FOSTER, Dorothy
Biography
Dorothy Penrose Foster was one of 7 children and was born in Liskeard, Cornwall on the 20th June 1875[1]. Her father was a land-owning farmer who was also a local magistrate and church warden[2]. She trained as a nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London from 1902 to 1905[1], joining the League of St Bartholomew’s Hospital Nurses in December of that year[3]. She then undertook further training in midwifery and massage before becoming a staff nurse at the Government General Hospital, Columbo, Ceylon in 1908[1].
After concluding her 3-year contract she returned to the UK and held positions at Treloar’s Hospital, Alton (1911-1912) and the South Devon and East Cornwall Hospital, Plymouth (1912-1913) before joining the Empire Hospital, Vincent Square, London[1].
Nursing Service in WW1
She joined the Territorial Force Nursing Service on the 26th August 1914[1]. It is not clear when she was posted to France. She served on No. 5 Ambulance train before being posted to No. 24 General Hospital in July 1915[1]. In April of 1916 she was posted the Nurses Home in Abbeville and this was noted in the Matron-in Chief, Maud McCarthy’s diary[4]:
Miss Foster TFNS arrived from 24 General, to take Miss Smythe’s leave, the Sister in Charge of the Nurses’ Home.
She was ‘Mentioned in Despatches’ in June 1916[1], and again in June 1917[1]. She was posted to 36 Casualty Clearing Station at some point as the next time she was mentioned by Maud McCarthy she was being taken from there to a newly formed unit[4]:
I learnt that 34 CCS was opening quite close, and arranged that Miss D.P. Foster, TFNS, the senior Sister at 36 CCS, should take over the charge when the unit was ready, and that I should select suitable staff from the Base. This unit is intended only for medical and shell-shock cases.
She was awarded the Royal Red Cross in December 1917, notified in The London Gazette[5], and also noted in the British Journal of Nursing[6]:
The King has been pleased to award the Royal Red Cross Decoration to the undermentioned ladies of the Nursing Services, in recognition of their valuable services with the Armies in the Field … Dorothy Penrose Foster, Sister, T.F.N.S.
Shortly after the award of the Royal Red Cross she was awarded the Military Medal. The citation was in The London Gazette[7]:
For conspicuous coolness and devotion to duty when supervising the transfer of patients from a Casualty Clearing Station to an Ambulance Train while the locality of the Casualty Clearing Station was being steadily shelled. She set a splendid example of calmness and composure.
She was one of four nurses awarded the Military Medal for their roles in the bombing of the Casualty Clearing Station. Sometime in 1918 she was posted as Sister in Charge 55 Casualty Clearing Station, and again she appeared in the diary of Maud McCarthy in April 1918[4]:
No. 55 Casualty Clearing Station just next door, under the same conditions, only the whole of the Unit is under canvas. They were extremely busy, they took in alternately with No.12 CCS and they had the evacuation of not only their own but of the patients from Cruny as well. OC Lt. Colonel Higgs, whom I did not see, Sister in charge Miss D. P. Foster, TFNS whom I saw, and who has recently been awarded the Military Medal for her work in the Retreat in the 5th Army. In both these units the Sisters are accommodated in billets in the village and have their own separate Mess, batmen being supplied to do the cooking. They are very comfortable in every respect. The work in all the units which I visited was going smoothly and satisfactorily.
She stayed as Sister in Charge of 55 Casualty Clearing Station until the unit was closed at the end of the war. In May 1919 she handed over everything to Maud McCarthy[4]:
Miss D. P. Foster RRC, TFNS, Sister in charge of 55 CCS, arrived with her Mess Books and Mess Balance, with the rest of her staff, as No.55 CCS has now closed as a Sisters’ Unit, only non sisters’ cases being admitted. Miss Foster proceeded on leave. On her return she is to be demobilised to take up an appointment which has been offered to her on the College of Nursing.
She was demobilised on the 25th May 1919[1]. She remained in the TFNS until 1928 when she resigned as no longer engaged in the nursing profession[1]. She lived with her sisters Winifred and Margaret in Liskeard, Cornwall[8]. She died in Liskeard in 1953[9].
She wrote a report for the Matron-in-Chief BEF in 1919, as part of a collection of Reports
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 The National Archives: War Office 399 11309
- ↑ 1881 England Census RG11; Piece: 2286; Folio: 71; Page: 22
- ↑ British Journal of Nursing, December 2nd, 1905 p.453
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 The National Archives, War Office 95/ 3988-91 The official war diary of the Matron-in-Chief, France and Flanders
- ↑ The London Gazette, Supplement, 30450 dated 28 December 1917, p.54
- ↑ British Journal of Nursing, January 12th, 1918, p.20
- ↑ The London Gazette, Supplement 11, 30725, dated 31st May 1918, p. 6553
- ↑ The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/6693H
- ↑ England & Wales National Probate Calendar, 1953, p.347
