Marie Baudet - French artist and nurse killed during an air raid

As you know, I am researching the women who were involved in WW1 from all nations for commemorative exhibitions.  Marie Baudet was French - born in Tagnon (Ardennes).  She lived in Rheims and painted the everyday scenes she saw there. Influenced by Gaugin, her work was exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1907 and 1913.   Marie is featured in Tim Cross's book "The Lost Voices of World War 1" (Bloomsbury, London, 1988) but I have not been able to find out much about Marie on the Internet.   She was apparently killed during an air raid on Rheims while nursing the wounded in either 1916 or 1917.

If anyone knows anything more about Marie - and has a photograph of her - please get in touch.

Marie's lovely painting of a market in Rheims is for sale via  http://harborviewantiques.com/product/marie-baudet-french-19th-20th-c-market-scene-in-reims/

Researching the women of The First World War who died or were killed

Jim Strawbridge is looking for photos of the graves of women who died or were killed during WW1.  For the past 18 years, Jim has been preparing a Register of WW1 serving female casualties for publication at his own expense as a lasting memorial to these oft-forgotten women. 

The Register will show the women in alphabetical order and will comprise a short biography together with photographs of them, their graves and  their memorials.  The photos Jim is currently looking for are listed on this thread of discussion on the Great War Forum website: http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?/topic/3929-wanted-photos-nationwide/&page=64

If you are able to send photos of graves to Jim, he will place your name against the photos you supply, as an  acknowledgement.  Jim's e-mail address is jimstrawbridge@coinsale.fsnet.co.uk

Lelia, Lady Mathilda Samuelson (1852 – 1915) – Nurse in WW1

Lelia Lady Mathilda Samuelson was born in Belgium in 1852.  Her parents were Chevalier Leon Serena, who was born in Italy, and his wife Caroline, who was born in Belgium.  In 1874, Lelia married William Denny, a shipbuilder from Dumbarton, Scotland. They had two sons and two daughters.   The boys became Captains in the Dragoon Guards - Peter Robert Denny was killed during the Boer War and Leon Serena Denny was killed in Flanders on 13th May 1915.  

After the death of her first husband, Lelia married the Rt. Hon. Sir Bernard Samuelson, Bart and became step-mother of Sir H.B. Samuelson, Bart.  Sir Bernard died in 1905.

When war broke out, Lelia volunteered to work as a nurse in Belgium where her knowledge of languages would be of great use.  She went to work in the Anglo-Belgian Hospital Albert 1st in Rouen, France.  Lelia died on 18th June 1915 at the age of 63.  

With thanks to Sue Robinson of the Group Wenches in Trenches The Roses of No Man’s Land and Neil Thornton for the information.

Sue is campaigning for memorials to all the women of WW1. Find out more and donate on the Wenches' website:  http://www.wenchesintrenches.co.uk/

Neil has just published a book about Rorke’s Drift - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rorkes-Drift-Perspective-Neil-Thornton/dp/1781555532

Photo from the Dumbarton Cemetery website.

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Margaret Dorothy Roberts (1870 - 1917) – British nurse

Margaret Dorothy Roberts was born on 30th October 1870 in Dolgellau  Union Workhouse in Merionethshire, Wales.  Her mother was Laura Roberts, her father unknown.   Margaret’s mother died from TB when Margaret was five years old.  She was educated at the Board School in Dolgellau and then St. Augustine’s Upper Grade Girls School in Kilburn, London. When she was thirteen, Margaret was sent to work for the Sisters of the Church in Kilburn, an Anglican order.  She took a job as a children’s nanny, trained as a nurse, specialising in fever nursing, and from 1900 to 1907 worked at the South Western Hospital in Stockwell.  Margaret emigrated to Australia in 1907, recruited to work in an orphanage south of Perth.  In 1908, Margaret went to work in the Children’s Hospital in Perth.

Margaret returned to Britain in September 1909 where she worked in the Park Hospital in Lewisham as a Staff Nurse.  In 1912, she went back to Australia as Matron of a ship taking domestic servants and immigrants to Australia.   In 1913 Margaret was appointed Sister in Queen’s Memorial Hospital, Fairfield.  Margaret’s next assignment was as nurse to an Aboriginal Settlement in Taroon, Queensland.

Margaret was 45 when WW1 broke out – too old to join the Australian Army Nursing Service - so she applied to join the British Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service.  She was accepted, providing that she returned to Britain at her own expense.  Back in Britain, Margaret worked at the Fargo Military Hospital in Larkhill on Salisbury Plain, which treated the Australian and New Zealand troops based in Britain before being sent to the various theatres of war.  Many of those Australian soldiers died and are buried in Wiltshire cemeteries. (For information about the Australian soldiers buried in Wiltshire, see posts on www.fascinatingfactsofww1.blogspot.co.uk)

On 17^th December 1917 Margaret began preparations for service in Egypt.  She boarded the Hospital Ship “Osmanieh” on 28^th December 1917 and was drowned when the ship hit a mine, exploded and sank near the entrance to Alexandria Harbour.   With seven of her nursing colleagues who were also on board the “Osmanieh”, Margaret was buried in the Hadra War Memorial Cemetery in Alexandria, Egypt.   Margaret Dorothy Roberts is also commemorated on the QAIMNS memorial plaque in York Minster, York, UK.

Source: http://www.flintshirewarmemorials.com/memorials/st-asaph-memorial/st-asaph-cathedral-welsh-nurses-ww1/roberts-margaret-dorothy/

Margaret Dorothy Roberts (1870 - 1917) – British nurse

Margaret Dorothy Roberts was born on 30th October 1870 in Dolgellau  Union Workhouse in Merionethshire, Wales.  Her mother was Laura Roberts, her father unknown.   Margaret’s mother died from TB when Margaret was five years old.  She was educated at the Board School in Dolgellau and then St. Augustine’s Upper Grade Girls School in Kilburn, London. When she was thirteen, Margaret was sent to work for the Sisters of the Church in Kilburn, an Anglican order.  She took a job as a children’s nanny, trained as a nurse, specialising in fever nursing, and from 1900 to 1907 worked at the South Western Hospital in Stockwell.  Margaret emigrated to Australia in 1907, recruited to work in an orphanage south of Perth.  In 1908, Margaret went to work in the Children’s Hospital in Perth.

Margaret returned to Britain in September 1909 where she worked in the Park Hospital in Lewisham as a Staff Nurse.  In 1912, she went back to Australia as Matron of a ship taking domestic servants and immigrants to Australia.   In 1913 Margaret was appointed Sister in Queen’s Memorial Hospital, Fairfield.  Margaret’s next assignment was as nurse to an Aboriginal Settlement in Taroon, Queensland.

Margaret was 45 when WW1 broke out – too old to join the Australian Army Nursing Service - so she applied to join the British Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service.  She was accepted, providing that she returned to Britain at her own expense.  Back in Britain, Margaret worked at the Fargo Military Hospital in Larkhill on Salisbury Plain, which treated the Australian and New Zealand troops based in Britain before being sent to the various theatres of war.  Many of those Australian soldiers died and are buried in Wiltshire cemeteries. (For information about the Australian soldiers buried in Wiltshire, see posts on www.fascinatingfactsofww1.blogspot.co.uk)

On 17^th December 1917 Margaret began preparations for service in Egypt.  She boarded the Hospital Ship “Osmanieh” on 28^th December 1917 and was drowned when the ship hit a mine, exploded and sank near the entrance to Alexandria Harbour.   With seven of her nursing colleagues who were also on board the “Osmanieh”, Margaret was buried in the Hadra War Memorial Cemetery in Alexandria, Egypt.   Margaret Dorothy Roberts is also commemorated on the QAIMNS memorial plaque in York Minster, York, UK.

Source: http://www.flintshirewarmemorials.com/memorials/st-asaph-memorial/st-asaph-cathedral-welsh-nurses-ww1/roberts-margaret-dorothy/

Dr. Isobel Addey Tate (1877 - 1917) - Irish Medical Doctor

Isobel Addey Tate was born in County Armagh, Northern Ireland on 1^st May 1877.  Her parents were John Tate and his wife Isabella Cherry Tate.  Isobel was the fifth child and first daughter of the family. 

Isobel studied medicine at Queen’s College, Royal University of Ireland in Belfast and graduated in 1899 with Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Arts in Obstetrics degrees.

Isobel worked initially in Dublin and continued her studies. In 1902, she qualified as a Doctor of Medicine from the Royal University of Ireland. On the 1901 Census, Isobel was living in Beverley in Yorkshire and working as an assistant to a surgeon.

In 1904, she was awarded the Diploma of Public Health from the Victoria University, Manchester and was appointed Resident Medical officer at Burnley Union Infirmary. 

By June 1908 Isobel was the Medical Officer for the Inspection of School Children in Shropshire and in 1914 she was appointed Public Health Officer at Manchester City Council.

During the First World War, Isabel joined Mabel Stobart’s Serbian Relief Fund as senior surgeon with the unit, in charge of the X- ray section. Her Unit sailed for Greece in April 1915, and landed in Salonika on the 17th April 1915.  The unit moved north to Kragujevac in Serbia, which housed the Serbian arsenal.  Isobel contracted typhoid fever soon after she arrived in Serbia, and was sent to Belgrade Hospital but was sent home just before the retreat from Serbia. 

Isobel died on 28th January 1917 after a short illness - her death certificate stated that she died at 5 Victoria Junction, Sliema.  She was buried on  30th January 1917 with full military honours in Pieta Military Cemetery in Malta, where the following nurses were also buried: Staff Nurse Frances E. Brace of the QAUMNS, Staff Nurse Mary Clough, Nurse Helen Batchelor Taylor, a VAD with the 4^th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, and Staff Nurse Dorothy Watson of the Territorial Force Nursing Service, attached to St. John’s Military Hospital.

From the “Burnley Express” Newspaper of 13^th February 1917

“Mrs Cunliffe, of Eanam Street, Blackburn, has received from her husband, Dr Riley Cunliffe (Royal Army Medical Corps), a letter describing the Military funeral, at Malta of Dr Isobel Tate.

“The funeral was quite an imposing ceremony,” writes Dr Cunliffe, “About 100 officers walked, with band, firing party, and some troops, as well as mounted police. The body was covered with the Union Jack, and drawn on a gun carriage. All the troops marched with reversed arms and dead slow. She was buried in the cemetery in the same reserved part of the ground where there are so many officers and men who have died here—Brigadier-General Lee, and others.”

In all, 82 lady doctors served in war hospitals in Malta during the First World War.

Sources:  http://www.maltaramc.com/ladydoc/t/tateia.html

https://jenjen999.wordpress.com/isobel-addey-tate/
 

Additional information supplied and written by Andrew Thornton from “Burnley Express” and “Burnley Gazette” and Jean Siddall.

"The Rose of No Man’s Land" a WW1 song by Jack Caddigan and James Alexander Brennan

Many thanks to Sue Robinson of the Group Wenches in Trenches The Roses of No Man's Land for bringing the song "The Rose of No Man's Land" to my attention.
 
Sue Robinson is campaigning for recognition of all the women of WW1 and a special memorial is to be unveiled at Lochnagar Crater.   The Women of War Memorial will be unveiled at Lochnagar Crater, La Boisselle, France at 2.30 pm on 11/11/2016, just after the main ceremony.  All welcome.
To find out more about Sue’s work please see the website http://www.wenchesintrenches.co.uk/
The song was co-written by Jack Caddigan the lyricist (1879 - 1952) and James Alexander Brennan the song-writer (1885 - 1956). The lyrics were translated into French by Louis Delamarre and the song became popular during the First World War.
It was written as a tribute to the women who went to all the theatres of the conflict to nurse the wounded. The song is still in copyright but you can read both sets of lyrics - English and French - here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rose_of_No_Man%27s_Land
Photo: The cover of the sheet music to the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHFO2FSxg_8

This was a song written by Jack Caddigan and James Brennan and first published in French in 1918.  It was written as a tribute to the Red Cross nurses of the First World War.

Music publisher Leo Feist published a version in 1918 as "La rose sous les boulets", with French lyrics by Louis Delamarre. A version with English lyrics by Jack Caddigan and James Alexander Brennan was published by Jack Mendelsohn Music in 1945. Herman Darewski and others also published versions in 1918 and in 1945.

Jack Caddigan (1879 – 1952) – was a lyricist of Irish origin, born in Canada but brought up in Boston, Massachusetts, USA 

James Alexander Brennan, also known as Jas. H. Brennan, (1885 – 1956) was an American composer from Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

"La rose sous les Boulets"

J'ai vu bien des fleurs s'empourprer,
Au jardin de la vie.
Et souvent j'aime à m'enivrer
De leur senteur bénie.
J'en sais une au pur éclat,
Sans rival ici-bas.

La rose fleurit sous les Boulets,
En avant du front elle est
De pleurs arrosée
Pour bien des années.
Dans nos coeurs elle restera,
La rose rouge amour du soldat.
Dans cette enceinte où rien ne bouge,
L'ombre qui parait,
Portant la Croix Rouge,
C'est la Rose des Boulets.

The English version was sung by:
William Thomas - 1916
Henry Burr - 1918
Charles Hart - 1919
Hugh Donovan (a.k.a. Charles Harrison) - 1919

Lyrics:

I've seen some beautiful flowers
Grow in life's garden fair
I've spent some wonderful hours
Lost in their fragrance rare
But I have found another
Wondrous beyond compare....

There's a rose that grows in no-man's land
And it's wonderful to see
Though its sprayed with tears, it will live for years
In my garden of memory

It's the one red rose the soldier knows
It's the work of the Master's hand
'Neath the War's great curse stands a Red Cross nurse
She's the rose of no-man's land

Out in the heavenly splendour 
Down to the trail of woe
God in his mercy has sent her
Fearing the World below
We call her Rose of Heaven
We've longed to love her so....

There's a rose that grows in no-man's land
And it's wonderful to see
Though its sprayed with tears, it will live for years
In my garden of memory

It's the one red rose the soldier knows
It's the work of the Master's hand
'Neath the War's great curse stands a Red Cross nurse
She's the rose of no-man's land

(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - June 2004)

Other lyrics written by Caddigan:

I Can't Stop Doing It Now (1912) with James Alexander Brennan (sheet music)
Poor Little Rich Girl (1914) with James Alexander Brennan, published by O.E. Story (sheet music)
The Dream I Had Last Night (1915) with James Alexander Brennan and O.E. Story (sheet music)
In The Golden Summertime (1915) with James Alexander Brennan (sheet music)
The Rose of No Man's Land (La rose sous les boulets) (1918) with James Alexander Brennan, (French lyric by Louis Delamarre), published by Leo Feist (sheet music)
The Rose Of The Mountain Trail with James Alexander Brennan
In The Old Sweet Way (1919) with "Chick" O.E. Story, published by Leo Feist
Sweetheart Waltz (1920) with "Chick" Story, published by Fred Fisher (sheet music)
When The Money Moon Is Shining with "Chick" O.E. Story
Egyptian Moonlight (1919) with A. Fred Phillips, published by Ted Garton Music.

Other songs by Brennan:

The Dream I Had Last Night (1915) with Jack Caddigan and O.E. Story
In The Golden Summertime (1915) with Jack Caddigan (sheet music)
The Rose of No Man's Land; La rose sous les boulets (1918) with Jack Caddigan, (French lyric by Louis Delamarre) (sheet music)
Dreaming Sweet Dreams of Mother
If The Can Canny Cannibals Captured New York Town (1916) with Moore and O.E. Story
When It's Cotton Pickin' Time In Tennessee (1918) with Jack Caddigan
The Trail That Leads To You with Jack Caddigan

When The Steamboats On The Swanee Whistle Rag-time (1918) with Jack Caddigan