Stories from a photo album - or - Putting the Women back in the Women's Legion!

I recently discovered over 200 photographs in three albums of Women’s Legion Motor Drivers’ experiences during and directly after World War I. The albums - held in a Toronto Archive belonged to Muriel M. English, beginning when she was working in the British Red Cross Convoys from 1915-1918. They also include images of the The Royal Army Service Corps, the Voluntary Aid Detachment, and others.  Among the photographs are other ephemera, including Christmas cards, postcards, and a leave pass.

 

 

 “Taken at Boesinghe, in Raging heat.”

 

This is a truly remarkable - and free to access - archive that has been digitised and presented on Flckr (see first link at the end of the blog).  She was born in 1881 in Cambridgeshire and until the War, did not have an occupation. When I looked a bit closer at Muriel's life, I discovered that it had already been extensively researched in a really interesting blog (see below) and so I decided, that as there are some named women (alas usually only a surname!) in the albums I'd have a go at researching them and bringing their stories to life.. Before I carry on - here are a few photos of Muriel aka, and helpfully named, as  self" in the album!

 

  

 

“Self & Sid: Deasy.”

No-one knows why the ambulance is called "Deasy"! 

 

 

Muriel was invited to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party in 1919.

 

 

She married Arthur Parker in 1924 I was lucky enough to find a photo of

their wedding at Bath Abbey

  

Arthur died in 1940 and Muriel survived him by 33 years. She married late in life -when she was 44 but was one of thousands of women who found their vocation and a fulfilling life during the War years - indeed she was active from 1914 to 1919. A long way from remaining a Rector's daughter in Cambridgeshire.

 

There are 200 photos on Flickr and a really excellent account of her life and particularly her War Service in the aforementioned blog - I highly recommend a browse! 

  

My next blogs will be about some of the women pictured in the photo album - as you can see, an intrepid bunch!

 

 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasfisherlibrary/albums/72157703315352932/with/40111069373

 

https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/2024/august/muriel-the-ambulance-driver/

 

Emily Widdowson A Lifetime of Service

 

 

I'm researching some nurses named in a  wonderful photograph album belonging to Mary Muscat, a nurse in Malta. Emily Widdowson is the third nurse I researched who served in Malta and had a nursing career scanning decades. This is her story.

 

 

 Cottonera Hospital

 

Emily was born on the 13th March 1881 in Lichfield Staffordshire. Her father Jesse was a mining engineer. Her grandfather had been a miner in Staffordshire. In 1901 when she was 20, Emily was a ladies maid in a very large house in Lichfield. However, just 4 years later she had begun training to be a nurse. She was a probationer from 1905 - 1908 at the Walsall Union Infirmary. It is surprising how many women made the transition from domestic service into nursing at this time. 

 

 

 

 

After qualifying, Emily moved to the Walsall Victoria Nursing Institution where she remained for over 7 years. She had just moved to a position in the District School Inspectorate when she decided to apply to serve in the Queen Alexandra Imperial Nursing Service. She joined in June 1915. She was to remain there for two years.

 

  

 

 

 

Emily embarked for Malta in June 1915. Her nursing records are quite sparse - not unusual if a nurse has had a fairly settled placement. We do have a photo of her in August 1916, talking to one of the RAMC officers. She left in July 1917. 

 

 Emily talking to an RAMC Captain

 

Unfortunately, due to an illness picked up during her nursing,Emily embarked for England and  went before a medical board in Lichfield Military Hospital. She was given two months' sick leave due to "debility from service in the tropics". Sadly she was deemed permanently unfit for service abroad and in December 1917 joined the Military Hospital in York for home duty. She remained in the QAIMNS until April 1919. The reference that she was given said she was an "average nurse" but was very kind to patients. However her "moral qualifications are very good"! Good to know!

 

In 1921 Emily was living with her sister Mabel (a teacher of the deaf) and her occupation is "Sick nurse: Infant Welfare  : visiting the sick". In 1939 she notes her occupation as "Medical Nurse: Retired"

 

There is a letter in her records which states she has asked financial support.  I do not know if it was granted. Such a sad ending to her service both to the country and the community for 20 years

 

 

 

 Letter advising of Emily's application for financial assistance

 

I have not been able to find a definite date of death for Emily - she was still alive in 1939 so lived to be at least 60. Neither Emily, nor her sister Mabel married. Mabel also served the community as a teacher of "the deaf" for over 20 years. Two brothers did very well for themselves - one became a hotel manager and another the Director and Department Buyer of Home Furnishings. Both had servants. 

 

Emily, her sisters and brothers had come a long way from the mining community of their grandfather. The brothers were too old to be conscripted and so took no part in the War.  However, the fact that Emily had to apply for financial support after serving her country shows how hard it was for many women to remain independent after years of service. Their stories need to be acknowledged and shared. 

 

Thank you Emily (and Mabel!) for your service to your country and community.  

 

http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/articles/Walsall/health.htm

https://revoltsnow.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/the-workhouse/

 

  http://agiusww1.com/mary-muscat-2/

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

 

Ancestry.co.uk

 

The National Archives Nursing records https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stories From a Nurses Photograph Album: Tracing the Lives of the women behind the photographs: Part 2. Olive - teacher, nurse, councillor (with a suffragette sister!)

My previous blog introduced the wonderful photograph album belonging to Mary Muscat, a nurse in Malta. The whole album has been digitised and available to browse online. Mary's life had been well researched and we know a lot about her.  However, many of the photographs have named nurses below them; these women are unknown to us.  I decided to find out more about their lives before and after the war. What became of them? Did they continue nursing? Marry? Survive the War? I was intrigued and decided to investigate!

This is the second nurse who I researched, and what a fascinating woman she turned out to be!

 

 

Olive and colleagues, Malta 1917

 

Olive May Billinghurst 

The names given in all of the photographs were either only first names or surnames - not very helpful if it was a common name! However, the National Archives in the UK hold many military nurses' records. An initial search of the name "Billinghurst" immediately led me to Olive as she was the only nurse with that surname and she had served in Malta!

Olive was born on 3rd May 1886 in Camberwell, London. Her father was a banker and the family were well off enough to have servants. I was therefore amazed to find that in 1911 Olive was a cookery teacher in Bedford! By tracing her address in the census return I discovered she was teaching at the Bedfordshire Training Home for Girls, set up with the object of helping girls of good character living in dangerous surroundings and train them for domestic service. I found a photo of the matron with the girls at the time that she worked there.

 

 

  I do not know when or why Olive decided to become a nurse, but according to the Nursing Register, she trained at the London Hospital in Whitechapel from 1911 to 1913. I do know that her brother Walter was an orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital at that time. It seems likely that he had some influence on her decision!

I'm extremely grateful to nursing historian Sarah Rogers who uncovered some really interesting details about Olive's training.  Olive's report said:-

Olive Billinghurst proved very disappointing for she had many educational advantages, and ought to have been capable of developing into a good nurse.'  From early on  she  'showed signs of being too actively interested in the women's suffrage question' --- and her work suffered. It was said that unless she tried harder she would be dismissed. Apparently this 'roused' her and for a while she made ';marked improvement'. They felt she had a bad memory, and was 'feeble' when managing probationers, and was poor at ward management. She had however a 'kindly nature, refined manners, and took correction well'. 

Examination: Honours and very satisfactory, work good, conduct good

Sick room cookery- theory- 1st class practical 2nd grade

 "Too actively interested in women's suffrage" Way to go Olive! Slightly surprised that she only managed a 2nd grade exam result in practical cookery, as she was a cookery teacher before becoming a nurse!

 

London Hospital

From 1913-1916  Olive worked at several hospitals in England including a military hospital in Birmingham. She applied to join the QAIMNS in 1915. She was initially refused permission to join, a medical board citing Angina and heart problems. However due to some shameless name dropping (several letters on her file testifying to this including one from her father, a Captain in the London Irish Rifles) she was accepted for duty and embarked for Malta on 12th August 1916.

 

 

There is a tremendous amount of information about the Maltese Hospitals online (see link below) It has been stated that female nursing staff remained short-handed during July, August and September of 1916 - no doubt Olive would have been a welcome addition. More help from England only arriving to any appreciable extent in October, when their numbers rose from 427 to 592; in December they reached a maximum of 625 for the period. 

Olive remained in Malta until embarking for England in September 1919. She was most anxious to remain in the service but like 100s of other nurses, she was no longer required and discharged from the QAIMNS. Indeed, by the 1921 census she is back in South London living with her mother and sister. She pointedly notes her occupation as  "Late an Army Nurse, Various Places. Unemployed." She was 35.

What became of her after the War? I was pleased to find a lot of information on her life after the War - from Newspaper Archives! It would seem that Olive was a very independent and busy woman. For example, I know that she drove her  own car in the early 1930s which was probably very unusual. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to be a very good driver! I have found that there were at least four occasions when she was hauled before magistrates for traffic offences. In one instance, she parked in a no parking area. In her defence she stated she always parked on the North side of the road and that she hadn't noticed any notices!

 

As well as driving around the town, Olive was very active in local politics being a councillor and Vice Chair of Charlwood Council. She was also mentioned many times in relation to her activities for the local WI, giving very progressive talks about how women won the vote, the need for more school books and raising the school leaving age. 

 

 She also won a cake making competition - her cooking skills winning the day!

 

In the 1939 register, Olive proudly states that she is a "hospital nurse: late of the army" This was some 20 years after she was discharged from the services, despite writing several letters at the time pleading to be allowed to continue working.  This was common practice but a very sad end to her career.

As a footnote to Olive's story - I discovered that one of her sisters was very active in the fight for women's suffrage. As Olive had given talks of the struggle for the vote I looked up the surname on a list of women who had been imprisoned. Olive was not on it. Her sister, Rosa May, was! Further research revealed that Rosa was very active and a well known campaigner. She had been paralysed by polio since childhood but was a formidable campaigner. She was arrested several times and force fed after going on hunger strike. There is a lot of information about her online. Her name and picture (and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters) are on the plinth of the statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London. She became active in social work in a Greenwich workhouse, taught in a Sunday School, and joined the temperance Band of Hope.^[4]

 

 

I'm so pleased to be able to tell the story of Olive - a woman from a wealthy family who nevertheless ploughed her own furrow and was someone who contributed so much to society. She never married and died in 1957.  Olive's brother became a doctor and worked in Shanghai for 15 years. Her father was a Captain in the Great War. He and his wife brought up two very feisty yet caring daughters. 

Thank you Olive for your service and Rosa, for helping us win the vote! 

 

http://www.scarletfinders.co.uk/190.html 

https://bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk/CommunityHistories/Bedford/BedfordTrainingHomeforGirls/BedfordshireTrainingHome.aspx 

https://www.jack-the-ripper-tour.com/generalnews/rumours-and-arrests/

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

Ancestry.co.uk

British Newspaper Archive 

https://pure.hud.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/70828038/Sarah_Rogers_Thesis.pdf

 

Stories From a Nurses Photograph Album: Tracing the Lives of the women behind the photographs

As a historian of British women in WW1, I was delighted to come across a wonderful photograph album belonging to Mary Muscat, a nurse in Malta. The whole album has been digitised and available to browse online. There is also a very detailed biography of Mary (link below). It is well worth a read,She nursed in two hospitals in Malta during the War. I have added another link, to a website that gives a huge amount of detail about the hospitals.

Mary's life had been well researched and we know a lot about her.  However, many of the photographs have named nurses below them; these women are unknown to us.  I decided to find out more about their lives before and after the war. What became of them? Did they continue nursing? Marry? Survive the War? I was intrigued and decided to investigate!

Here is my first nurse! 

 Dorothy Keziah Balderston

 

 Dorothy: Pictured standing, 2nd left

 

Dorothy was born in Lincoln in 1896. Her father Thomas was a farmer and "horse owner". Dorothy joined the British Red Cross on 7th October 1915. She spent a year nursing in Lincoln, gaining two scarlet efficiency stripes before embarking to Malta in November 1916. She stayed in Malta until May 1918, when she returned to England and continued nursing with the Red Cross at the 2nd Eastern Military Hospital in Brighton, leaving in March 1919. 

 

 

 

 

 

When I researched Dorothy's life after she left nursing, I discovered that she left the UK for Canada on 23rd May 1921 arriving on 29th May. .To my surprise, I found a marriage in Winnipeg just 3 days later on the 1st June! Her husband, John Louis Sutcliffe had been born in Yorkshire but before the Great War, he had emigrated to Canada, where he worked as a clerk. He enlisted in the Canadian army on his birthday on 29th August 1914. I do not know how the couple's paths crossed. John was a patient in a military hospital at Shorncliffe where Canadian Army Medical Corps were based but I cannot find a link to any of the hospitals that Dorothy worked in.

 

Dorothy and John had a son and a daughter; the son was in the Canadian air force in WW2 and their daughter, like her mother, became a nurse. Dorothy died in 1936; she had returned briefly to the UK in 1933 - perhaps she was already seriously ill. John remarried in 1938 but the happiness of that marriage was short lived. John had what seems to have been a remarkable military promotion. A private in WW1, he went to France with the Royal Canadian Dragoons and after seven months service was commissioned in the Imperial Arms. He was in command of British rearguard at Baku Russia, with only a small handful of men who were almost out of ammunition but he successfully protected the main body's withdrawal.

 

He became a government official after WW1.  He volunteered for active service in WW2 on Sept. 5, 1939.By this time he was a Lt Col. He was captured at the fall of Hong Kong and is thought to have died of disease in February 1942.He was 44. 

 

By the age of 19 Dorothy had left a comfortable life in Lincolnshire for the harsh life of a VAD nurse in Malta.. She remained in nursing for 4 years, 2 of them in Malta. Tragically Dorothy died at the age of 40, having returned to England one more time a few years before she died. Her husband, a soldier in WW1 and WW2 also died at in his 40s in a POW camp.

 

Within 2 years of leaving the Red Cross, Dorothy had met and married a soldier and left England for good; moving to a country she had never even visited! Her life story surely shows how much the War changed many women's perspectives, aspirations and experiences in life. 

 

Photo of Dorothy

Copyright descendants of Carlo Maria Muscat , who was the Agius brothers and Mary’s grandfather.

These photos may be downloaded for private use but not used commercially.

 

  http://agiusww1.com/mary-muscat-2/

 

https://hkvca.ca/cforcedata/indivreport/indivdetailed.php?regtno=X83#gsc.tab=0

 

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