Blue Plaque to commemorate Dame Maud McCarthy

I was so pleased to see that there is now a blue plaque outside the house in Chelsea (London, England) in which Dame Maud McCarthy lived from 1919 until her death in 1949.

Maud was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1859.  In 1891 she enrolled at the London Hospital, Whitechapel as a probationer nurse.   When the Boer War began, Maud was one of six nurses personally chosen by Princess Alexandra to go to South Africa as military nursing sisters.

In 1902 the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service was formed and in 1910 Maud became Matron-in-Chief at the War Office.   When war was declared in 1914, Maud was made Matron-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force.  She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1918 for her services to nursing.

After the War, Maud formed the Territorial Army Nursing Service of which she was in charge until 1925.   Dame Maud McCarthy died in 1949.

Liverpool Medical Institution WW1 Commemorative Event, 2nd - 4th October 2014

With thanks to Meg Parkes for telling me about this event about medical services during WW1 - details and registration on the Institution website - http://www.lmi.org.uk/

Edith Appleton (1877 - 1958) - British Nurse

I am indebted to Sonia Bidwell who sent me a copy of  "A Nurse at the Front The First World War Diaries of Sister Edith Appleton" - thank you so much Sonia.

The book is really fascinating and has been put together by Edith's great nephew with Edith's words edited by Ruth Cowen.   Edith's diaries were found after her death but lay undiscovered until 2008 when her great nephew, Dick Robinson. decided to get them published.

There is also a website where you can find out more about Edith and her amazing experiences as a nurse on the Western Front in the First World War - www.edithappleton.org.uk

As Ruth Cowen mentions in her Introduction to the book, "...the work goes on..."

“A Nurse at the Front The First World War Diaries of Sister Edith Appleton”, edited by Ruth Cowen, Simon & Schuster UK Ltd., London, 2013  

Sonia Bidwell is a textile artist/storyteller - details of her work can be found on http://www.spanglefish.com/abhrasstudio/

Dame Lucy Innes Branfoot

My grateful thanks to Colin Reeves who is Dame Lucy's Great Grandson for telling me more about his Great Grandmother.

I am in awe of those amazing women who went to the various theatres of war to help out in many different ways.

I will write a post about Dame Lucy asap.

Margaret Hall - American Red Cross volunteer worker on the Western Front

My grateful thanks to Dr Margaret Stetz from Delaware University for sending me the following link about Margaret Hall, an heiress from Massachusets who went with the American Expeditionary Force to help out during WW1:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/arts/design/over-there-daughters-of-liberty.html

I will make some notes and add a posting about Margaret asap.