A.K. Foxwell - Agnes Kate Foxwell (1872 - 1957) – British writer, nurse and munitions worker WW1

Agnes Kate Foxwell was born in 1872, in Paddington, London, UK.  Her parents were Alfred William Foxwell, a wine merchant, and his wife Mary Ann Foxwell, nee Ford.  Agnes had the following siblings: Edith E., b. 1865, Lina, b. 1867, A.W., b. 1869, C.H., b. 1870, Mabel L., b. 1875, F.M. b. 1876 and Ida, b. 1877.  The family lived in Paddington.

Agnes studied literature at the University of London and was awarded an MA.  By 1911, she was a teacher at Cheltenham Ladies College.

During the First World War, Agnes joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment and, as her Red Cross WW1 Record cards show, from Oct.1914 - April.1915 she worked at the Auxiliary Hospital, Harrow; 1915 (period unstated) in Charing Cross Hospital; May - Aug. 1915 at the Officers' Hospital in Rouen, France; from Oct. - Nov. 1915 at the Military Hospital in Wandsworth andMarch - Sept. 1916 at St. John's Gate, Devonshire House.

Agnes then worked for six months as Principal Overlooker in Danger Buildings at the Munitions Factory in Woolwich.  She wrote about her time in Woolwich in a book entitled “Munition Lasses: Six Months Principal Overlooker in Danger Buildings” which was published by Hodder & Stoughton, London in 1917.  This is available as a free download from Archive https://archive.org/details/munitionlassessi00foxwuoft

Sources:
Find my Past
British Red Cross WW1 Archive
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100762258

Commonwealth War Graves Commission seek relatives of WW1 VAD Ada Jones who died on duty in 1918

Historian Debbie Cameron has just posted this on her wonderful Facebook Page Remembering British Women in WW1 - the Home Front and Overseas
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1468972083412699/?fref=nf

Ada Jones WW1 Red Cross Record Card

Ada Jones – WW1 VAD nurse from Florence, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent

Worked at Knighton VAD Hospital, Evington, Leicester from 10.01.1918 – 26.11. 1918 died of Pneumonia on service. Ada was apparently buried in Longton Cemetery, Spring Garden Road, Stoke-on-Trent ST3 2QS

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission continue to this day to erect headstones for those who fell in war. They are looking for relatives so that they can attend a dedication.  Unusually there is a WW1 VAD among newly granted headstones. I found the record card and cause of her death . It seems a headstone is being erected at long last. RIP. Ada Jones who died serving her country in the Great War.

https://www.cwgc.org/…/32/appeal-for-relatives---august-2019

Please spread the word in the hopes that we may find relatives of Ada Jones.

Louisa Brandreth Aldrich-Blake (1865 - 1925) – British Physician and Surgeon

With thanks to Historian Debbie Cameron for researching Louisa.

Born on 15th August 1865, in Chingford, Essex, UK, Louisa’s parents were Anglican Church Minister the Reverend Frederick James Aldrich-Blake and his wife, Louisa Blake, nee Morrison.

Louisa was brought up in Welsh Bicknor, Herefordshire, where her father was Rector of the Parish.  Louisa had the following siblings: Agness B., b.1867, Annie Elizabeth, b. 1869, Margaret B., b. 1872 and Robert Charles, b. 1874.

Educated initially privately at home, Louisa went on to study at Cheltenham Ladies' College, before graduating with first-class honors with a Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Medicine, and a Degree in Medicine from the London School of Medicine for Women.

With an unimaginably intense workload at home too, Dr Aldrich-Blake travelled to France on her holidays between 1914 and 1916, where she spent her time saving and mending lives in military hospitals.

Not content with just being a ground-breaking female surgeon in her own right, Louisa also wrote to every female clinician on the General Medical Register and helped to organise overseas postings for those who replied volunteering their services.

In addition to her military aid in World War One, Dr Aldrich-Blake also worked on clinical research and helped to innovate treatments of cervical and rectal cancers, whilst working as a volunteer at the Canning Town Women's Settlement Hospital.

A memorial statue of Louisa, designed by Cenotaph designer Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1926, is in Tavistock Square, London WC1H.

Sources: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/who-louisa-aldrich-blake-british-18938232?fbclid=IwAR3IKI4B3Ejg31LuESd_9YXLQN5KFF6AD2QBu8zGzWFhrPd8LPZPtYc-HyI
and Find my Past