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/
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