Category Archives: Nursing Sister

Nursing Sister Bertha Evelyn McDonald,

Nursing Sister Bertha Evelyn McDonald served in the Canadian Army Medical Corps during WW1. She is not entitled to any military medal.

She was born on March 3rd, 1895 in Alexandria, Ontario

She was hospitalised at Laurentide Sanatorium in Sainte Agathe, Quebec from April 1st to April 30th, 1918.

Her enlistement papers show that she joined the CEF on September 18, 1918 in Montreal, Quebec.

Height: 5′ 4″             Weight:122 lbs.           Religion:Roman Catholic

Her address 112 Saint-Luc Street, Montreal, Quebec

She was declared medically unfit on January 6th, 1919 in Montreal, Quebec.

She was hospitalised for influenza at Montreal General Hospital in April 1919 following which was marked debility.

She was hospitalised at Sainte Anne de Bellevue Hospital from May 2nd to June 2nd, 1919.

She was hospitalised again at Sainte Anne de Bellevue Hospital from June 18th to June 27th, 1919.

She was declared medically unfit and demobilised on July 28th, 1919.

Because she never left Canada, she did not receive any military medal for her service

In two places in her WW1 file it is stated that her military service began near May 1917 but her certificate of service date her appointing as nursing sister as September 18th, 1918 but she was hospitalised in a military hospital before that date.

If you know more information on this lady, please leave me message so I can add it to her small biography

Inscription on her gravestone

1917-1919 C.A.M.C. – SISTER – W.W.1

IN LOVING MEMORY OF BERTHA E. MACDONALD

DAUGHTER OF DR D. D. MACDONALD

AND

CATHERINE MACDONNELL SPOUSE OF CHARLES KERR

AND OF

SCOTT E. BIRD

BORN ALEXANDRIA MAY 3 1894

DIED – OTTAWA DEC 16 1973

MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE

BLESSED ARE THEY THAT PUT

THEIR TRUST IN HIM

PSALMS 2:12

Some WW2 Nursing Sisters gravesites near Ottawa, Ontario

On this day we celebrate V E Day (Victory Day in Europe) here are some pictures of gravestone of a few Canadian Nursing Sisters who served during WW2. Let’s not forget that Canadian women wore khaki and also served during that conflict.

Matron Donalda Maud Robertson

Obituary from the Ottawa Citizen Friday December 2nd 1949, page 58

Robertson, Donalda Maud – In Toronto Western Hospital, December 2, 1949. Donalda Maud Robertson, Reg. N. daughter of Mrs Robertson and late Donald Robertson of Maxville, Ont. Funeral at Maxville United Church Sunday, December 4 at 2 p.m.. She is buried at Maxville Cemetery, Ontario.

Nursing Sister Thelma Hilda Wallace

She was born in 1916 and she died on April 19 1988 and buried in Bellevue Cemetery in Aylmer, Quebec

Nursing Sister Patricia Hession

She was born in 1921 and she died in 1993. She is buried in Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario.

Nursing Sister Mary G Mitchell

She died April 27th 1946 and she is buried in Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario.

Nursing Sister Margaret Andrew (née Irvine)

She was born on July 19th 1911 and she died on January 9th 2007. She is buried in Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario.

Nursing Sister Dorothy M Hunter

She was born in 1919 and died in 2004. She is buried in Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario.

Nursing Sister Clarice Lilian Tanner (née Ogden)

She was born January 29th 1915 and died February 8th 1992. She is buried in Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario.

Nursing Sister Miriam Eastman Baker

Nursing Sister Miriam Eastman Baker served as a Nursing Sister in the Canadian Army Medical Corps during WW1. She is entitled to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

She was born on August 20th, 1886 in London, England.

Height:5′ 5″     Weight:136 lbs.          Religion:Church of England

She graduated from Saint-Rubis Hospital, New-York in 1915

She enlisted in London, England on October 2nd, 1917.

She was posted at the 16th Canadian General Hospital on November 1st.

She was posted at the 15th Canadian General Hospital on March 14th, 1918.

She was admitted to the 15th Canadian General Hospital on August 22nd.(inflammation of the bladder)

She was discharged from the 15th Canadian General Hospital on September 3rd.

She was admitted at the 15th Canadian General Hospital on October 3rd.

She died on October 17 th, 1918 from a broncho-pneumonia at the 15th Canadian General Hospital at the age of 32.

Her Memorial Plaque and Memorial Scroll were sent to her brother Edwin Godfrey Phills Baker living at 500 Northern Crown Bldg, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Her British War Medal and Victory Medal were sent to her sister, Miss Doris Howard Baker, at 119 Wielmot Place Winnipeg, Manitoba

Since her mother had preceeded her no Memorial Cross was issued.

Picture of Nursing Sister Miriam Eastman Baker

Nursing Member Margaret Louise Sampson

Margaret Louise Sampson # C 801 served with the #231 Nursing Division, St Catharines, Ontario with the St-John Ambulance of Canada. She received the The Most Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem , Officer Sister’s Badge and the St. John Service Medal, with 1 gilded clasp

She was born on May 16th 1913 in St-Catherine, Ontario

She joined St. John Ambulance Brigade in 1944 as a Nursing Member, Divisional Officer and Divisional Superintendent with #231 Nursing Division, St Catharines.

1956 : She received the St. John Service Medal for 12 years service with the St-John Ambulance of Canada.

February 8th, 1957 : She received a Priory Vote of Thanks for Valuable assistance rendered in the furtherance of the work of the Order in connection with the Priory of Canada.

1960 : She was promoted to the rank of Corps Staff Officer (Secretary) with the Lincoln Corps. She held this position until her death.

1961 : She received her first long service clasp for 17 years of service with the Ambulance.

1966 : She received her second long service clasp for 22 years of service with the Ambulance.

May 18th, 1969 : She had completed 25 years service and was rewarded by becoming a Serving Sister of the Order of St. John.

1971 : She received her third long service clasp (27 years).

1972 : She promoted to the rank of Officer Sister with the Order of St-John

1976 : She received her gold clasp long service bar denoting 32 years of service

1980 : She died on that year and was still serving with the St-John Ambulance after 36 years.

If you know more information on this lady, please leave me message so I can add it to her small biography.

Her Serving Sister Promotion Certificate

Priory Vote of Thanks for Valuable assistance certificate

Matron Agnes Brooks R.R.C.

Matron Agnes Brooks (civilian) served with the British Medical Service during WW1. She is entitled to the Royal Red Cross 1st class, the British War Medal. She also received a silver badge from the Vice-Chairman of the King Edward VII Hospital Silver.

1906: She began her training at the Old Infirmary, she finished in 1909. She received her certification and her nurse’s registration number is 14764.

1910 : She became Sister

She worked for the British Red Cross and the Order of Saint-John of Jerusalem

November 25th 1914 : She arrived in France and organised the X-ray department for the 2nd British Red Cross Hospital in Rouen

1915 : She was promoted Matron at the King Edward VII Hospital

February 16th, 1920: She awarded her Royal Red Cross on that day and her investiture ceremony on March 3rd, 1921

May 18th, 1923 : She registered herself for the first time on the State Register of Nurses.

September : She retired from her job at the King Edward VII Hospital

1928 : Her address was 19 Trinity Place, Windsor

If you know more information on this lady, please leave me message so I can add it to her small biography

Matron Agnes Brooks WW1 medal and badge

Nursing Sister Margaret Lowe

Nursing Sister Margaret Lowe served as a Nursing Sister in the Canadian Army Medical Corps during World War One. She was entitled to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

She was born on January 26th, 1888, in Moyayshire, Scotland.

Height : 5′ 6″     Weight:140 lbs.          Religion : Presbyterian

She trained as a nurse at the Winnipeg Civic Hospital.

She enlisted on May 24th, 1917 in Winnipeg, Canada.

She sailed from Halifax on May 29 and arrived in Liverpool June 8. She was posted at the Ontario Military Hospital in Orpington in United Kingdom.

She was posted at the 10th Canadian General Hospital on October 5th.

She was transferred to the 1st Canadian General Hospital on November 29th.

She was transferred to the 4th Canadian General Hospital on December 5th.

She arrived in France on January 26th, 1918 and posted with the 10th Canadian Stationary Hospital.

She was transferred to the 1st Canadian General Hospital on March 8th.

She was wounded in the air attack by the Germans of the 1st Canadian General Hospital on May 19th, 1918. She had a fractured skull and chest penetration.

She died on May 28th, 1918 from her wounds at the 24th British General Hospital, Etaples. She is buried at the Etaples Military Cemetery in France.

Her British War Medal, Victory Medal, Memorial Plaque and Scroll were sent to her father Thomas Lowe in Binscarth, Manitoba

No Memorial Cross was issued, her mother had preceeded her.

The complete scan of her military file can be found on the website of Library and Archives Canada

If you know more information on this lady, please leave me message so I can add it to her small biography

Picture of Nursing Sister Margaret Lowe’s funeral

click on the image to enlarge

Lowe's grave 3 Lowe's grave 2 Lowe's grave 1

Picture of her gravestone in Etaples Military Cemetery

Lowe's grave

(source Veterans Affairs Canada)

A memorial bears her name in Binscarth, Manitoba

The memorial in 1919

Lowe's Memorial 1

The memorial in 2012

Lowe's Memorial 2

Nursing Sister Margaret Lowe’s name is the first from the top

Lowe's Memorial

Nursing Sister Agnes Estelle Alpaugh

Nursing Sister Agnes Estelle Alpaugh served in the Canadian Army Medical Corps during WW1. Her military file mention that she received the British War Medal, although there was not a long period of time between her enlistment and her death. It is very unlikely that she went to UK and came back to Canada in October.

She was born in 1892 and enlisted on July 4th, 1918.

Died on October 12th, 1918 from Spanish  flu (pneumonia) in a military hospital in New – Brunswick at the age of 26. It was her second attack of this disease.

Her medal (probably entitled only to the British War medal), Memorial Plaque and Memorial Scroll were sent to her father, Robert Alpaugh

The Memorial Cross was sent to her mother at the same adress.

If you know more information on this lady, please leave me message so I can add it to her small biography

Nursing Sister Agnes Estelle Alpaugh gravestone in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu Roman Catholic Cemetery

click on the image to enlarge

Books on the Canadian Army Medical Services and Nursing Sister

Over the years I have read many books on the Canadian Army Medical Corps and its member. These books were not meant to be read like a novel and they are not fast page turner, so sometime they are a little bit hard to read BUT they do hold very valuable information on the Canadian Medical Corps and its members who served during peacetime and wartime period.

This is the list of all the books I have read so far on the subject, if you happen to know a book that is not in this list but related to the Canadian Medical service during a war, please let me know so I can add it to this list.

Some of those are available for free and downloadable from the Internet. I have added the link to those e-book.

CORPS HISTORY

WW1

Official history of the Canadian Forces in the Great War 1914-19 – The Medical Services by Sir Andrew McPhail published in 1925. It can be read online by clicking here

The Canadian Army Medical Corps with the Canadian Corps in the last hundred days of the Great War by Colonel A. E. Snell published in 1924. It can be read online by clicking here

The First Canadians in France by F McKelvey-Bell published in 1917

The War Story of the Canadian Army Medical Corps 1914-1915 by Colonel J. G. Adami published in 1916. It can be read online by clicking here or here

Politics and the Canadian Army Medical Corps by Colonel Herbert A. Bruce published in 1919. It can be read online by clicking here

WW2

Official History of the Canadian Medical Services 1939-1945 (2 volumes) by W. R. Feasby published in 1953. You can read volume 1 by clicking here and volume 2 by clicking here

Death their enemy: Canadian Medical Practitioners and War by Bill Rawling published in 2001

A History of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps: Seventy Years of Service by Colonel G.W.L. Nicholson published in 1977

Post-WW2

The Myriad Challenges of Peace : Canadian Forces Medical Practitioners Since the Second World War by Bill Rawling published in 2004

UNIT HISTORY

No 1 Canadian General Hospital by Kenneth Cameron published in 1928

No 3 Canadian General Hospital in France (author unknown)

No 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) 1914-1919 by R. C. Fetherstonhaugh published in 1928

No 4 Canadian Hospital: The Letters of Professor J. J. McKenzie from the Salonika Front by J. J. Mackenzie published in 1933

A history of no 7 (Queen’s) Canadian General Hospital

Battle for life by A.M. Jack Hyatt and Nancy Geddes Poole published in 2004 (history of 10th Canadian Stationary Hospital in WW1 and 10th Canadian General Hospital in WW2)

Stretcher bearer … at the Double by Frederick W. Noyes (history of the 5th Canadian Field Ambulance)

History records of number 8 Canadian Field Ambulance 1915-1913 by Lieutenant –Colonel J. N. Gunn published in 1929 (history of the 8th Canadian Field Ambulance)

Diary of the Eleventh (history of the 11th Canadian Field Ambulance)

The Military Medical Units of Hamilton, Ontario in Peace and War 1900-1990 by A.R.C. Butson published in 1990

Salute to the Air Force Medical Branch by Harold M. Wright published 1999

NURSING SISTER

Canada’s Nursing Sisters by G.W.L. Nicholson published in 1975

Sister heroines: The Roseate Glow of Wartime Nursing 1914-1918 by Marjorie Barron Norris published in 2002

An Officer and a Lady by Cynthya Toman published in 2007

Canadian Foreign Awards to Nursing Service Mentioned-in-Despatches World War I (1914-1919) edited by Jim Wallace in 2001

PERSONAL ACCOUNT – MEMOIRS – BIOGRAPHY

From a Stretcher Handle: The World War 1 Journal and Poems of Pte. Frank Walker published in 2000

Four Score and Ten – Memoirs of a Canadian Nurse (story of Nursing Sister Maude Wilkinson) published in 2003

Lights Out: A Canadian Nursing Sister’s Tale by Katherine M. Wilson-Simmie published in 1981

Nobody Ever Wins a War by Ella Mae Bongard (edited by Eric Scott) published in 1998

Our Bit: Memories of War Service by a Canadian Nursing Sister by Mabel Clint published in 1934

Agnes Warner and the Nursing Sister of the Great War by Agnes Warner (edited by Swawna M. Quinn) published in 2010

The War Diary of Clare Gass 1915-1918 by Clare Gass (edited by Susan Mann) and published in 2000

Margaret MacDonald Imperial Daughter by Susan Mann published in 2005

Never Leave Your head Uncovered: A Canadian Nursing Sister in World War Two by Doris V. Carter published in 1999

The military Nurses of Canada : Recollections of Canadian Military Nurses (3 volumes) by Edith A. Landells published in 1993

Although it was never published as a book, you can find Nursing Sister Helen L. Fowlds letters and diary on the Trent University website. Her letters can be read by clicking here and her diaries can be read by clicking here.

FRENCH BOOK

Dans la tourmente : Deux hôpitaux militaires canadiens-français (1915-1919) by Michel Litalien published in 2003

Briser les ailes de l’ange : Les infirmières militaires canadiennes (1914-1918) by Mélanie Morin-Pelletier published in 2006

Nursing Sister Addie Allen Tupper

Nursing Sister Addie Allen Tupper served in the Canadian Army Medical Corps during WW1. She is one of a few women who died while serving in the Canadian Army for her country at war. She is entitled to the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

She was born on October 13th, 1870 in Dartmouth Nova Scotia

She enlisted on September 24th, 1914 in Quebec, Quebec with the 2nd, Canadian General Hospital.

Height : 5′ 4″     Weight : 120 lbs.          Religion : Baptist

On enlistment she was a widow.

Hospitalized for six weeks on May 28th, 1915 she had pain in both legs

She was still sick on August 10th, 1915 she received another one month for convalescence

She was awarded the Royal Red Cross 2nd class on June 3rd, 1916 (London Gazette 29608)

Posted at the Canadian Convalescent in Hillingdon on November 8th.

Admitted at the Canadian Convalescent Hillingdon on December 9th, 1916. Reported dangerously hill on admission. She died of a pneumonia on December 9th 1916 at the Canadian Convalescent Hillingdon at the age of 46.

Her medals along with the Memorial Plaque and Scroll and Memorial Cross were sent to her mother Mary E. Trefry in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia

She is buried in Uxbridge Cemetery (Hillingdon), Middlesex, United Kingdom.

If you know more information on this lady, please leave me message so I can add it to her small biography

Pictures of Nursing Sister Tupper gravestone

Picture source – Veterans Affairs Canada website

Nursing Sister Marjorie Beatrice Moberly – UPDATED

Nursing Sister Marjorie Beatrice Moberly served in the Canadian Army Medical Corps during WW1. She served only in Canada and was born in 1895 Totnes District, Devon, United Kingdom.

She graduated from the Nursing School of the Royal Jubilee Hospital, Vernon, British-Columbia

Her parents were Major and Mrs. Guy Moberly of 1630 Haro street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Her father enlisted in the 7th battalion Canadian Expeditionary Forces in September 1914.

October 26th, 1918 : She died at the Coquitlam Military Hospital of influenza. Her funeral was held on October 30th and she was buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver, British Columbia

Excerpt from the Vancouver Daily Province  October 28, 1918 : The death occurred at the Coquitlam Military Hospital on Saturday of Nursing Sister Marjorie Beatrice Moberly, aged 23. She had applied for overseas’ service eighteen months ago, but was not called on until the influenza outbreak, when she immediately went to Coquitlam. After a few days she contracted the disease. She was the first military nurse to die from the epidemic. She was the daughter of Major Moberly of the Board of Pension Commissioners.

According to her death certificate she had been at the place of death (Coquitlam) only for 14 days and was previously living at  1630 Haro Street, Vancouver.

This is where her story gets bizarre. Nursing Sister Marjorie Beatrice Moberly is not commemorated as a casualty of war on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission nor the Canadian Book of Remembrance . She was a member of the Canadian Forces at the time of her death so, technically, she should be recognized to that effect, but she is not. I also tried to locate her in the Library and Archives Canada database of WW1 Canadian Soldiers and Nursing Sisters, again, I am unable to find her there. If her military file exist, it is somewhere else.

If you look at her grave site

Picture of Nursing Sister Marjorie Beatrice Moberly grave

She is buried amongst other soldiers who do have the official veteran gravestone but she does not. It’s like her official veteran gravestone was removed and replaced by a civilian stone flat on the ground.

Even if a nurses or soldiers did not served overseas and died of cause related to their military service in Canada, they were to be recognized as a casualty of war and receive the proper honours. They would get an official military grave stone, one next-of-kin would received the Memorial Plaque with the Memorial Scroll and the mother  of the deceased received the Memorial Cross. Some Canadian nurses died on active duty during WW1, served only in Canada and are recognized as official casualties of war.

The big question is “Was she officially in the Canadian Army” There are some traces of her in official Canadian Army documents. Her name can be found in some 23rd Infantry Brigade Canadian Army official documents.

One of the three official document where her name is mentionned

It is really bizarre why she is not recognized as an official casualty of war.

Five things could have happened ;

  • 1 – Since she died very shortly after enlisting, her enlistment papers may not have not been processed in the system before she died and she was not considered officially enlisted in the Canadian Army.
  • 2 – Her obituary mentioned that she got sick a few days after arriving, maybe she did report for duty already sick and was sent directly to the hospital as a patient and never did nursing work, meaning she did not serve one day in the Canadian Army.
  • 3 – Maybe there was a qualifying period before you could be eligible to official honours if you died and did not served oversea. I am almost sure there wasn’t a such a period but I am not 100 % sure.
  • 4 – Maybe she was enrolled not as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces (C.E.F.) but as part of the Canadian Reserve Forces, this is really a minor administrative difference but this means that technically she was not serving for the war effort as part of the C.E.F. and only members of the C.E.F. were entitled to the official honours.
  • 5 – Maybe her file got lost and was never found again

I think that options 4 or 5 are more likely to be the explanation of that mystery.

Although an administrative detail prevented her from being commemorated officially by the Canadian Government, it is clear that she died of causes related to her military service.

UPDATED NOVEMBER 22nd 2012

The information was sent to me by a relative of Nursing Sister Moberly

Her father was a professional soldier in the Indian Army (he spoke Persian and Pushtu) and seems to have emigrated via England to Canada sometime after resigning his Indian Army commission in 1897.     That is why he joined the Canadian forces (7th Canadian Infantry Battalion) in WW1.    His father and grandfather were also in the Indian Army.  

Not surprisingly, several of Marjorie’s female Moberly cousins were also nurses in WW1.    Marjorie has a particularly close link with one of them, although she will not have known of it – my grandfather’s sister was a Nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), working in a convalescent hospital at Merton College, Oxford, but she too died in the flu epidemic in 1918 just 2 days before the end of WW1.  She is buried in Christ Church College, Oxford, where her father had been a professor

Her official Death Card list her as a Nursing Sister but civilian, this add another twist to this mystery. Canadian Nursing Sisters were not civilian but according to the card she is. I wonder if she was not like a contractual nurse and not part of the military but rather working with the military.

Nursing Sister Beatrice Moberly Death Card

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Pictures and obituary sources - Great War Forum

Nursing Sister Christina C. Frederickson

Nursing Sister Christina C. Frederickson served during WW1 in the Canadian Army Medical Corps. She is one of the few women who died while serving her country at war in the Canadian Army.  According to her military file she was never sent overseas and served only in Canada. Technically she was not entitled to the British War Medal but her Medals Card indicates that one of those was sent to her mother.

She was born on July 9th 1886 in Skagafjord, Iceland

She enlisted on January 10th 1918 in Edmonton, Alberta. She was employed and living at the Stratchona’s Military Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta.

Height : 5′ 6″               Weight : 160 lbs.

She entered the Strathcona Military Hospital, Edmonton on October 24th, 1918. She was relieved of duty at noon.

She signed her last will on October 25th.

On October 28th her medical report give this information at 12:15 Pulse 128 to 136 – respiration 48 to 54 – cyanosis apparent

Died in the isolation section of the hospital on October 28th, 1918 at 5:30 p.m. at the age of 32. Primary cause of death, epidemic influenza. The immediate cause of death was bronco-pneumonia.

Her British War Medal and Memorial Cross were sent to her mother, G.S. Frederickson. The Memorial Plaque and Memorial Scroll were sent to her father, Frederick Frederickson Box 13 Glenboro Manitoba.

If you know additional information on this gentleman, please leave me a comment so I can add the information to his small biography.

Picture of Nursing Sister Frederickson gravestone

Picture source – Veteran Affairs Canada Website

Nursing Sister Amy Madeline Alice Turner

Nursing Sister Amy Madeline Alice Turner served in the Army Nursing Service Reserve with the British Army during the Boers’ war. She is entitled to the Queen South Africa Medal (no clasp). It is very difficult to have information on her military service because Nursing Sister were not considered military personnel but rather civilian, so they had no service file.

She was born in Bham, Warwickshire, England on November 2nd 1872

1881 United Kingdom census taken in Westfield Bellevue Road, Harborne, Staffordshire, England

Her father was a coal merchant and they had one servant Elizabeth Greaves

1891 census taken in Ombersley Worcestershire

Father: George Thomas Turner (born 1848)             Mother: Emma (born 1849)

Sister: Elsie Emma A (born 1872)                             Sister: Mignon A (born 1882)

She completed her nursing education at the South Staffordshire Hospital in Wolverhampton.

June 1900: She joined the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service Reserve 41 as # 600 to serve in the Boer’s War.

She sailed from England on June 27th, 1901 on the Assaye. They left Southampton in the afternoon with 34 nurses (from London Times)

August 8th: Reported at the 3rd General Hospital in Kroonstad, South Africa

May 1st, 1902: The Simla left South Africa for England Apr. 27, with the following invalids … Nursing Sister A.M.A. Turner (from the London Times)

May 22nd: The Simla arrived at Plymouth yesterday and then sailed for Southampton. The following were listed Nursing Sister A.E. Turner (from the London Times)

1910: She married John Hearn

1974: She died at the Brookfield Hall Nursing Home in Broadclist, Devon at the venerable age of 102 in the second semester (April-May-June) of the year.

In an entry of the London Gazette of July 29 th 1974, the post-nominal M.B.E. appears after her name, so I guess she received the award at some point in her life but I cannot find a trace of that award.

If you know more information on this lady, please leave me message so I can add it to her small biography

Queen’s South Africa Medal with no clasp

Nursing Sister Rebecca Helen McEachen

Nursing Sister Rebecca Helen McEachen served in the Canadian Army Medical Corps during WW1. She is one of the few women who died while serving her country at war in the Canadian army. She is entitled to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Born on May 7th 1889 in Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario

Enlisted on June 22nd, 1918 in Carleton Place, Ontario.

October 17th she had an infection to her ear. Notes from her medical report : ”Nursing Sister developed middle ear disease while on duty at Ontario Military Hospital, Cobourg and was transferred for treatment to Hotel Dieu hospital on October 7th, 1918.”

On recovery she was transferred to duty at Queen Military Hospital October 17th, 1918.

November 10th : Extract from her medical report “symptoms of recurrence of the middle ear trouble developed and she was admitted to general Hospital November 11th,. On the 13th symptoms of meningitis developed and on lumber puncture streptococcus demonstrated. She gradually sank and died evening of November 16th, 1918.”

Died on November 16th, 1918 at the Ontario Military Hospital in Cobourg at the age of 32.

Her British War Medal, Victory Medal, Memorial Plaque and Scroll and Memorial Cross were sent to her mother Elizabeth MacEachen, Carleton Place. Her father was John McEachen who married Elizabeth Betsey Cunningham on the 7th January 1864 at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Perth, Ontario

Buried in Saint-Mary Cemetery in Carleton Place, Ontario.

Inscription on her gravestone 16 nov 1918 – Daughter of the late John and Elizabeth McEachen

At the foot of her gravestone there is another stone in the ground with the inscription «Elizabeth

Cunningham – Wife of John McEachen – Alick McEachen veteran – Sarah McEachen Died in 1924

Picture of her gravestone in St-Mary cemetery, Carleton Place, Ontario

Nursing Sister Glady Maude Mary Wake

Nursing Sister Glady Maude Mary Wake served in the Canadian Army Medical corps during WW1. She was entitled to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. She is one of the few women who died while serving in the Canadian army for her country at war.

Born on December 13th, 1883 in Esquimalt, British Columbia

Height : 5′ 1″     Weight : 112 lbs.           Religion : Church of England

Eyes : hazel         Hair : Dark brown

Graduated from the provincial Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria British, Columbia in 1912.

On January 2st, 1916 she was posted at the Duchess of Connaught Hospital in Taplow, England

She signed her enlistement papers in London, England on January 10th, 1916. She nust had signed some papers before she left Canada but those are not in her file.

On September 24th she was posted with the 1st Canadian Stationary hospital

Embarked in Southampton on the H.S. Britanic on September 24th. Disembarked in Salonika on October 6th.

Posted with the 1st Canadian Stationary Hospital on October 6th.

Posted with the 11th Canadian General Hospital on October 2nd, 1917.

Posted with the 1st Canadian General Hospital on May 12th, 1918.

Died in the air attack of the 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital in Doullens on May 30th, 1918 at the age of  27. She had a wounded leg and fractured femur.

Her full military file has been digitalized and can be found by clicking here on the website of Library and Archives Canada

Her British War Medal, Victory Medal, and Memorial Plaque with the Scroll were sent to her father, Gervais Fontayne Wake in Crompton Hill, Malvern, England

Her Memorial Cross was sent to her mother Amy Rosamond.

In 1998 she had a mountain named after her in British Columbia, Mount Wake

Picture of Nursing Sister Wake funeral procession

Picture of Nursing Sister Wake funeral gravestone

Pictures source Veteran Affairs Canada website

Nurse Gabrielle Morin

May 16th, 1940 : Graduated from Hopital Ste – Justine Nursing School in Montreal, Quebec

From the Montreal Lovell’s directory

- Not listed in the directory before 1929

- In 1929 her father arrived with her at the address 5940 De Lorimier

- May 16th, 1940 : Graduated as a nurse from the Ste-Justine Hospital in Montreal

- From 1941 until 1945 she is living at the 5940 De Lorimier avenue and listed as a graduated nurse

- Not listed in the directory in after 1946

September 23rd, 1950 : information from a website “Morin, Gabrielle, and Gordon Richardson are wed”

If you know more information on this lady, please leave me message so I can add it to her small biography.

Gabrielle Morin nursing school graduation pin Hôpital Ste – Justine Montréal

Obverse engraved : Mlle Gabrielle Morin 16 – 5 – 40

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