BLACK, Charlotte Florence

Biography

Charlotte Florence BLACK was born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy in 1916, the daughter of Robert and Charlotte Black. She trained as a nurse in Weymouth. On March 18, 1941 she joined Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS).

Nursing Service in WW2

206670 Sister BLACK was posted to 17th Combined General Hospital, in India. In December 1941, after the bombing of Pearl Harbour and the invasion of Malaya, she was one of a group of nurses sent from India to boost nursing support in Singapore. She served at the 20th Combined General Hospital, Singapore, until all the nurses were instructed to leave the island. She left Singapore on the SS Kuala, which was sunk by Japanese bombers on February 14, 1942, off Pom Pong Island. She made it ashore and with other surviving nurses, cared for the injured and wounded passengers. Only 30 out of 160 nurses on board the SS Kuala survived. Two days later they were rescued by the SS Tanjong Pinang which was also escaping Singapore. The following evening the SS Tanjong Pinang was itself sunk by Japanese naval vessels on February 17, 1942. She was wounded in her legs, and after five days on a raft landed on Banka Island where she died and was buried on the beach .

She died February 23, 1942, on Banka Island and her name is recorded on the Singapore Memorial Column 1131