During the First World War, Winifred joined the local Voluntary Aid Detachment and became a trained nurse.
Winifred’s Great-Niece Ann Langley says: “Growing up I heard various references to my Great Aunt Winifred which I was able to verify in later years. Speaking to various folk in the small village where she lived - Sulham, Berkshire - who still knew the story as it had been handed down and where she is buried with unusually a red cross on her headstone.
At some time she was kicked in the stomach by a soldier and during the operation for her injuries she died. Her death certificate says that she had cervical cancer. This is where the story gets strange.
There are no Red Cross Records except the number of hours she worked. The R C journal for that month gives small obituaries for 2 other nurses but only that Winifred had died. 2 days after her death she was buried with full military honours by high ranking army officials. There is no record or death notice in a Reading paper, only an In Memoriam a year later.
The Imperial War Museum has a few photos. Research was done by a member of Reading library where very little more was found. On her gravestone it reads - Winifred Butenshaw who gave her life for her country on October 21 1919 aged 36. 'Ever strong and steadfast always kind and true . In all change and trouble helping others through'.”
With grateful thanks to Ann Langley for telling me Winifred's story. Winifred is not listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission List of Female Casualties of the First World War.
The photograph of Helen is from the collection made for the nation by Agnes Conway of the Imperial War Museum's Women's Committee.
