Sister Annie Paget trained at the Royal City of Dublin Hospital in Dublin. She joined the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) on 30th September 19001.
Nursing Service in the Boer War
During the Boer War Sister Annie Paget served at the Military Hospital, Aldershot1, and in the lines of communication, Cape Town2.
References
War Office (1900) Nominal Roll of Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) as at 30th September
The National Archives: WO 100/229 QSA Medal Roll p187 created at Lines of Communication, Capetown; August 13, 1901
Ethel Beatrice LLOYD (known as Beatrice), was born in Lewisham, Kent in 1874 1. Her father was a ‘Tea Broker’ 2 3. She trained at The London Hospital 4. Beatrice was one of the second group of nurses from the London Hospital to be chosen to go to South Africa:
It is an open secret how deeply the gentle heart of the Princess of Wales has been moved by the suffering of the sick and wounded during the war, and rumour has it that neither she nor the Duchess of Argyll have been satisfied by existing methods of organisation for providing nursing care for our brave soldiers. We were not surprised to learn that the Princess of Wales was anxious to send out more nurses, and that on Friday last she paid a private visit to the London Hospital, where a pretty and touching ceremony took place in the nurses garden, where 100 nurses were assembled. The Hon. Sydney Holland, Chairman of the Hospital, presented 20 nurses selected from the hospital staff for service in South Africa, at the expense of funds at the Princesses disposal. The Princess spoke to the nurses in turn, and, after tying round their arms her own badge, presented to each a warm Shetland shawl and rug. Each nurse will take with her a box filled with medical necessities for typhoid. The Princess is also sending with them two large boxes of presents for soldiers whom they may have to nurse.
The 20 nurses selected sailed for the Cape in the transport Assaye on Wednesday last, their names being:- Miss H.O. Luckie, Sister-in-charge and Misses M.S.Baines, E.Baldrey, L.Bristow, E.Fry, A.Gore, C.Hanbury, M.M.Holloway, L.Humphreys, I.Lawson, B.E.Lloyd, E.E.C.Marsh, K.Parminter, M.E.Tate, C.E.A.Thorpe, A.Thomas and E.Whistler5.
Miss Luckie (late Sister Gloucester) was placed in charge during the voyage, and for so long as our twenty Nurses remained together, with the understanding that Miss Lloyd – one of the Office Sisters – would assist her, or act for her, in the event of illness, or other necessity arising6.
Nursing Service in the Boer War
We have not found Sister Beatrice LLOYD on the medal rolls, but a Letter written to her brother indicates she was at the ‘Distillery Hospital’ at Eerste Fabrieken, outside Pretoria. This hospital was not mentioned in the medal rolls, but was likely to have been a detachment of No.2 General Hospital. The hospital in Eerste Fabrieken was mentioned by a war corespondent who was there:
So serious was the position considered that even the local military hospital was depleted of its inmates, and some 50 patients armed and ordered into tho trenches. It was pitiful to see so-called convalescents marched out towards our lines of defence. Some were emaciated and weak, others becoming stronger after attacks of enteric and malarial fever, but all anxious to take part in defending the position. These men, though they should have been in warm cots in a comfortable hospital, moved forward with swinging step, chatting and laughing, never dreaming of uttering one word of complaint, anxious to meet the foe, and referring in a jocular way to tho number of Boers they hoped they would account for if the worst came and the positions were wrested from them7.
The hospital would have been in the Hatherley Distillery which is now derelict. Beatrice collected a number of photographs of herself and other nurses in South Africa. In this photograph she is standing, with other nurses, outside a bungalow. In a recent photograph of the derelict Hatherley Distillery, similar bungalows are visible.
Sister LLOYD contracted enteric fever and died on April 24, 1901. She was buried in Pretoria.
The death of Sister Ethel Beatrice Lloyd, Army Nursing Service Reserve of enteric fever in South Africa, has added another to the list of lives laid down in the countries service by our devoted nurses. To die on duty is so good an end that, whilst sympathizing with those who are left to mourn, one cannot commiserate the brave spirits thus released from the weariness of the flesh8.
We cannot forget, however, how saddened we were last spring when news arrived of the death of one of the brightest Sisters amongst the number who were eager to go to South Africa – Miss Beatrice Lloyd. She had made herself greatly beloved out there, as she was among her fellow workers at home, but she fell a victim to a sharp attack of enteric9.
When she died, her fellow sister’s collected money for a memorial clock which is still at The London Hospital.
References
England and Wales FreeBMD Birth Index 1837-1915
The National Archives: England Census 1881 RG11/ 738/ 53/ 34
The National Archives: England Census 1891 RG12/ 526/ /39/ 3
War Office (1900) Nominal Roll of Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) as at 30th September
The Nursing Record and Hospital World Army Nursing Notes July 21, 1900 pg 55
Matron’s newsletter No. 8 March 1901 The London Hospital
Shaw, JA. (1900) The Boer War. Otago Daily Times, October 27, 1900: p2
Nursing Record & Hospital World Pro Patria May 4 1901 pg 35
Matron’s newsletter No. 9 March 1902 The London Hospital
Sister Amy Bertha JOEL trained at the St Marylebone Infirmary, Notting Hill, London1. She is noted as a “locally employed nurse” on the medal roll for No. 7 General Hospital, which means she would have made her own way to South Africa and then offered her services to the Army2. She joined the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) on 16th February, 19001. Many locally employed nurses joined the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) for the duration of the Boer War.
Nursing Service in the Boer War
She served in Johannesburg, Howick, Bloemfontein and Pretoria3-7.
References
War Office (1900) Nominal Roll of Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) as at 30th September
WO 100/229 QSA Medal Roll p53 created at No7 General Hospital, Pretoria; dated August 7, 1901
WO 100/229 QSA Medal Roll p71 created at No13 General Hospital, Johannesburg; dated October 17, 1901
WO 100/229 QSA Medal Roll p80 created at No15 General Hospital, Howick; dated July 15, 1901
WO 100/229 QSA Medal Roll p159 created at No9 General Hospital, Bloemfontein; September, 1901
WO 100/229 QSA Medal Roll p173 created at No19 General Hospital, Pretoria; November 22, 1901
WO 100/229 QSA Medal Roll p191 created at Bamato Park, Johannesburg; October 10, 1901
Brenda Marie Hoare was born about 1872 in Kandy, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Her father was a coffee plantation owner. He was a member of the aristocratic Irish Hoare family.
The 1891 census showed her living with her mother and siblings in Bournemouth having returned to England to be educated1. The 1901 census showed her visiting her sister in Bournemouth and gave her occupation as Army Nursing Sister2 . She trained as a nurse at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, enlisting in the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) on the 16th January, 1900 and served in South Africa3.
Nursing service in the Boer War
She served at No.9 General Hospitalin Bloemfontein4, and recieved her medals from the King at Marlborough House on July 29th, 1901.
After the Boer War
In April 1903 was appointed as Lady Superintendent of the Afzalgunj Hospital, Hyderabad, Deccan, India. In 1905 she married Charles Henry Dorwald Moberley, himself a ‘child of empire’ having been born in India. They were married in Madras India5. She eventually returned to the UK where she died in 19396.
References
The National Archives: England Census 1891 RG12 903/56/2
The National Archives England Census 1901 RG13 27/1043/113/14
War Office: Nominal Roll of the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) as at September 30th, 1900
War Office: Queen’s South Africa Medal Roll 100/229:p159, created at Bloemfontein.
Flora Kathleen FITZMAURICE trained at the Royal City of Dublin Hospital. She joined the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) on 2July, 19001.
Nursing Service in the Boer War
Sister Flora Kathleen FITZMAURICE served with the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital at Deelfontein before transferring to the South African Constabulary2, 3.
References
War Office: Nominal Roll of the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) as at 30th September 1900
The National Archives: War Office WO 100/130 QSA Medal Roll p228 created at The Imperial Yeomanry Hospital, Pretoria; dated July 13, 1901
Ethel Margaret DASENT was born in Alford, Lincolnshire in about 1866. She trained at the London Hospital and joined Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) on February the 9th 19001.
References
War Office (1900) Nominal Roll of Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) as at 30th September
Mrs Theodosia Agnes COBBOLD (neé Sinclair) who was the great granddaughter of Lord Chief Justice Denman, trained at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford. On the 1891 census she was listed as a Lady Nurse on the Isle of Wight 1. She married Charles Augustus Cobbold in Ontario, Canada.
Nursing Service in the Boer War
She volunteered for service with the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital and when accepted was taken into the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) 2. She served with the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital at Deelfontein 3.
Her husband – Charles Augusts Cobbold served in WW1 with the Suffolk Regiment and died at Loos in 1915. It was not known if he served in South Africa.
References
The National Archives: The England Census RG12 15/951/98/19
War Office (1900) Nominal Roll of the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) as at 30th September 1900
The National Archives: War Office WO 100/130: p228
Nellie Auger BOND was born in Cretingham, Suffolk about 1870. Her father was a farmer, farming 580 acres1. She had a sister, Alice Sweeting BOND who also became a military nurse. She trained at the General Infirmary, Bedford2. The 1891 Census shows her working as a Staff Nurse there1 .
Nursing Service in the Victorian Wars
She joined Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) on March 15, 18972. At the time of the publication of the Army List in 1898, she was married to George Gilbert Clarke, a physician, but remained working as a nurse at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Nettley and in the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve)3.
Nursing Service in the Boer War
Sister Mrs Nellie Auger CLARKE was serving at the time of the Boer War3, but does not appear on any medal rolls, so may not have served in South Africa.
After the Boer War
The 1911 Census shows Nellie Auger Clarke living with her husband in Wakefield, Yorkshire. She died, a widow, in 1943. Her sons were the beneficiaries of her estate (One was a doctor and the other was clergy)4.
References
The National Archives: England Census 1891 RG12/ 1251 Bedford, Beds
War Office (1900) Nominal Roll of Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) as at 30th September
War Office (1898) The Army List September
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
Sarah Alice CLARIDGE trained as a nurse at the General Hospital, Birmingham, and then joined the Staffordshire Nurses’ Insitute, working as a private nurse for two years. She rejoined the General Hospital, Birmingham1, and it was from there she joined Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) on July 19, 19002
Nursing Service in the Boer War
During the Boer War she served with No. 14 General Hospital, Newcastle, becoming the Matron 3 1.
References
The British Journal of Nursing, October 3, 1914: p260
War Office (1900) Nominal Roll of Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) as at 30th September
The National Archives: WO 100/229 QSA Medal Roll p164 created at No14 General Hospital, Newcastle; August 26, 1901
Mabel Jesson Chatfield was born in Quaggerfontein in the Bloemfontein district of South Africa, on June 12, 1875. Her father had emigrated to South Africa and was a farmer. When she was 17 Mabel asked Sister Henrietta Stockdale at Kimberley Hospital if she could be a nurse. She was told she was too young, so she set up a dance school instead. When Sister Henrietta left Kimberley Hospital to set up a private institution in Bloemfontein, Mabel reapplied to Kimberley Hospital and was accepted. Se then had to wait another eighteen months for a place and started her training in 1895. She was very proud of her pink and white striped uniform with her ‘Sister Dora’ hat. She finished her training shortly before the siege of Kimberley at the start of the Boer War 1.
Nursing Service in the Boer War
She trained as a nurse in Kimberley and was employed there at the start of the war 2 3. She wrote about her time as a nurse during the siege:
“Throughout the greater part of the siege I was alone on night duty with some 30 patients under my care. The only assistance was provided by a Tswana whose duty it was to empty the bedpans and keep the small coal stove burning for hot water or any of the other various needs which require a stove” 1.
After the siege was lifted she was approached by the military to take charge of a temporary hospital. When she accepted she was taken into the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve). Shortly after taking over the hospital a convoy of 115 sick and wounded soldiers arrived, and she had to get them settled and start nursing care 4. She wrote of this temporary hospital:
“This was nursing under the most difficult circumstances imaginable. All types of cases ranging from severely wounded, to the dangerously ill with typhoid, had perforce to be attended to in the grossly overcrowded rooms. It was more often than not necessary to step over a number of patients in order to reach one requiring urgent treatment. We tried our utmost to keep the infectious cases apart but this was only possible to a limited extent” 4.
Eventually beds arrived and along with other items donated to the hospital she was able to make her patients more comfortable. After six weeks she handed over this temporary hospital to six nurses from Canada. Sister Chatfield was then instructed to report to No. 1 General Hospital at Wynberg where Mrs Garriock was the Matron. At Wynberg Sister Chatfield looked after a variety of patients including sick and wounded Boer prisoners. It was here that she was able to go to a local tailor and get a military nurses uniform made for her. She worked at Wynberg for six months before asking to go on duty aboard a troop ship carrying sick and wounded back to Britain. She sailed on the Assaye along with seven other Sisters and fifteen hundred patients. While she was in Britain she was officially attested into the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve). Shortly after she was sent back to South Africa on the Norman along with other nurses reinforcing the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital at Pretoria. The nurse-patient ratio was greater in the Yeomanry Hospitals as many of the Sisters had salaries paid for from the private funds collected for the hospitals 4 5.
After a further six months working with the Imperial Yeomanry Hospitals 6 she was able to get a posting to the Hospital Ship Orcana7 where she met up with another South African nurse, Sister Rennie. She was happier on the Orcana than she had been on the Assaye as it was a fully equipped Hospital Ship and that made nursing care much easier. Sister Chatfield and Sister Rennie met the Duchess of Teck when they arrived in England and were her guests for a short while. Sister Chatfield then resigned from the PCANS(R) in order to return home to South Africa to get married. Having resigned she discovered that it was very difficult to get a berth back home and she was told it might be six months before a berth became available. She wrote to the Duchess and was shortly booked onto the Walmer Castle. She married Dr Howell-Davies in Kimberley on December 13, 1902. Before they had a chance to return to Wales to visit his family Dr Howell-Davies was placed in charge of the Irene Burgher Camp and so she helped her husband and continued nursing for a while longer. She had four children, and her daughter Kathleen, and Kathleen’s daughter Anne both trained as nurses 8.
References
Stratford, DO. (1991) Nursing one hundred years ago. Part 1. Nursing RSA Verpleging. 6(8):9-11
The National Archives: Defence of Kimberley Medal Roll AG2/M/2426 p148 created at Civil Hospital, Kimberley; January 3, 1930
The National Archives: WO 100/229 QSA Medal Roll p148 created at The Kimberley Hospital
Stratford, DO. (1991) Nursing one hundred years ago. Part 2. Nursing RSA Verpleging. 6(9):6-8
The National Archives: WO 100/229 QSA Medal Roll p7 created at No1 General Hospital, Wynberg; dated July 14, 1901
The National Archives: WO 100/130 QSA Medal Roll p228 created at The Imperial Yeomanry Hospital, Pretoria; dated July 13, 1901
London Times, June 24, 1902 p5c
Stratford, DO. (1991) Nursing one hundred years ago. Part 3. Nursing RSA Verpleging. 6(10):9-11
