I recently received an email from Martha Jackson, Project Coordinator of For King and Country, a project to transcribe the war memorials in Toronto Schools (there are 26,498 memorials covering both world wars). She told me that Carola Douglas was a graduate of Harbord Collegiate, in Toronto. A memorial photograph of Douglas still hangs in the school today. To visit the For King and Country site and learn about the women and men they remember, visit:
http://torontofamilyhistory.org/kingandcountry/
Monday, January 30, 2012
Death in the Dardanelles: Remembering NS Munro
Mary Frances Elizabeth Munro was born in Wardsville, Ontario in the County of Middlesex in 1866. Wardsville seems to have been a prosperous village located along the banks of the Thames River. The small community had a number of businesses including a farm implement company and a foundry)and boasted a library, established in 1876 in a room rented in the downtown. In 1908, a building was purchased to house the collection.
Mary's family seems to have been a prosperous one. Her mother was Martha Ward, part of the family that founded the village. Her father, Malcolm Munro, was listed as a merchant and was Wardsville's town reeve for over a decade. Mary had an older sister and brother--Marcella and Alexander--and two younger siblings, Marion and John. As in many 19th century families, death was a frequent visitor to the household. Both Marion and John died in childhood and in 1878, Martha Munro also died.
There was another loss yet to come. In the 1880s, Malcolm and his son Alexander moved the family home and business to Morrisburg in Dundas County. In 1888, Malcolm Munro died there--of drowning.
In her attestation papers, Mary lists herself as a nursing sister, but there is no information about where she trained. What the papers also reveal is that before the war, Mary had also faced another terrible challenge--her right breast had been removed, likely in response to cancer. At the time of her enlistment in London in May 1915, she was almost 49 years old. She was five feet, three inches tall, with brown eyes and gray hair.
Munro was assigned to No. 3 Canadian Stationary Hospital in West Mudros. Within four months, she would be dead. In her book "Lights Out!," fellow Mudros Nursing Sister Kate Wilson described the events leading up to Munro's death. "Before the end of six weeks, owing to the hot days and cold nights, many of the unacclimatized Canadians had fallen ill, with the result that each hospital ship returning to England carried ten to twelve No. 3 Canadian Stationary Hopsital personnel, including our Commanding Officer Colonel Casgrain...Our very much loved Matron Jaggard had taken ill. With little thought for herself and a keen interest in her nursing staff she carried on. So anxious would she become at night that many times she would go from hut to hut of her sleeping nurses, assuring herself that they were alright...Lying with the picture of her seventeen year old son smiling down at her, one night she closed her eyes for the last time and slept....A few days earlier Sister Munro had fallen ill, and too weak to battle with this eastern disease [dysentery] she too was called to rest. A good soldier and a true friend, she will be remembered too." A good soldier and a true friend are all we know of Mary Frances Munro. She died on September 7, 1915 and is buried in Portianos Military Cemetery, Plot V, Row D, Grave 176.
Mary's family seems to have been a prosperous one. Her mother was Martha Ward, part of the family that founded the village. Her father, Malcolm Munro, was listed as a merchant and was Wardsville's town reeve for over a decade. Mary had an older sister and brother--Marcella and Alexander--and two younger siblings, Marion and John. As in many 19th century families, death was a frequent visitor to the household. Both Marion and John died in childhood and in 1878, Martha Munro also died.
There was another loss yet to come. In the 1880s, Malcolm and his son Alexander moved the family home and business to Morrisburg in Dundas County. In 1888, Malcolm Munro died there--of drowning.
In her attestation papers, Mary lists herself as a nursing sister, but there is no information about where she trained. What the papers also reveal is that before the war, Mary had also faced another terrible challenge--her right breast had been removed, likely in response to cancer. At the time of her enlistment in London in May 1915, she was almost 49 years old. She was five feet, three inches tall, with brown eyes and gray hair.
Munro was assigned to No. 3 Canadian Stationary Hospital in West Mudros. Within four months, she would be dead. In her book "Lights Out!," fellow Mudros Nursing Sister Kate Wilson described the events leading up to Munro's death. "Before the end of six weeks, owing to the hot days and cold nights, many of the unacclimatized Canadians had fallen ill, with the result that each hospital ship returning to England carried ten to twelve No. 3 Canadian Stationary Hopsital personnel, including our Commanding Officer Colonel Casgrain...Our very much loved Matron Jaggard had taken ill. With little thought for herself and a keen interest in her nursing staff she carried on. So anxious would she become at night that many times she would go from hut to hut of her sleeping nurses, assuring herself that they were alright...Lying with the picture of her seventeen year old son smiling down at her, one night she closed her eyes for the last time and slept....A few days earlier Sister Munro had fallen ill, and too weak to battle with this eastern disease [dysentery] she too was called to rest. A good soldier and a true friend, she will be remembered too." A good soldier and a true friend are all we know of Mary Frances Munro. She died on September 7, 1915 and is buried in Portianos Military Cemetery, Plot V, Row D, Grave 176.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
The Story of a WWI Uniform and the Woman Who Wore It
Hello and season's greetings from Finding the Forty-Seven! I'm a bit late in posting my regular blog, but as Bob Cratchit told Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, "I'm behind my time, sir, but I've been making rather merry." I hope you have all been doing the same.
Today, I'd like to remember a nurse who survived the war, but who did not escape from the effects of war later in her life. My connection with this nurse began with two WWI uniforms that I purchased online. I bought the uniforms (one the smart dress uniform with it's matching cape, the other the "bluebird" working uniform that nurse's wore on the job) so that I could bring them with me when I gave talks about the nurses of the Great War.
I knew little, then, about the woman who had worn them. Her name was sewn into the back of each--"Cecile McKibben." Naturally, as a Great War researcher, I had to find out more about Cecile. I began with a foray into Ancestry.ca. I learned she was born in Glanford, Ontario, on August 2, 1883. She had red hair and green eyes. Her mother was German—Catherine Lois Hagel (her parents were Samuel and Ann Eliza Hagel) and her father was Scottish born George McKibben (son of Hamilton and Ascenath McKibben), a farmer. The pair was married on December 24, 1873 in the Weslayan parsonage in Ingersoll, Ontario. They would have four children—Lulu Kathleen (1875), Allie (1877), George (1879), and Cecile (1883).
George would die on October 11, 1885 of typhoid. This must have caused the family much hardship. Catherine is later listed as “farmer” on 1891 census returns, suggesting she kept the family farm going after George’s death. Her efforts cost her dearly. She would die on April 30, 1903, of pernicious anemia. She was only 51 years old.
It was clear that the McKibben children would have to make their own way in life. Cecile would become a nurse, studying in the United States. In July 1914, she is recorded as crossing the border of Duluth, Minnesota as a trainee nurse. I believe she attended the nursing school at the University of Illinois, as a Cecile McKibben appears as a nursing student there in 1914. Her last Canadian residence (before she completed her program) was recorded as Fort William, Ontario.
By 1917, Cecile had completed her studies and was living with her married sister Kathleen (Lulu) Wilkens in a solid two story brick home at 12 Somerset Avenue, Hamilton, Ontario. At this point, she had decided to serve overseas. With a limited number of nursing positions open in the Canadian Army Medical Corps, she opted to join the British nursing service (the QAIMNS) first and transfer to the Canadian service later.
Fortunately, I discovered that Cecile’s records with the QAIMNS have been preserved (very lucky, since many had been weeded or lost). They reveal a great deal about her character. She joined the QAIMNS in March 1917 and served until March 1918. During that time, she was stationed in France, in #13 General Hospital (8 months) and in #14General Hospital (4 months).
During her time with the British nursing service, Cecile seems to have had some run-ins with the senior nursing staff who report that she was not “energetic or keen about her work in the wards.” At the time of Cecile’s resignation from the QAIMNS in 1918, Matron Fox of #14 General reports in February 1918 that “I would not recommend that Miss C.L. McKibben’s services should be retained in the QAIMNSR even should she wish to continue serving. Her work has not improved since my report to the effect that she did not appear to take any interest in her work or her patients.” This is very damning criticism, however we are fortunate to have Cecile’s own version of events. A month earlier, she had written to Matron Fox: “Madam: I have the honor to request that I may be allowed to resign on the termination of my contract [nurses in the QAIMNS signed up for one-year-at-a-time contracts] on March 7, 1918. My reason for doing so is that I wish to join a nursing service in which I shall have more freedom, more privileges and better pay. I have the honor to be madam, Cecile L. McKibben, Staff Nurse, QAIMNSR.”
Canadian nurses did have more freedom (they could date other officers and socialize more freely than British Army nurses) and they were paid the same as other lieutenants in the Canadian military (they had true military rank—something no other military nursing service of this time had). The correspondence clearly indicates a conflict between Cecile and her superiors. It raises some interesting questions: Did Cecile perhaps have a romance going on at this time? (She met her future husband George MacKenzie while nursing.) If so, it would have been a breach of her contract with the QAIMNSR. Or did her German background come to light (many Britons and Canadians were German-phobic at this time) and as a result, Cecile was poorly treated by other nurses? Or was her nursing work not up to par? It is hard to know, but my feeling is that she seems to be a strong-willed character and that may simply have led to some challenging moments.
In March 1918, Cecile entered the Canadian Army Medical Corps. I was able to get her records in the Canadian service from the national archives. (Anyone can do this. You go to http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html. Then click "ancestors" in the upper right hand corner, then go down to "soldiers of the first world war." Click this--it will take you to a page where you can put the name into the search engine and inevitably, you will find your nurse or soldier.)
I ordered her complete file (the website only gives you the first two pages). Her records listed her as being 5’3” tall and 125 pounds—dropping to 120 by the end of the war, with a “good physique.” She must have been very tiny, since the uniform that I own will only fit on the smallest size possible on my dressmaker’s dummy. Cecile also wore glasses. She would serve with the No.15 Canadian General, the Duchess of Connaught Canadian Military Hospital, and No 10 Canadian General. In 1919, at the end of the war, she would catch (and survive) the Spanish flu. She would also suffer a breakdown—what doctors then called “neurasthenia” and what we now call “post-traumatic stress disorder.” This was not unusual for nurses at the time—many suffered from being witnesses to terrible trauma and loss.
Sometime during her service in France or England, she met George Fraser MacKenzie, a farmer from Spirit River, Alberta. He had enlisted in 1916 and was serving as an ambulance stretcher bearer. George was muscular, 5’7” tall, with gray eyes and brown hair and was eight years younger than Cecile. He had been wounded and Cecile seems to have been his nurse. [This bears future research.] George and Cecile were married on November 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of the Great War.
In their years together, Cecile was active in the local United Church, participating in the Ladies Aid, and playing the organ for many years. George was on the school board and Spirit River Municipal Council. One older lady described Cecile as a sweet woman with a very strong belief in her own rightness, and George as gruff. They had two children, Hugh born in 1922 and Virginia Lois born in 1924. The children attended White Mountain School and the Spirit River High School. As Lois wrote: “Like other country children who lived more than four or five miles from Spirit River, they lived on their own during the week, and went home on weekends.” The two were very close and there are many pictures of them in the Spirit River history book—smiling, attractive young people.
During WWII, George enlisted in the air force in 1941, and the farm was rented out. In 1942, when Hugh and Lois graduated from high school, Cecile joined George in Ontario, while Virginia went to Normal School, then joined the Air Force a year later. Hugh became a navigator and was killed in action over Germany in 1944. The couple who had survived the rigors of the First World War, could not escape suffering a terrible loss in the Second.
Cecile came home after that tragedy and George joined her a year later and they resumed farming. Virginia was discharged in 1945, taught at White Mountain School, and then went to the U of A on a soldier’s grant, receiving her MD in 1953. In 1954, Cecile died after a short illness. She is buried in White Mountain Cemetery. George farmed until 59, and then moved in with Virginia and her husband George Sawers until MacKenzie’s death in 1977. According to George Sawers, the MacKenzie’s kept loads of their souvenirs of WWI (from cots to uniforms to clothing)—the war they couldn’t ever forget.
So that is the tale of my uniform and the woman who once wore it. Next month I will return to commemorating nurses who lost their lives in the First World War. Until then, I wish you the best of the season!
Today, I'd like to remember a nurse who survived the war, but who did not escape from the effects of war later in her life. My connection with this nurse began with two WWI uniforms that I purchased online. I bought the uniforms (one the smart dress uniform with it's matching cape, the other the "bluebird" working uniform that nurse's wore on the job) so that I could bring them with me when I gave talks about the nurses of the Great War.
I knew little, then, about the woman who had worn them. Her name was sewn into the back of each--"Cecile McKibben." Naturally, as a Great War researcher, I had to find out more about Cecile. I began with a foray into Ancestry.ca. I learned she was born in Glanford, Ontario, on August 2, 1883. She had red hair and green eyes. Her mother was German—Catherine Lois Hagel (her parents were Samuel and Ann Eliza Hagel) and her father was Scottish born George McKibben (son of Hamilton and Ascenath McKibben), a farmer. The pair was married on December 24, 1873 in the Weslayan parsonage in Ingersoll, Ontario. They would have four children—Lulu Kathleen (1875), Allie (1877), George (1879), and Cecile (1883).
George would die on October 11, 1885 of typhoid. This must have caused the family much hardship. Catherine is later listed as “farmer” on 1891 census returns, suggesting she kept the family farm going after George’s death. Her efforts cost her dearly. She would die on April 30, 1903, of pernicious anemia. She was only 51 years old.
It was clear that the McKibben children would have to make their own way in life. Cecile would become a nurse, studying in the United States. In July 1914, she is recorded as crossing the border of Duluth, Minnesota as a trainee nurse. I believe she attended the nursing school at the University of Illinois, as a Cecile McKibben appears as a nursing student there in 1914. Her last Canadian residence (before she completed her program) was recorded as Fort William, Ontario.
By 1917, Cecile had completed her studies and was living with her married sister Kathleen (Lulu) Wilkens in a solid two story brick home at 12 Somerset Avenue, Hamilton, Ontario. At this point, she had decided to serve overseas. With a limited number of nursing positions open in the Canadian Army Medical Corps, she opted to join the British nursing service (the QAIMNS) first and transfer to the Canadian service later.
Fortunately, I discovered that Cecile’s records with the QAIMNS have been preserved (very lucky, since many had been weeded or lost). They reveal a great deal about her character. She joined the QAIMNS in March 1917 and served until March 1918. During that time, she was stationed in France, in #13 General Hospital (8 months) and in #14General Hospital (4 months).
During her time with the British nursing service, Cecile seems to have had some run-ins with the senior nursing staff who report that she was not “energetic or keen about her work in the wards.” At the time of Cecile’s resignation from the QAIMNS in 1918, Matron Fox of #14 General reports in February 1918 that “I would not recommend that Miss C.L. McKibben’s services should be retained in the QAIMNSR even should she wish to continue serving. Her work has not improved since my report to the effect that she did not appear to take any interest in her work or her patients.” This is very damning criticism, however we are fortunate to have Cecile’s own version of events. A month earlier, she had written to Matron Fox: “Madam: I have the honor to request that I may be allowed to resign on the termination of my contract [nurses in the QAIMNS signed up for one-year-at-a-time contracts] on March 7, 1918. My reason for doing so is that I wish to join a nursing service in which I shall have more freedom, more privileges and better pay. I have the honor to be madam, Cecile L. McKibben, Staff Nurse, QAIMNSR.”
Canadian nurses did have more freedom (they could date other officers and socialize more freely than British Army nurses) and they were paid the same as other lieutenants in the Canadian military (they had true military rank—something no other military nursing service of this time had). The correspondence clearly indicates a conflict between Cecile and her superiors. It raises some interesting questions: Did Cecile perhaps have a romance going on at this time? (She met her future husband George MacKenzie while nursing.) If so, it would have been a breach of her contract with the QAIMNSR. Or did her German background come to light (many Britons and Canadians were German-phobic at this time) and as a result, Cecile was poorly treated by other nurses? Or was her nursing work not up to par? It is hard to know, but my feeling is that she seems to be a strong-willed character and that may simply have led to some challenging moments.
In March 1918, Cecile entered the Canadian Army Medical Corps. I was able to get her records in the Canadian service from the national archives. (Anyone can do this. You go to http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html. Then click "ancestors" in the upper right hand corner, then go down to "soldiers of the first world war." Click this--it will take you to a page where you can put the name into the search engine and inevitably, you will find your nurse or soldier.)
I ordered her complete file (the website only gives you the first two pages). Her records listed her as being 5’3” tall and 125 pounds—dropping to 120 by the end of the war, with a “good physique.” She must have been very tiny, since the uniform that I own will only fit on the smallest size possible on my dressmaker’s dummy. Cecile also wore glasses. She would serve with the No.15 Canadian General, the Duchess of Connaught Canadian Military Hospital, and No 10 Canadian General. In 1919, at the end of the war, she would catch (and survive) the Spanish flu. She would also suffer a breakdown—what doctors then called “neurasthenia” and what we now call “post-traumatic stress disorder.” This was not unusual for nurses at the time—many suffered from being witnesses to terrible trauma and loss.
Sometime during her service in France or England, she met George Fraser MacKenzie, a farmer from Spirit River, Alberta. He had enlisted in 1916 and was serving as an ambulance stretcher bearer. George was muscular, 5’7” tall, with gray eyes and brown hair and was eight years younger than Cecile. He had been wounded and Cecile seems to have been his nurse. [This bears future research.] George and Cecile were married on November 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of the Great War.
In their years together, Cecile was active in the local United Church, participating in the Ladies Aid, and playing the organ for many years. George was on the school board and Spirit River Municipal Council. One older lady described Cecile as a sweet woman with a very strong belief in her own rightness, and George as gruff. They had two children, Hugh born in 1922 and Virginia Lois born in 1924. The children attended White Mountain School and the Spirit River High School. As Lois wrote: “Like other country children who lived more than four or five miles from Spirit River, they lived on their own during the week, and went home on weekends.” The two were very close and there are many pictures of them in the Spirit River history book—smiling, attractive young people.
During WWII, George enlisted in the air force in 1941, and the farm was rented out. In 1942, when Hugh and Lois graduated from high school, Cecile joined George in Ontario, while Virginia went to Normal School, then joined the Air Force a year later. Hugh became a navigator and was killed in action over Germany in 1944. The couple who had survived the rigors of the First World War, could not escape suffering a terrible loss in the Second.
Cecile came home after that tragedy and George joined her a year later and they resumed farming. Virginia was discharged in 1945, taught at White Mountain School, and then went to the U of A on a soldier’s grant, receiving her MD in 1953. In 1954, Cecile died after a short illness. She is buried in White Mountain Cemetery. George farmed until 59, and then moved in with Virginia and her husband George Sawers until MacKenzie’s death in 1977. According to George Sawers, the MacKenzie’s kept loads of their souvenirs of WWI (from cots to uniforms to clothing)—the war they couldn’t ever forget.
So that is the tale of my uniform and the woman who once wore it. Next month I will return to commemorating nurses who lost their lives in the First World War. Until then, I wish you the best of the season!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Destruction of War Memorial at Mount Allison
It's just an old brick building on a beautiful university campus in New Brunswick. Not really important in the scheme of things--much more important to tear it down and build a new arts centre. But the Memorial Library at Mount Allison University is more than just a building--it's a memorial to 73 former students at the university who died in the First World War. It was paid for by family and friends of the students and it is a cherished part of the university's built history. Yet the administration says its too costly to save. Cost is an interesting concept; the students who died and were remembered by the building of the library paid a high cost, as well. But that seems to be of little consequence to the Mount Allison University decision makers. There actions are shameful and show how little regard for those who sacrificed their lives in that long ago war.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Photographs of Ada Ross Funeral
Contributor Annette Fulford has sent me a link that you may want to visit, as well. It shows photos of the funeral of Nursing Sister Ada Ross. I have not yet written an entry on Ross, but thought that you might be interested in the kind of response made by British communities to the deaths of nursing sisters. Here's the link:
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=171734&pid=1669273&st=0&#entry1669273
For some background on Ada Ross, here is a quote from the Manitoba Free Press, August 8, 1918:
"Nursing Sister Ada Janet Ross, of the C.A.M.C., who died at the Canadian Nurses' Convalescent Hospital at Northwood, Buxton, Derbyshire, England, on July 12, was a graduate of the Winnipeg General Hospital. The deceased went to France almost with the first Canadian nurses, namely, in May 1915, and remained there for two years, when she was put on hospital ship duty between Canada and the Old Country. For some months prior to her death she had been doing work at Buxton."
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=171734&pid=1669273&st=0&#entry1669273
For some background on Ada Ross, here is a quote from the Manitoba Free Press, August 8, 1918:
"Nursing Sister Ada Janet Ross, of the C.A.M.C., who died at the Canadian Nurses' Convalescent Hospital at Northwood, Buxton, Derbyshire, England, on July 12, was a graduate of the Winnipeg General Hospital. The deceased went to France almost with the first Canadian nurses, namely, in May 1915, and remained there for two years, when she was put on hospital ship duty between Canada and the Old Country. For some months prior to her death she had been doing work at Buxton."
Monday, November 21, 2011
Nursing Sister Miriam Eastman Baker
Recently, I received an email from Glyn Hethey. He wrote: "my Great Aunt, Miriam Baker was a nursing sister and was killed at an early age in the war. Her picture is in the poster which hangs at the Memorial Centre here in High River[Alberta], and after moving here six yrs ago from BC, I was astounded to see her picture, the likeness of which hung in my Mother's house for as long as I can remember."
Glyn didn't know a lot about his great aunt, but his email raised my interest. I discovered a photo of Miriam on-line and realized that she must have served, not only in the CAMC, but in the British service. As I've mentioned before, so many of our Canadian nurses entered the QAIMNS initially, since so few places were open in the CAMC at the beginning of the war. Then they transferred over to the Canadian corps. I discovered that Miriam's files were intact at Britain's national archives, as well as in our own. But before I share what I learned from these files, I will add another quote, this time from Glyn's cousin, Allan Baker. Allan had a little more knowledge of Miriam:
"Our aunt, Miriam Eastman Baker, was the second of seven children born in ten years to George William Baker [ed. note: Baker was a Winnipeg lawyer, member of Winnipeg City Council and Winnipeg Police Magistrate] and his wife, Jennie Eastman Baker. Jennie was from Maine. She died when my father was born. Their father married twice again. Miriam played an extraordinary role in the raising of her siblings. Perhaps it was inevitable that Miriam would become a Canadian Army Medical Corps Nursing Sister in WWI. She was based at Cliveden. Like Miriam, four of her brothers served overseas, in the Canadian Army and the Royal Flying Corps."
According to Miriam's Canadian attestation papers, she was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on August 20, 1886. She graduated from the St. Luke's Hospital nursing program in New York in 1915. Miriam appears to have enlisted in the QAIMNS in September 1916. At that time, she was serving in a British military hospital in Chatham, England. Miriam transferred to the Canadian service on October 2, 1917 and was assigned to the Canadian Red Cross Military Hospital in Cliveden, Buckinghamshire. Allan Baker describes some of the background of that hospital:
"Nancy Langhorne, born in Virginia, married Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor. Thus she was identified as The Right Honourable Viscountess Astor, but she was known, as a public-spirited citizen, as Nancy Astor. In 1919 she became the first woman elected to the British Parliament. The Astors had a country home, Cliveden, on the Thames, west of London. It served as a hospital in WWI (and again in WWII)."
Almost a year after she began her work at Cliveden, Miriam contracted the Spanish influenza. She died on October 17, 1918 and is buried at the Cliveden War Cemetery. I believe her will provides a real glimpse into what Miriam was like. It appears that she was engaged, leaving her fiance Charles Herbert Dore her diamond ring, cigarette case, and small silver frame with his photo in it. She was religious, leaving her brother Phipps her silver-framed picture of Paul along with a brass clock. She leaves her pearl and turquoise ring to her friend Francis Chaffey, and to her brother Henry her watch, gold locket and chain. To her brother Ralph, her framed picture of Paul and Peter and silver mug. She left her silver card case to another friend, Edwina Higginson. Her sister Doris received the remainder of her jewelry and other personal possessions, her interest in an estate, and all the money she had in the bank with the exception of $50, which she left to her brother Paul.
It is clear that many mourned the loss of Miriam and that she left behind a loving family.
Glyn didn't know a lot about his great aunt, but his email raised my interest. I discovered a photo of Miriam on-line and realized that she must have served, not only in the CAMC, but in the British service. As I've mentioned before, so many of our Canadian nurses entered the QAIMNS initially, since so few places were open in the CAMC at the beginning of the war. Then they transferred over to the Canadian corps. I discovered that Miriam's files were intact at Britain's national archives, as well as in our own. But before I share what I learned from these files, I will add another quote, this time from Glyn's cousin, Allan Baker. Allan had a little more knowledge of Miriam:
"Our aunt, Miriam Eastman Baker, was the second of seven children born in ten years to George William Baker [ed. note: Baker was a Winnipeg lawyer, member of Winnipeg City Council and Winnipeg Police Magistrate] and his wife, Jennie Eastman Baker. Jennie was from Maine. She died when my father was born. Their father married twice again. Miriam played an extraordinary role in the raising of her siblings. Perhaps it was inevitable that Miriam would become a Canadian Army Medical Corps Nursing Sister in WWI. She was based at Cliveden. Like Miriam, four of her brothers served overseas, in the Canadian Army and the Royal Flying Corps."
According to Miriam's Canadian attestation papers, she was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on August 20, 1886. She graduated from the St. Luke's Hospital nursing program in New York in 1915. Miriam appears to have enlisted in the QAIMNS in September 1916. At that time, she was serving in a British military hospital in Chatham, England. Miriam transferred to the Canadian service on October 2, 1917 and was assigned to the Canadian Red Cross Military Hospital in Cliveden, Buckinghamshire. Allan Baker describes some of the background of that hospital:
"Nancy Langhorne, born in Virginia, married Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor. Thus she was identified as The Right Honourable Viscountess Astor, but she was known, as a public-spirited citizen, as Nancy Astor. In 1919 she became the first woman elected to the British Parliament. The Astors had a country home, Cliveden, on the Thames, west of London. It served as a hospital in WWI (and again in WWII)."
Almost a year after she began her work at Cliveden, Miriam contracted the Spanish influenza. She died on October 17, 1918 and is buried at the Cliveden War Cemetery. I believe her will provides a real glimpse into what Miriam was like. It appears that she was engaged, leaving her fiance Charles Herbert Dore her diamond ring, cigarette case, and small silver frame with his photo in it. She was religious, leaving her brother Phipps her silver-framed picture of Paul along with a brass clock. She leaves her pearl and turquoise ring to her friend Francis Chaffey, and to her brother Henry her watch, gold locket and chain. To her brother Ralph, her framed picture of Paul and Peter and silver mug. She left her silver card case to another friend, Edwina Higginson. Her sister Doris received the remainder of her jewelry and other personal possessions, her interest in an estate, and all the money she had in the bank with the exception of $50, which she left to her brother Paul.
It is clear that many mourned the loss of Miriam and that she left behind a loving family.
Nurses Missing in Action
This is Remembrance month, when we remember the fallen of previous wars. This blog is dedicated to the forgotten fallen--the women who gave their lives during the First World War. Since starting the blog, I have discovered I am not alone in this task of reclamation. People from all over the world--men and women--have shared their stories and desire to remember these women. Recently, I received a few emails from a colleague in Australia, librarian and fellow researcher, Maggie White. She sent me an article entitled "Australian World War I Nurses: Missing in Action." The author, Ruth Rae, argues that we have a particular blind spot when it comes to remembering the fallen nurses of the First World War. She says that this blind spot isn't new--in fact, nurses were lamenting it during the war itself. She quotes Australian nursing sister, Haynes in a letter home. Haynes wrote that she had sent poetry to the local paper because "They are always so keen on ‘our boys’ – no one ever hears of ‘our girls’, and it would be a good chance to mention that we are here. One bit in the paper said that the Sisters had arrived and…without a comma even, said the horses were in good condition." This month, I hope that more people around the world have celebrated the sacrifice of "our girls" alongside "our boys."
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
First American Military Nursing Sister to Die in WWI
Today I came across a compelling profile of Nurse Helen Wood, who was the first official American female military nurse to be killed while on duty. The profile, entitled "Nurse Helen Wood: A Scottish Lass, War, and the American Dream" was contributed by writer Sonny Moran. To read the article, go to: http://www.worldwar1.com/tripwire/smtw.htm.
Monday, October 24, 2011
This Intrepid Band
For those who are interested in the heroic work of British nursing sisters, go to a terrific blog by nurse historian Sue Light: http://greatwarnurses.blogspot.com/. Entitled "This Intrepid Band," it provides "information and chat about women who served as military nurses from the Boer War through to the end of the Great War." A compelling and informative resource as well as a great read.
Nursing Sister Dorothy Baldwin Remembered
May 19, 1918. Three nurses were busy in the operating room at Number 3 Canadian Stationary Hospital in Doullens, France. Their hospital was an ancient citadel, with heavy brick walls that dated back to the 17th century. However, even these could not protect the nurses, doctors, medical personnel and patients from a German attack. According to Matron In Chief E.M. McCarthy of the British Expeditionary Force, who was touring the hospitals in France: "Left early in the morning having received a telephone message from Doullens saying that No.3 Canadian Stationary Hospital had been heavily bombed, and 3 nursing sisters killed and one badly wounded. Left as soon as possible with Miss Ridley, Principal Matron, Canadians. On arrival found that one huge triangle in the Citadel had been absolutely destroyed – part of it did not exist and the remainder of the roof had gone leaving only walls. The whole of the theatre and Xray appliances had been absolutely wiped out and the people working in the theatre were not recognisable. No N.C.O.’s were on duty – those who were not killed were badly wounded. I saw the O.C. and the Matron who spoke in the highest terms of the work of everybody. While there the D.M.S. of the 3rd Army arrived with the A.D.M.S. It was arranged that all sisters who could be spared should be moved at once and the wounded sister transferred to Treport."
Many of the Canadian nurses acted heroically during the attack, helping with the removal of patients, and aiding the wounded despite the fact that they were surrounded by wreckage and that parts of the building were on fire. Accordign to GWL Nicholson, a chronicler of the history of Canadian women in the first world war, "Eleven patients, two medical officers, three nursing sisters, and 16 other ranks (including orderlies) were killed; 16 were wounded.” One of those killed was NS Dorothy Mary Yarwood Baldwin. Dorothy enlisted in the CAMC in May 1917. She was 26 years old, a trim, 5'3" tall woman with curly dark hair. At the time of her enlistment, she was living at 173 Lowther Ave., a comfortable Toronto street lined with solid brick homes. She listed her religion as Anglican. Although she was born in Toronto, her parents Mary and Robert were living in Paris, Ontario. Dorothy was a graduate of the nursing program of Victoria Hospital, London, Ontario. Both she and her sister Mary were nurses, although Mary did not join the CAMC (probably because she was married). Dorothy also had a brother serving overseas. In June 1917, Dorothy was taken on the staff at the Ontario Military Hospital in Orpington, Kent and was posted to Doullens, France a month later. She was terribly wounded in the attack of May 19 and survived until May 30, at which time she passed away. In Dorothy's will, she left her estate to her sister Mary Powell and her mother. If you know more about Dorothy and wish to share it, please send me an email or comment on this entry and I will be glad to share the information with others.
Nursing Sister Florence Hesseltine Dolson
Elaine Eigl is a relative of Florence Hesseltine Dolson later Brown (after she married Le Roy Gorringe Brown on June 1, 1920)who served as a Nursing Sister in WWI. Dolson served in both the British and Canadian forces in the following hospitals: 13 General Hospital (BEF) from April 1 to November 2, 1917, 14 General Hospital (BEF) from November 5 – 14, 1917, 48 Casualty Clearing Station from November 16, 1917 to March 20, 1918, and 15 General Hospital (Canadian), Taplow, England.Although Elaine is able to get the Canadian records, among her British records, only Florence's Medal Card seems to exist. If you know of where Elaine might be able to find information or a photo of Florence, she would so much appreciate this. Please email me a note or comment on this blog entry and I will pass your information along. Thank you as always!
A Great Resource Remembering Great War Nurses--Free to Watch Online
In 2008, the National Film Board of Canada produced a series of five documentary vignettes about the first world war entitled Front Lines, directed by Claude Guilmain. One of the vignettes is called "Front Lines: Nurses at the Front" and superbly describes the work of NS Katherine Macdonald, whose life and death is described in one of my previous blogs. To view the documentary, go to http://www.nfb.ca/film/front_lines/.
Many of the Canadian nurses acted heroically during the attack, helping with the removal of patients, and aiding the wounded despite the fact that they were surrounded by wreckage and that parts of the building were on fire. Accordign to GWL Nicholson, a chronicler of the history of Canadian women in the first world war, "Eleven patients, two medical officers, three nursing sisters, and 16 other ranks (including orderlies) were killed; 16 were wounded.” One of those killed was NS Dorothy Mary Yarwood Baldwin. Dorothy enlisted in the CAMC in May 1917. She was 26 years old, a trim, 5'3" tall woman with curly dark hair. At the time of her enlistment, she was living at 173 Lowther Ave., a comfortable Toronto street lined with solid brick homes. She listed her religion as Anglican. Although she was born in Toronto, her parents Mary and Robert were living in Paris, Ontario. Dorothy was a graduate of the nursing program of Victoria Hospital, London, Ontario. Both she and her sister Mary were nurses, although Mary did not join the CAMC (probably because she was married). Dorothy also had a brother serving overseas. In June 1917, Dorothy was taken on the staff at the Ontario Military Hospital in Orpington, Kent and was posted to Doullens, France a month later. She was terribly wounded in the attack of May 19 and survived until May 30, at which time she passed away. In Dorothy's will, she left her estate to her sister Mary Powell and her mother. If you know more about Dorothy and wish to share it, please send me an email or comment on this entry and I will be glad to share the information with others.
Nursing Sister Florence Hesseltine Dolson
Elaine Eigl is a relative of Florence Hesseltine Dolson later Brown (after she married Le Roy Gorringe Brown on June 1, 1920)who served as a Nursing Sister in WWI. Dolson served in both the British and Canadian forces in the following hospitals: 13 General Hospital (BEF) from April 1 to November 2, 1917, 14 General Hospital (BEF) from November 5 – 14, 1917, 48 Casualty Clearing Station from November 16, 1917 to March 20, 1918, and 15 General Hospital (Canadian), Taplow, England.Although Elaine is able to get the Canadian records, among her British records, only Florence's Medal Card seems to exist. If you know of where Elaine might be able to find information or a photo of Florence, she would so much appreciate this. Please email me a note or comment on this blog entry and I will pass your information along. Thank you as always!
A Great Resource Remembering Great War Nurses--Free to Watch Online
In 2008, the National Film Board of Canada produced a series of five documentary vignettes about the first world war entitled Front Lines, directed by Claude Guilmain. One of the vignettes is called "Front Lines: Nurses at the Front" and superbly describes the work of NS Katherine Macdonald, whose life and death is described in one of my previous blogs. To view the documentary, go to http://www.nfb.ca/film/front_lines/.
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