  Millicent was not working but within five years she was a nursing student at St Barts in London, where she trained from 1895 to 1898. Millicent must have been a very proficient nurse because within 3 years of finishing her training she was a Sister at the highly regarded Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London. 

 

 

Nurses and patients Great Ormond Street 1902

Millicent was a nurse at the hospital at this time 

 

 

Nurses at the hospital: 1902

By the time of the 1911 census, Millicent has been promoted to Matron andworked at the Lewisham Workhouse Infirmary. However, in 1910 she had joined the TFNS. This was a voluntary military service - it was unpaid and nurses were civilians who were to be mobilised in times of war. The nurses were to be 23 or older and have completed at least 3 years training in a recognised hospital - Millicent certainly fitted the bill! She was off to join the war effort.

The Great War

 

Nurses in the TFNS awaiting embarkation

I think Millicent is third from the right 

 

Millicent was mobilised in early August 1914, at the very start of the war.  She initially nursed at the 1st London General Hospital until embarking for Malta in May, one of 2280 nurses of the TFNS to serve abroad. She was to remain in Malta for four years. Vera Brittain served at the 1st London and later in Malta. I wonder if she and Millicent were aquainted?

 

 Poem by Vera Brittain, written while at the 1st London

 

There is very little information about Millicent in her nursing record. Most of the documents concern her resignation from the force in 1919. I suspect that there was a much larger file that has been lost. There is much to be found online about the role of Malta in the Great War. It was known as "The Nurse of the Mediterranean.".Approximately 136,000 sick and wounded were treated in the various hospitals on the island.. By this time, Millicent had been promoted to matron.  A contemporaneous book "The Nurse of the Meditteranean" by Albert Mackinnon describes the matrons of the hospital in glowing terms, acknowledging the huge organisational skills and dedication required for some of the largest hospitals active during the War.  The number of hospitals increased from 5 at the start of the War to 29 by the end. At its peak there were 913 nurses.

 

 

Valletta Hospital in 1918

 

I have found what I believe to be a photo of Millicent at her hospital in Malta. I am told that the woman in the glasses at the centre of the photo below is a Matron. She seems very similar to the nurse in the photo taken at the 1st London Hospital. Could this be Millicent? I hope so (but it's still a lovely photo, even if it is not her!).

 

 

Millicent?

 

It was while I was getting somewhat desperate for information on  Millicent that I put a fairly pessimistic search string in google for "M Acton". To my joy, up popped a link to the an Australiam memorial site (link below). It simply had that an  "M Acton" is mentioned in the file. What I found was an incredible link to Millicent.

 

The Australian Red Cross had received a letter from the mother of Malcolm Henry Simpson requesting information. It had fallen to the Matron of Mtarfa Hospital on Malta to answer it. One "M Acton". I know this is Millicent as there were several handwritten letters on her file. The handwriting matches. She is performing the terrible duty of informing loved ones of their loss. (I am not sure if it is his mother or a friend that she is replying to)

 

Below:

First three letters - from his mother and a reply to a friend's request for information 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malcolm had died of enteric fever on the 20th July 1915. He was 26 and a "wicker worker" from Victoria Australia. He had enlised in November 194- very early in the War.

 

In Millicent's letter she tells of his final hours (Sister Robertson says "he was delerious the whole time he was  here " (1-2 days). ) She apologises for not having a photo of him or any other information. Another letter which ws sent to a friend of his gives details of his funeral. And I've discovered that the chaplain at the funeral service wrote the book that is in the link below! 

 

Millicent's letter - I think this is her response to a friend's letter

 

 

Malcolm Henry Simpson has a Commonwealth War Grave at PIETA MILITARY CEMETERY Malta

"Forever with the Lord"

 

After the War

 

Millicent was discharged from the army in May 1919. Her file shows that she was desperate to stay on In Malta - she loves the island and does not want to return to England. One touching letter says she would be willing to move further East if she cannnot stay on Malta. She recieved a rather curt reply. She is no longer needed. She acknowledges this with an odd phrase "I suppose it should go to those that are living". Very sad. 

 

Millicent was awarded a First Class Royal Red Cross medal in 1916 and a bar to it in 1918. She also received the TFNS medal.

   

Mentioned in the Gazette "Gazetted"  1918

 

The 1921 census finds Millicent still nursing! She has returned to the Lewisham Infirmary, where she worked 20 years previously. Even in 1939, aged 69, she describes her occupation as "State Registered Nurse and Midwife". I wonder if she is still working in the profession, 40 years after joining it

 

What a joy it has been to follow Millicent's life story - from what was probably quite a sheltered upbringing to a career working with children, in a work house infirmary to four years of dedicated hard work looking after injured and dying servicemen and also looking after the many nurses in her care. It is a travesty that she is lost to history. 

 

Millicent died in 1962 in Folkstone aged 92. I hope she enjoyed her final years by the sea and realised that  her life truly made a difference.

 

I am so pleased that Millicent's role as a matron is acknowledged in her death notice and that her medal is also mentioned.  

 

You made a difference Millicent. RIP

 

What an exhilirating time I have had researching Millicent. Only another 200 nurses to go! 

 

 

 https://www.maltaramc.com/articles/contents/greatwar.html

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_Force_Nursing_Service

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

https://dn720005.ca.archive.org/0/items/maltanurseofmedi00mackuoft/maltanurseofmedi00mackuoft.pdf 

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1660939

https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1059227/document/5647007.PDF 

https://sarcib.ww1.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/packet-content/51262#https://sarcib.ww1.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/packet_images/0062/SRG76_1_0062_1.jpg 

 

https://sarcib.ww1.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/packet-content/51262#https://sarcib.ww1.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/packet_images/0062/SRG76_1_0062_1.jpg 

THIS LINK HAS COPIES OF THE LETTERS ABOVE - IN EASIER TO READ FORM!

 

  

 

Sister Gertrude Bedwell From Convent School to the Middle East. The story of an intrepid nurse.

 I am telling the stories of the Bedwell children of the Reverend Charles Edward Bedwell and Mary Louse (nee Wilson). They had married in 1875 and had 7 children. Their daughter, Clarissa, a nurse in the Territorial Force Nursing Service, was awarded a rare medal (see my previous blog). Charles remarried in 1890. He and his wife Annie (nee Grey) had a daughter, Isobel Mary in 1982.

 

This blog tells the story of Clarissa's sister, Gertrude, who was also a trained nurse, and who also took part in the Great War as a member of  Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service. Both sisters trained for three years at a time when nursing was becoming a more formal profession.

 

All Hallows convent and school 1900

 

Gertrude was born on 25th November 1885 in Sevenoaks. According to Census returns, the Reverend's children were born in several different areas - no doubt reflecting the different parishes he worked in. On her application to join the QAIMNS Gertrude states that she was educated at All Hallows Ditchingham. This was a convent in Norfolk that offered a spiritual education to girls. I don't know when she attended the school. There is no sign on census returns of the family living there but they might well have been living in Norfolk in the 10 years between each census.

 

  

From 1909 - 1913 Gertrude - perhaps inspired by her sister several years previously - trained to be a hospital nurse. She trained at the Hull Royal Infirmary followed by a year at a "lying in" hospital (known today as a  maternity hospital). She then spent several years as a private nurse. However, when war was declared she joined her sister and became a miltary nurse. While here sister had been in military nursing before the war, in the TFNS, Gertrude joined the QAIMNS in November 1915.

 

On 27 March 1902 Queen Alexandra became the President of the newly formed Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS). Queen Alexandra was a Danish princess before she married King Edward VII and she chose the cross of the Order of Dannebrog as the basis of the badge of the QAIMNS.

At the outbreak of war in 1914 there were just under 300 nurses in the QAIMNS, by the end of the war this had risen to 10,404 (including reservists).  Army nurses served in Flanders, the Mediterranean, the Balkans, the Middle East and aboard hospital ships. (for a detailed account of the role of the QAIMNS nurses in the conflict, see link below)

 

https://britisharmynurses.com/wiki/index.php?title=Reports_of_nurses_serving_in_WW1

Like her sister Clarissa, Gertrude's service records indicate that she served in several countries, including Egypt and India. In May 1916 she sailed for Bombay on the Devanha, which had taken part in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915. However, records show that she did not stay in India - she sailed for Basra on 20 April 1917 where she joined the No 3 British General Hospital. 

 

According to the 'Medical History of the War', Volume IV, the No 3 British General Hospital occupied a palace of the Sheikh of Mohammera on the right bank of the River Tigris, its 'ground floor was somewhat damp and dark, but the first floor was bright and airy'. Steamers would transport casualties to a wooden pier on the riverbank. The hospital could apparently house 150 patients with Indian Army casualties being relegated to tents set up in in the palace grounds. 

 

 No 3 BGH Basra

 

I have found a note of all her postings in her service records (thank you Gertrude!) which included Bombay, Alexandria and Iraq. 

 

 

Gertude's list of her postings - very useful to me some 106  years later!

 

 

In her service records, Gertrude is described as tactful, good tempered, zealous and showed great  initiative.

 

I have found photographs of the nurses who were at the BGH in Basra at the time that Gertrude was nursing there.

 

Nurses having a picnic

 

Nurses cooling off in the sea. The sense of freedom must have been quite heady!

 

After serving abroad for 3 years and in what must have been very challenging conditions, Gertrude returned home in January 1919 , where she was  promoted to Sister and was placed in charge of the Officers' Ward. She left the service in April 1920 when records show she became a "sick nurse"in a nursing home in Rugby. By 1939 she had returned to hospital nursing: she states her occupation as Assistant Matron to a children's orthopaedic hospital in York. She died in 1956 - within months of two of her sisters - Clarissa and Dorothy. Like her sisters, she never married.  She was 72 when she died.

Like her sister, she spent her whole adult life looking after others in her role as a nurse, in sometimes very challenging conditions abroad but also nursing young mothers and elderly people once she was back home.  

 

A member of the QAIMNS

 

When I reflect on Gertrude's life, I see an incredible journey from the sheltered life at a convent school in Norfolk and a vicarage to spending many years in foreign countries under tremendously difficult conditions, mixing with men and women from different backgrounds, faiths and countries,  living very closely. Maybe she went on picnics and even swam in the sea! 

 

 I have been lucky enought to find a photograph of Gertrude! It is on a family tree on Ancestry and so I will not share it on social media without permission. However, if you have access to ancestry you will find it if you search for Gertrude Bedwell and chose the Public Member Photos. It shows her in a nurses uniform - I do not think it is the QAIMNS one.

 

In my final blog about the Bedwells, I will look at their two sisters and two brothers. Their sister Dorothy seems to have looked after the family upon their mother's tragically early death at 33 - but nevertheless also worked in a children's home - thus continuing the work of caring for others but in a less formal way. One brother died in the Boer War in South Africa and I believe their other brother became a Captain in the Yorkshire Regiment. Time for me to check the remaining Bedwells out! I have found this many, many times - there is no such thing as an "ordinary" family - but sometimes, as with this one, they can be extraordinary!

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Alexandra%27s_Royal_Army_Nursing_Corps

https://www.grandadswar.org/photos/hospitals/

https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1954-09-18-7

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Gertrude-Fenn-World-War-One-Nurse/ 

https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1987-01-70-25

Imperial War Museum collection

Find my Past

Ancestry 

Google/Wiki 

 

 

Sister Clarissa Bedwell A Dedicated Great War Nurse whose career spanned 40 years!

I am delighted to have been gifted the Victory medal of Clarissa Bedwell who was a member of the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS). I decided to research her life before, during and after the Great War. I discovered that her nursing career lasted far longer than the years of the conflict: she started her training as a nurse in 1901 in Scotland, served during the War and continued to nurse until at least 1944. I also discovered that her sister Gertrude also nursed in the War.

 

 Clarissa's Victory Medal:

Her name and the QAIMNS is inscribed around the rim

Clarissa was  born on 7th September 1879 in Watford, Herts. Her parents were the Reverend Charles Edward Bedwell and Mary Louse (nee Wilson). They had married in 1875 and had 7 children. Their youngest, Hilda, was born in 1888. Sadly this is also the year that Mary died. It seems likely that she died in childbirth. At this time the family were living at the vicarage in Weaverthorpe Malton Yorkshire. Charles remarried in 1890. He and his wife Annie (nee Grey) had a daughter, Isobel Mary in 1982.

 

 

St Andrew's Church Weaverthorpe

Clarissa's father was the vicar here for many years 

 

In 1901, at the age of 25, Clarissa left her somewhat sheltered life to move to Dundee in Scotland to train to be a nurse. 

In 1873, the newly-arrived superintendent of DRI, Dr Robert Sinclair, had found a very unsatisfactory state of affairs regarding conditions and nursing practices in the hospital – a woman who nursed with Florence Nightingale, Rebecca Strong was appointed the following year to turn the situation around. Her work set the standard for the future development of excellence in nursing and when she left in the late 1800s, the hospital was known for its excellent training.

Image of a group of hospital staff outside DRI. Late 19th century. 

Copyright Dundee Local Studies Library

 

 Clarissa states on her enrolment form in the QAIMNS that after qualifying in 1903, she spent several years in "private nursing". However, her career was to take a dramatic turn on the outbreak of the Great War when she enlisted in December 1914, just a few months after its start. She remained in the QAIMNS until long after the end of the War, being discharged in 1922.

 

Clarissa's service history if very complicated! She appears to have moved between hospitals - both in England and France - and Casualty Clearing Stations (CCS) at least half a dozen times. This included a period at the famous Royaumont Hospital.Possibly the most well-known of Elsie Inglis’ Scottish Women’s Hospitals that arrived France in December 1914. Clarissa was there from the opening until September 1915. Under the direction of the French Red Cross, the hospital at Royaumont (or Hôpital Auxiliaire 301) received casualties from the Western Front, mostly French soldiers as well as North African, and operated for the duration of the war, admitting 11,000 patients. What a challenging but fulfilling time this must have been for Clarissa.

Very lucky to have found a photo of Clarissa while she was at Royaumont!

Back row: Second left: SisterClarissa Bedwell 

 Nurses at the first SWH Unit in France

 

 

Clarissa served at, amongst others, 35 General Hospital Calais, 11 CCS, 41 CCS, 51 CCS and later  during in the war and after the Cambridge Hospital in Aldershot. 

 

Part of Clarissa's "CV" written by herself

 

There are several references and reports of her ability in her service records. She is noted to be an excellent nurse, reliable, capable, dedicated, hard working and highly satisfactory in her duties. In 1922, noted to be suffering from gastritis Clarissa was discharged from the service.  She had been a military nurse for the entirity of the Great War and beyond - a total of 8 years - signing up at the age of 38. 

 

She continued in her nursing career after leaving the army. She never married In 1939 she was living alone in Islington in London and her occupation is (I feel somewhat proudly!) noted to be "fully trained nurse". Indeed, her name is still on the Nursing Register in 1944, at the age of 68! She died in March 1956 just two months afer her sister, Dorothy. They are buried together in Kirkbymoorside.

 

My next blog will tell the stories of her siblings - one of whom, Gertrude - was also a nurse during the War. Her sister Dorothy stayed at home but worked at a local children's home. One brother fought in the Boer War and another in the Great War. Another interesting "oridnary" family that until now has been hidden from history.  

 

 

https://www.qaranc.co.uk/qaimns.php 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St_Andrew,_Weaverthorpe

https://www.dundeewomenstrail.org.uk/womens-trail/rebecca-strong/

https://archiveandlibrary.rcsed.ac.uk/special-collections/scottish-womens-hospitals-for-foreign-service/lantern-slide-case-2/1211085-royaumont-abbey-france?

https://theportiapost.wordpress.com/2019/02/11/historic-heroine-doctor-elsie-inglis/

 

https://archiveandlibrary.rcsed.ac.uk/special-collections/scottish-womens-hospitals-for-foreign-service/scottish-womens-hospitals-at-royaumont-france/1342699-group-photograph-of-royaumont-staff?

 

 

Harriet Maud Goulder The Story of a Nursing Sister in the Great War : Part 3 Life After The War

Harriet served in the TFNS for four and a half years and left in July 1918. She was discharged as medically unfit for duty having contracted malaria in Salonika  in 1916. What happened to her after she left the service?

 

I discovered that Harriet married as soon as she left the service - in July 1918.Maybe she requested that she be discharged  in order for her to marry (she could not have stayed in the TFNS after marriage). She had persisted in working even after several medical boards had confirmed that she was suffering the chronic effects of malaria. Harriet's husband, William Cooper, born in 1880  was a widower with two young children. He was an analytical chemist, working for the Admiralty at HM Portsmouth naval dockyward. 

 

 

A First World War Admiralty "On War Service 1914" badge. This was given to men who were not obviously in active war service, to signify their contribution to the war effort.It is highly likely that William would have been issued with a similar badge.

 

The Chemical Department  and later known as the Central Dockyard Laboratory was the Admiralty department that was responsible for the testing and trials of lubricants, metals and paints for the Royal Navy. It was based at Portsmouth, England from 1870 to 1977.

 

 

Map of the dockyard 1909

 

Having met him while both were working for the war effort, Harriet married in Portsmouth and never returned to her native Sheffield.

 

William married his first wife - Mary Ann Musson- in 1906. According to the 1911 census they were living in Southsea. They had no children at this time. William states he had begun working for the Admiralty. According to the 1921 census, Harriet and William were still living in the Portsmouth area and Harriet had two stepchildren. - a stepson, Philip Musson born 1916 and a step daughter born in 1914. I have been unable to find the date of Mary's death, which must have occurred between 1916 and 1918. Perhaps she died in childbirth. 

 

I lose track of the family for several years after the 1921 census. In 1939 the couple are still living in Southsea - in the same house that they have lived in for many years. By 1943 Harriet's stepson was serving in the Army - in the Royal Engineers. William died in 1950 and Harriet in 1952. They had been married for 32 years.

 

 

  

 

 

 While researching Harriet I discovered that two of her sisters also became nurses. Ada who was born in 1884 was educated at a grammar school and after working as a cashier in a chemist, trained to be a nurse at Staffordshire General Infirmary from 1909-1912 and at an eye hospital in Birmingham until the outbreak of war when Ada joined the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS). She left the service in 1917 citing "serious home trouble". I do not know what this was! However she did carry on nursing after the war. She was a visitor to another sister in 1921 and notes her occupation as a medical and surgical nurse (as did her sister Alice). Both Alice and Ada give their residential address to be the same as Harriet - William was living with three nurses!  Ada married  in 1930 aged 46. 

 

 

Members of the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service, c1914

I was delighted to be gifted the TFNS medal. Through my research, I have learned so much about the nursing services  in WW1 but have also been able to trace the story through one nurse and her equally dedicated sisters,  all three of whom served both the military and in the community. We know that Ada and Alice both continued nursing after the War. By researching women in WW1 we are putting their stories back where they belong -  into the history of  those who worked and served.

 

I was given the extremely rare TFNS medal by my friend and fellow WW1 historian Laurence John Manton. With his kind permission I have donated it to the Royal College of Nursing museum and archives. I am told that they are so rare they do not own an example of one that is complete with ribbon and bar. I do believe that this medal is now going to be where it deserves to be - in a museum dedicated to the nursing profession that she served so well. 

 

 

 

https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/queen-alexandras-royal-army-nursing-corps 

https://portsmouthmuseums.co.uk/collections-stories/record/?si_elastic_detail=PORMG%20:%202012/116

ancestry.co.uk

FindMyPast

 

 

 

 

Harriet Maud Goulder The Story of a decorated Nursing Sister in the Great War Part 2 Serving her Country: Duty and Sacrifice

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. 

 

Sister Territorial Force Nursing Service WW1

 

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/ 

 

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/ 

Exploring Women's Roles in WW1 through medals - Florence Gwen Gray: Worker

I am an amateur historian whose main interest is in researching women's lives and roles in WW1. I am delighted to have been gifted by a fellow historian, Laurence Manton, several medals and badges relating to my speciality. I've been researching for nearly 20 years and have never had one in my possesion! I now have several and cannot wait to research the women's lives. The first woman I am researching was awarded a  medal for her work in the WAACs. 

 

 

 

 

Florence Gwendoline Davies was born on 20th November 1894 in Cardiff to Thomas John and Emily Davies. According to her baptism record, Thomas was a "brakesman" - I believe this to be a job related to the railway. Florence left school at 14 and after leaving, she worked at Spillers and Bakers before leaving to become a waitress at the Grand Hotel in Cardiff. We know this because her records show that she obtained references from these institutions. 

 

Spillers building in Cardiff

 https://glamarchives.wordpress.com/2018/01/26/spillers-and-bakers-ltd-cardiff/

 

Mrs Rosser, who was the manager of the Grand and who wrote her reference was involved in a fire at the hotel in 1908.One night in January 1908 the manager, Mrs Rosser, realised at 3.30am that the hotel’s bar was on fire. Her daughter Lilian, aged 6, (pictured below with her mother) was one of 10 people on the third floor who could not escape as smoke billowed up the staircase. The fire brigade rescued them all through the upper windows. 

 

 

 

Florence married William Gray in 1915. I know that he served overseas as it is noted on her records that he is serving in Egypt. I have been unable to trace his service records. She left her employment at the hotel and joined the Women's Army Auxilliary Corps in October 1917. Her records include her application, medical records, references etc The records, along with 1000s of other women's are available free and online on the National Archives site.

 

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/womens-army-auxiliary-corps-service-records-1917-1920/

 

 

  

Part of Florence's records 

 

Florence enlisted on 4th October 1917. Although deemed medically fit at this time, she was discharged from the service on 23rd May 1918. Her records show that she was suffering from "general debility". She only weighed 7stone 10lbs on enlisting so seems to have been quite slight. She received her medal a few months later with this message:

 

"The Badge will be worn on the right breast or right lapel of the jacket, but not on naval or military uniform"

 

 

 Florence Gwendoline Gray's medal

 

For lots more information on women's roles and lives in WW1 visit my dedicated FB page. Lots of info and photos!

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1468972083412699

 

What happened to Florence after the War? Florence and William had four children. They seem to have moved around England, with various addresses in London and Kent. William, like  his father in law, worked on the railways. His occupation in 1939 was Railway Signal and Telegraph operator. Maybe he learned these skills when serving in Egypt? (The 1939 register shows that he volunteered as a Railway ARP warden. ). Florence died in 1981.

Sadly tragedy had struck her family during WW2. Her daughter, Edna Muriel, married Kenneth Hayman in January 1944. Kenneth was a Flying Officer-Navigator with 78 Sqdn.Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve;Service No:153006. He died on a night raid in France  in June 1944. He was 22. They had been married for just 5 months. 
His brother, aged 29, also fell:Senior Assistant Engineer Officer Harold John Hayman . died on  October 9th 1942 whilst serving in the Merchant Navy~S.S. Oronsay (Glasgow) - The War to End all Wars that Florence and William served in and lived through had been a dream.

 

 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56199760/kenneth_charles_morris-hayman