MELDRUM, Alice
Biography
Alice MELDRUM was born in Trevor, North Wales on 2nd May 1880. Her father was a retired Troop Sergeant Major in the 16th Queen's Lancers. She was educated at a private school in New Brighton, Cheshire.[1] The 1901 Census recorded her working in domestic service for the family of a retired Army officer.[2] She trained at the Bolton Infirmary from 1905 to 1908[1]. In 1911 she was working as a District Nurse, a role she returned to after the war.[3]
Nursing Service in WW1
Sister Alice MELDRUM joined the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (Reserve) in 1914. On 7th May 1915 she was transferred to the HMHS Anglia as a Staff Nurse, later serving as Sister.[1]
The HMHS Anglia was requisitioned and refitted as a hospital ship, ferrying the wounded from France to England. On 17th November 1915, carrying 13 officers and 372 other ranks, she struck a mine laid by the German submarine UC-5, approximately one mile east of Folkestone Gate. The ship was holed on the port side forward of the bridge and immediately began to sink bow first.
The British Journal of Nursing recorded the conduct of the nursing staff:
"It is with pride we record that when the hospital ship Anglia sank in the Channel on November 17th, after striking a mine the Matron, and nursing staff worked with the utmost heroism. One patient stated that when he begged the Matron (Mrs. Mitchell), and two Sisters to get into a boat which had just come alongside they would not hear of it. 'I'm not leaving this deck till I see all my own wounded men off,' said one, and another touched an even higher level: 'Our duty is to see you men off safe - we have the right to be last this time.'
The patient who relates this says: 'Not until the water was lapping up over my feet did I slide off, and up to then not a single nurse had left her post in the sinking ship. It was just heart-rending to see their single-minded devotion to the wounded chaps under their care.'
The end came with dramatic suddenness. With wounded, nurses, doctors, and sailors, clinging to the stern the Anglia seemed for one brief moment to stand on her bows, and then disappeared.
Happily, only one, Miss Mary Rodwell, lost her life in performing her duty, but every nurse upon the ship was ready, and willing, nay, claimed the right to be last on the sinking ship. They have added lustre to the Roll of illustrious nurses whom the profession all the world over is proud to acclaim."[4]
After a brief period of sick leave Sister Meldrum returned to France. She did not serve on a hospital ship again. She served at No. 4 General Hospital, 35 Casualty Clearing Station, No. 2 Casualty Clearing Station, and 32 Stationary Hospital[1]. A record of her service is preserved in Alice M's Report.
She was admitted to the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Millbank in 1920 and was demobilised once declared fit to return to civil duties. She joined the permanent cadre of Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (Reserve) in June 1920[1].
On 10th February 1922 Alice Meldrum received the Associate Royal Red Cross (ARRC) from the King in a private investiture. The ARRC was awarded for her actions when the HMHS Anglia was sunk. At this time the ARRC was not being awarded at formal investiture due to the volume of awards. Notably, Miss Meldrum had previously cared for the King on a hospital ship following a minor accident in France[1].
After Military Service
Alice Meldrum returned to District Nursing after the war. In January 1921 she was appointed Assistant County Superintendent for Derbyshire, Queen's Victoria Institute for Nurses,[5] and in December 1921 she was appointed County Superintendent for Derbyshire, Queen's Victoria Institute for Nurses.[6]
On 28th March 1931 she was presented with a long service badge as a Queen's Nurse by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.[7] She resigned from the permanent reserve in 1929, at which time she was County Superintendent, Derbyshire County Nursing Association[1].
Alice Meldrum died in a nursing home in Derby in 1943.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 TNA: WO 399/5770
- ↑ England Census 1901 RG13/2028/28 p.23
- ↑ England Census 1911 RG14/27703
- ↑ British Journal of Nursing, 27 November 1915, p.435
- ↑ British Journal of Nursing, 8 January 1921, p.23
- ↑ British Journal of Nursing, 12 November 1921, p.307
- ↑ British Journal of Nursing, April 1931, p.88
