Hidden in her service records. One nurse's ordeal and survival. Sister Jean Innes Cryle

I am researching some of the nurses who were awarded the TFNS following the Great War. Details of the service and the medal awarded can be found in my previous blogs.  The nurses' records are held at the National Archives and have been digitised. They are free to access and this has enabled me to identify many of the nurses and piece their life stories together. I am finding fantastic, forgotten stories withiin these "dry" records! One such story is that of Jean's remarkable survival of a torpedo attack in which she spent nearly four hours in the water and was injured while being rescued.  It was only when I was about half way through some fairly mundane records, that I discovered this! She even gives a first hand account of her experience - lost within the file - but nevertheless a lasting record for us to read.

 

 

   

 

 Jean was born in 1883 in Aberdeenshire. The first record I have of her is in 1906. when she enrolled in the college of nursing. In 1910 she was working as a Matron in a private nursing home in North Shields, having enrolled in the TFNS in 1908. She was called up on 5th August 1914, just a few days after the start of WW1 and nursed at the First Northern General Hospital in Newcastle 

 

 

Nurses and patients at the NGH 1915

 

The 1st Northern General Hospital was a hospital set up to help soldiers injured during the war. On 6th August 1914, following the outbreak of World War One, the buildings of Armstrong College at Durham University (which has now become Newcastle University), were used to house the 1st Northern General Hospital.

 

In early 1917 Jean was asked to ready herself for overseas service in Salonica, travelling on the SS Transylvania. 

 

 SS Transylvania

On 3 May 1917, Transylvania sailed from Marseille with a full complement of troops, escorted by two Japanese destroyers. At 10 am on 4 May it was struck in the port engine room by a torpedo fired by the German U-boat Ten crew members, 29 army officers and 373 soldiers lost their lives. 

 

 As I was scrolling through Jean's records, I find several mentions of her ordeal in her own words, such as the following, when she says she doesn't feel brave (!) and indeed gives credit to a fellow nurse for helping her to survive.

 

 

 

 

 One of several accounts of Jean's ordeal

 

Jean was examined by several medical boards in the following months. She suffered from haemotysis (coughing up blood) and a painful shoulder. Both of these conditions, she says, were caused when she was pulled up the side of the ship that rescured her. She says she had been in the water for 3 1/2 hours. I have found a long, contemporaneous  article about the sinking, dated 26 May 1917. The bravery of the men who went down with the ship is heartbreaking.

 

 

 

Jean returned to the UK where she spent many months on sick leave. I was astonished to see there was an albeit brief discussion as to whether she had served overseas and so was entitled to a medal reflecting this. It was argued that since her ship was sunk and she didn't disembark in Salonica, she never served overseas! I am so glad she DID get her medal!

 

Jean is one of the most indominitable women I have researched (and there have been a fair few!). She is absolutely adamant that she wants to be sent overseas, preferably to Salonica! Having been torpedoed and injured! A direct quote from her is:

 

"I am very miserable being idle so long and shall be glad to feel of some use once again"

 

Amazing! 

 

However, Jean DID go to sea again. After the War she continued nursing in various hospitals and nursing homes. Somewhat mysteriously, I have found her undertaking several return trips to Canada. I have found at least 4 from 1920 until 1930.  She was offered a free passage to Canada in 1921 and I have found one address in Canada -  The Anna Turnbull Hospital in Saskatchewan.

 

 

Anna Turnbull Hospital

 

Jean also married in Canada - several of her letters after 1922 refer to her by her married name of Hoffman. I do not have access to Canadian records and so I do not know for certain what became of her - however a family tree on Ancestry states she married Frank Hoffman in 1924 and died aged 89 in 1973.

 

What a remarkable document Jean's service record is! Not only does it contain biographical details such as her nursing career before, during and after the war, but it gives her own account of her terrible ordeal when her ship was sunk. But even more, it shows what an astonishingly brave and intrepid, woman that she was. Having been involved in a shipwreck and having been injured in it, she wanted to go straight back to sea! And indeed she did so, several times back and forth the Atlantic in the 1920s when I am sure the voyages were much less comfortable than today!

 

I'm so glad that Jean found a way of continuing her  nursing after the War in another country - after all, she said herself  that she longs "to be of some use again"! Many would say she had "done her bit" several times over! 

 

Jeam, I salute you! 

 

The National Archives Kew

Ancestry UK

Find My Past

Wiki 

https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/speccoll/tag/1st-northern-general-hospital/ 

https://www.azionemare.org/en/transylvania.php 

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15709352 

Gertude Ada Eeles: A nurse traumatised by The Great War

I have been researching nurses who were awarded the Territorial Force Nursing Service medal.  As there are over 200 nurses who were awarded the TFNS medal, I decided to concentrate on those with unusual names (easier to research!) and/or have an interesting story within their records. Gertrude proved to have such a story. 

 

There is a lot of online information on the service, which came into effect following the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act of 1907 and  I have added some useful links below.

Gertrude 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.

 

Born in 1875 in Middlesex to Stephen and Maria Eeles who will feature later, Gertrude had several siblings. The 1901 census shows that Gertrude, by the age of 26, had decided to become a nurse. She was training while working at the Poplar and Stepney Asylum and by 1904 she was a registered nurse.

 

Poplar and Stepney Asylum 1905

 

Gertrude had enrolled in the TFNS in 1909 and as the terms of her engagement were that she would serve her country in the event of war, she was called up in August 1914. She initially served in a military hospital in Portsmouth but on 30 October she arrived at the military hospital in Salonika. 

 

Between 1915 and 1918, British troops were part of a multinational Allied force fighting against the Bulgarians and their allies in the Balkans. Although disease and the harsh conditions took a heavy toll, they eventually brought the campaign to a successful conclusion.

LInks for more information on the campaign are below.  

 

 Hospital ward, Salonika.

 

I have found entries in Gertrude's records that state that she was suffering from "shell shock" due to her experiences in the bombing of the hospital where she worked in Salonika, in March 1917. 

 

 

Gertude's record showing her to be suffering from "shell shock". 

 

This is the first time I have seen the condition of "shell shock" attributed to the experience of a nurse in the War. It is especially interesting to see it noted officially by a medical board within Gertrude's notes.

 

I have found a contemporaneous account of the same raid from a  a VAD nurse. It is really interesting because a lot of the account tallies with Gertrude's exprience.

 

In March 1917, Nurse G., a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse, was on duty at 29 General Hospital in Salonika, Greece, when the hospital sustained its second air raid in a week.  According to the matron of the hospital, “in the next tent to where she was on duty a bomb was dropped, completely wrecking the tent and causing several casualties.” The tent in which Nurse G. was working “was perforated … all over.”  Upon her return to her home outside of Dublin in 1919, Nurse G. reported to her doctor that she was suffering from “nervousness, waking with a start” and ongoing tremors, conditions that rendered her incapable of working.

 

Damage in the ward of a British Red Cross Hospital caused by air raid carried out by 1st German Air Squadron Salonika, 4th March, 1917. Three people were killed. IWM

 

Gertrude was given three months' sick leave and repatriated to England where she was able to stay at a nurse's hostel to enable her to recuperate. Correspondence on her records seem to show that the authorities took great care of the nurses who were in some way damaged either physically or mentally during their service.

 

The Nurses' Hostel

Nurses were not expected to pay for their accommodation 

After three months she was deemed no longer fit for overseas service. She was sent to the 5th Southern General Hospital in Portsmouth to resume her nursing duties where she worked until being discharged on compassionate grounds in 1919. The grounds for her discharge were that the war office had received a letter from Gertrude's father stating that beause the eldest daughter who had been looking after them had married, they needed Gertrude to take her place. Hence she left the service at the beginning of 1919. She had been in the TFNS for 10 years.  I find the letter from her father describing his situation very touching but it also demonstrates the sense of duty;  so many unmarried women were expected to step in and look after family members. Gertrude had spent 10 years serving her country and in 1920 stepped in to look after her parents. 

 

Gertrude's father's letter asking that his daughter be

discharged from the TFNS 

 

There is a letter from Gertrude in her file in which she also asks to be released from the TFNS because of family responsibilities. I was pleased to note that she has been offered a job with the London County Council which will enable her to work from 9am to 4.30 pm and to be able to live with, and care for, her aged parents.

  

 

Gertrude's letter advising of her new post with the LCC

I don't know how long Gertude lived with her parents but by 1939 she is living with her brother and sister in Guildford. Ever proud of her profession, she notes under "occupation" that she is a "professional nurse: retired"

 

I have found Gertrude's service records interesting in many ways. It is the first time I have seen a nurse with an acknowledged  diagnosis of "shellshock" . There are many official letters on her file and they seem to show genuine concern for Gertrude's health. The authorities acknowledge her parents' situation and also allow her to take up a post which I hope she found fulfilling. 

 

Gertrude perfectly demonstrates the sense of duty of women in the early years of the 20c when they not only served their country, but in so many cases took on the caring responsibilities for their parents. This, of course, remained for the rest of the century (and especially in 1939 when the country called upon them once again) and indeed often still remains.

 

Thank you for  your service Gertrude - one of 1000s of unremembered women who served their country. She certainly deserved her medal! 

 

 

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/the-salonika-campaign/

https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/salonika-campaign 

https://salonikacampaignsociety.org.uk/2017/03/04/march-1917-air-raid/ 

https://nursingclio.org/2017/12/07/listening-to-women-accessing-womens-pain-from-first-world-war-pension-records/ 

Violet Barugh: A Quiet, Dedicated Nurse who lived a life of service at home and abroad

Every time I research a nurse from WW1 I realise how much I don't know about their lives and experiences! While researching Violet I learned there was a Portuguese Hospital in France staffed mainly by British women medics and nurses.  One was Violet.

 

Violet Barugh was born in Stockton Durham- one of 9 children of Jasper and Margaret. Jasper was a bank manager at the local National Provincial Bank. The family were very affluent and had several servants.  He was also a JP for many years. When he died, Jasper left a large estate.

 

 National Provincial Bank, Stockton

 

Jasper died in 1906 and it was in this year that Violet left her sheltered and comfortable family life and moved to London to train as a nurse from 1906 to 1908 at the famous St Bartholomew's Hospital (Barts). She was still working there and living with an aunt in Wandsworth when war was declared in 1914. Violet was called up a week later.

 

 St Barts President Ward 1908 

Maybe Violet is in this photo! 

 

Violet was to nurse on active service from 1914 to 1920. Her work was mainly abroad in France and Malta. She was promoted to Sister in 1915 while working in Malta. While reading her service records I discovered that she had worked at the "1st Portuguese Hospital" which was based in France. I had never heard of this hospital. Nursing care was mainly administered by (mostly British) female staff. For her work at the hospital, Violet was awarded the Portuguese Order of Christ in 1919.

 

 Portuguese wounded arrive at a hospital

 

She had already been awarded another medal, the Associate of the Royal Red Cross (ARRC ), in 1918.  The award is made to a fully trained nurse of an officially recognised nursing service, military or civilian, who has shown exceptional devotion and competence in the performance of nursing duties, over a continuous and long period, or who has performed an exceptional act of bravery and devotion at their post of duty.Violet had served abroad for over five years. 

 

ARRC

 

 

 She also received yet another medal in 1919 - the TFNS war medal awarded to those nurses who:

• Undertook, either verbally or by written agreement on, or before, 30th September, 1914, to serve outside the United Kingdom, such agreement being operative after 4th August, 1914.

•  had  been serving outside the UK with the force between 5th August, 1914, and midnight 11th / 12th November, 1918 (both dates inclusive; the last date was in 1918 through the years on the reverse said 1914-19)  

 

 

I have found some references describing Violet as a very efficient surgical nurse. Her influence is said to be excellent and she has been in charge of the theatre since joining the unit. She trains orderlies and is quick and very tactufl but also quiet and "refined".

Violet was back in the UK in 1919. I have found some touching letters written by her in which she "begs" to return to foreign service, saying "please don't give me permanent home service. Could I not be given Transport Duty at a future date" . It is heartbreaking that she appears so desperate to keep engaged in her oversseas nursing career. But it was not to be.

 

 

The files also have a letter from Violet in which she thanks the authorities for allowing her to keep her TFNS badge "I will be a lasting reminder of what we all went through together"

This is a wonderful illustration of how much service during the War meant to so many women. She sounds so proud of her medals too - all three of them no doubt! It is lovely to see it in Violet's on words and handwriting - hidden away in some "dry" service records! I love reading the nurses' files for precisely this reason. The hidden gems within them!

 

As with so many nurses I have researched, Violet continued in her nursing profession after the War. In 1921 she was a health visitor working from the Jewish Maternity Hospital in London, having done extra training in maternity services. Operating from 1911 until 1940, this pioneering institution was the personal mission of Alice Model who started and ran the hospital to help the sick among the poor and women at home with babies. Popularly known as Mother Levy’s Nursing Home, it was the first organisation in this country to provide home helps and maternity nurses,

 

The Jewish Maternity Home, Shoreditch

 

 

In 1931 she was a staff nurse in a VD clinic in Whitechapel - a very poor area of London at that time. She never married and never returned to Stockton, the town she left in 1908. She died in 1937 in London. 

 

Violet's life and nursing career is a perfect example of how a young girl from the provinces took the opportunity to leave home and move to London at a time when middle class women were much more likely to stay at home until they married. Her career wss one of utter dedication. After not being able to return abroad (working there must also have been quite an education!) she chose to work in maternity services and a VD clinic in a poor area.  What dedication. I hope that Violet found fullfilment in her work aftet she left the TFNS.  She was a most dedicated and intrepid woman. We thank you for your service. 

 

https://www.archiseek.com/1877-national-provincial-bank-of-england-stockton-on-tees-durham/ 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205307929 

http://www.scarletfinders.co.uk/174.html

 https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/10/17/tom-ridge-the-jewish-maternity-hospital/

 

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

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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?