Saturday, 15 July 2017

Florence Missouri Caton (1876 - 1917) - Nurse

Remembering Nursing Sister FLORENCE MISSOURI CATON, of the Scottish Women's Hospital, who was attached to the Serbian Army.  Florence was the eldest daughter of American Naval Captain John Henry Caton and his wife, Elizabeth Caton, nee Evans, from Wales.   Born aboard her Father’s ship “The Missouri” off the coast of the West Indies in 1876.  Florence had a brother, John H., b. 1874, and a sister, Linda A., b. 1878.  When in Britain, the family lived in Wrexham, Denbighshire, Wales.  

Florence trained as a nurse at Wrexham Infirmary and in 1901 was working at the Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Pendleton, Salford.  She joined the Scottish Women’s Hospital in 1914 and was posted to Salonika.  She was among the nurses taken prisoner by the Austrian Army in November 1915.   After her repatriation, Florence took American nationality and returned to Salonika to nurse where she died on 15th July 1917.

Florence was buried in Lembet Road Military Cemetery in Salonika (Thessaloniki, Greece) - Grave Reference: 1599.  Has anyone visited the graves of the women who died while serving during the First World War and are buried in that Cemetery in Greece?

Sources: Commonwealth War Graves Commission List of Female Casualties of the First World War, Find my Past, Free BMD and http://scottishwomenshospitals.co.uk/friends-of-wrexham-museum/