Inspirational Women who died in the service of their country during WW1

While researching women who nursed in France during WW1 I found several who worked in the Wimereux area.  

I am certain there must be many women from other countries as well as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Canada and South Africa who died in the service of their country.

Below are those who died during WW1 and are buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in Wimereux, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France:

LIST OF FEMALE WW1 CASUALTIES BURIED IN WIMEREUX COMMUNAL CEMETERY, PAS DE CALAIS, FRANCE

CLAYTON-SWAN, Mildred - Army Service Corps (Canteen) – Civilian

COLE, Emily Helena – Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service – Sister

DUNCAN, Isabella Lucy May – Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service – Sister

EVANS, Margaret Ellen – Voluntary Aid Detachment

HOCKEY, Jessie Olive – Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service – Reserve Sister – from South Africa (Cape Province)

KING, Nita Madeline – Voluntary Aid Detachment

LANCASTER, Alice Hilda – Nurse – Special Military Probationary attached to the Territorial Force Nursing Service*

PICKARD, Mrs Rubie (aged 67) – Voluntary Aid Detachment – voluntary worker in the Newspaper Department for supplying daily newspapers to British Hospitals

ST. JOHN, Barbara Esmee – Voluntary Aid Detachment

TREVELYAN, Armorel Kitty – Civilian in the Army Service Corps Canteen

WHITELY, Anna E. – Canadian Army Nursing Service – Nursing Sister from Peterborough, Ontario

WILSON, Christina Murdoch – Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service – Sister

WILSON, Myrtle Elizabeth – Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service – Sister – Australian from Melbourne

* The Territorial Force Nursing Service was set up in 1909 as a sister organisation to the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service in order to supplement the service during emergencies.  All members worked as nurses in civilian life.  In 1920 the service was re-named The Territorial Army Nursing Service (TANS) when the Territorial Force was re-named The Territorial Army.  The Territorial Force Nursing Service became the Territorial Army Branch of Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps.   Source:  www.forces-war-records.co.uk and www.cwgc.com

A Petition regarding commemorating Nurse Edith Cavell

I noticed today that there is a petition organised by a relative of Edith Cavell's - details here:

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/the-british-treasury-issue-a-2-coin-with-the-face-of-edith-cavell-on-it?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=60248&alert_id=MDODnZlKDN_Hkykw4TU43Pe0Gwpbc0SOiMPv11vyi8mVeytHS78hVg%3D%0A

in case anyone would like to sign.

Edith was one of my heroines as I grew up.  We studied her story in primary school along with the story of Grace Darling - another of my heroines - and Florence Nightingale, Elizabeth Fry and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson.

I have since read an excellent biography about Edith Cavell.

Lena Ashwell (1872 - 1957) - WW1 Entertainer and Entrepreneur

I am very grateful to Mrs Dorothy Clare, who is very supportive of my project.  Mrs Clare reminded me that I have not yet mentioned Kate Adie's book about women during the First World War - "Fighting on the Home Front" which is published by Hodder and Stoughton.   I have long been an admirer of Kate's work - both as a war correspondent and as a writer.

Mrs Clare sent me a cutting from "The Daily Telegraph" featuring a photograph of Lena Ashwell who is featured in Kate Adie's book.

Lena was a feminist who organised cultural entertainment for the troops by taking lectures, string quartets, operatic works and a wide variety of drama - including Shakespeare and Sheridan - to as close to the Front as possible in all manner of weathers.

Lena's story sounds fascinating.  I shall add her to the list and find out more.

From:  The Daily Telegraph Weekend - Saturday, April 12, 2014

Photo:  Lena Ashwell in the role of Edward V in a production of Shakespeare's "Richard III".  Google Images

Mabel Dearmer (1872 - 1915) - Writer, Poet, Playwright, translator and illustrator

Born Jessie Mabel Prichard White, daughter of Surgeon-Major William White and  his wife, Selina, nee Taylor (Prichard), Mabel was christened on 7th May 1872 in Llanbeblig, Caernarvonshire in Wales - where her Mother was born.

Mabel wanted to be an actress but was considered not pretty enough and decided to study art instead.  She was studying art at the Hubert von Herkomer Art School in Bushey, Hertfordshire, when at the age of nineteen, she married the Reverend Percy Dearmer, who was an Anglican priest, on 26^th May 1892. The couple had two children – Geoffrey and Christopher - who were both poets (see Forgotten Poets of the First World War).  Both Geoffrey and Christopher joined the forces in WW1 - Christopher the Royal Naval Air Service and Geoffrey the Royal Army Service Corps.  Christopher was posted to Gallipoli, where he died of wounds in 1915, and Geoffrey saw service in both Gallipoli and on the Somme.   

Mabel was a great friend of Kathleen Scott the sculptress (widow of the explorer) and both Mabel and her husband supported the Church League for Women’s Suffrage. Geoffrey and Christopher Dearmer used to go dancing with Kathleen before the War.

During the First World War, Percy volunteered to serve abroad after Geoffrey and Christopher joined the forces.  He was appointed Chaplain of a Red Cross ambulance unit which was sent to Serbia in 1915 and Mabel accompanied him, having volunteered to serve as a nursing orderly.  She contracted Typhoid Fever and died there of Pneumonia on 11th July 1915, shortly before the death of her son Christopher. who served in the Royal Naval Air Service and died of wounds sustained at Galipolli. Mabel is buried in Kragujevac Cemetery in Serbia, alongside Dr. Elizabeth Ross and Nurse Lorna Ferriss.  Mabel's letters were published after her death under the title 'Letters from a Field Hospital'.  These are available to read on Archive on the Internet -  https://archive.org/details/lettersfromfield00dear   

Mabel Dearmer wrote novels and plays and illustrated children's books.   

Sources:  Wikipedia, Dr. Rowena Edlin-White

and

http://www.1890s.ca/PDFs/dearmer_bio.pdf written by Diana Maltz of Southern Oregon University

https://vl203.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/mabel-dearmer-an-unusual-life-part-1/

“A Great Task of Happiness The Life of Kathleen Scott” by Louisa Young, published by Macmillan, London in 1995

Suggested Reading List of WW1 Novels and Plays

Dr. Margaret D. Stetz, who is the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women’s Studies and Professor of Humanities at the University of Delaware, has been very supportive of my project.  Dr. Stetz has suggested a list of books that will help girls in particular to understand more about the First World War and she has given me permission to post this list.

I don’t know about you, but I feel if a book is well written it deserves to be read, regardless of the target audience.  I read with great pleasure several books about the Second World War when my sons were at school, so I look forward to reading some of these:

NOVELS

Theresa Breslin, Remembrance (2002)

Suzanne Weyn, Water Song (2006)

Jackie French, A Rose for the Anzac Boys (2008)

Valerie Wilding, Road to War: A First World War Girl's Diary, 1916-1917 (2008)

Marcus Sedgwick, The Foreshadowing (2005)

Beth Seidel Levine, When Christmas Comes Again: The World War I Diary of Simone Spencer (2002)

Margaret Rostkowski, After the Dancing Days (1986)

Kirby Larson, Hattie Big Sky (2006)

Jeanette Ingold, Pictures, 1918 (1998)

Kate Seredy, The Singing Tree (1940)

Penelope Farmer, Charlotte Sometimes (1969)

Laura Langston, Lesia's Dream (2003)

Elizabeth McDavid Jones, The Night Flyers (1999)

Cynthia Voigt, Tree by Leaf (1988)

Dennis Hamley, Ellen's People (2006)

PLAYS

Claire Jones, An English Heaven (1986) and Is There Honey Still? (1985)

With many thanks to Dr Stetz.

Eleanor Franklin Egan (1877 - 1925) - American War Correspondent

I found out about Eleanor through reading a post on a WW1 commemorative Facebook group page.

A little research found the website www.findagrave.com  and it was there that I discovered Eleanor's fascinating life story, beautifully written by Deborah Gentit Vierno.   I contacted Deborah and she gave me permission to write up a panel for my commemorative exhibition project.   Many thanks indeed Deborah - I will of course credit you.

Eleanor, who was born in Lawrence County, Illinois, USA, apparently became the first American woman war correspondent when she covered the Pogroms in Russia in 1903 for "Leslie's Weekly", an American publication.

Definitely an Inspirational Woman.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=33389959

"Lest we forget Britain's women war dead" - Scottish Daily Mail, 27th February 2014

Many thanks to the "Daily Mail" for printing my letter in the "Scottish Daily Mail".   I received a follow-up letter this morning, which the newspaper offices in London kindly forwarded to me.

A gentleman from Scotland has sent me a letter written by a nurse who served on the Western Front during the First World War.  The letter, given to him by a neighbour who was related to the nurse, refers to the funeral of the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps female personnel who were killed during the air-raid on 29th - 30th May 1918 - the night the YMCA volunteer Betty Stevenson, who is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery, was also killed.

I don't think it is generally known that many women served on the Western Front during WW1. They worked as doctors and nurses but also as administrators, clerks, telephonists, waitresses, cooks and drivers - doing work that freed men to serve on the front line.   At that time, women were not given full military status - they were divided into sections - officials (equivalent to officers), forewomen (sergeants), assistant forewomen (corporals) and workers (privates).

More than 57,000 women joined the WAAC or the QMAAC from January 1917 to November 1918.

The women who died in uniform during WW1 who are buried in Commonwealth War Grave Military Cemeteries in Belgium and France came from all over the world to help out.  Their names are listed on the CWGC website and they are buried in the following Cemeteries:

BELGIUM
Belgrade Cemetery, Namur, Belgium (1 woman)
Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium (1 woman)


FRANCE
Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France (15 women)
Asnieres-sur-Oise Communal Cemetery, Val d'Oise, France ((1 woman)
Bagneux British Cemetery, Gezaincourt, Somme, France (3 women)
Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France (1 woman)
Bourges (St. Lazare) Cemetery, Cher, France (1 woman)
Caudry British Cemetery, Nord, France (1 woman)
Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France (19 women who died in service and 1 civilian - wife of a seriously ill soldier who died while visiting her husband, who is buried in the same cemetery)
Godewaersvelde British Cemetery, Nord, France (1 woman)
Janval Cemetery, Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, France (1 woman)
Le Treport Military Cemetery, Seine-Maritime, France (1 woman)
Les Baraques Military Cemetery, Sangatte, Pas de Calais, France (3 women)
Levallois-Perret Communal Cemetery, Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, France (1 woman)
Lille Southern Cemetery, Nord, France (1 woman)
Lillers Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France (1 woman)
Longuenesse (St. Omer) Souvenir Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France (6 women, two of whom were killed in an enemy air raid on 30th September 1917 - Agnes Climie and Daisy Coles)
Malo-les-Bains Communal Cemetery, Nord, France (1 woman)
Mazargues War Cemetery, Marseilles, Bouches-du-Rhone, France (3 women)
Mont Huon Military Cemetery, Le Treport, Seine-Maritime, France (3 women)
Sezanne Communal Cemetery, Marne, France (1 woman)
St. Pol British Cemetery, St. Pol-sur-Ternoise, Pas de Calais, France (1 woman)
St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France (7 women)
St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France (6 women who died in service and one civilian. These were known as "Lady Helpers" and in this case was Dame Lucy Innes Branfoot who worked at the Lady Mabelle Egerton's Coffee Stall on St. Sever Station.)
Ste. Marie Cemetery, Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, France (18 omen)
Terlinchthun British Cemetery, Wimille, Pas de Calais, France (9 women)
Tourgeville Military Cemetery, Calvados, France (1 woman)
Vauxbuin French National Cemetery, Aisne, France (1 woman)
Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France (13 women - one of whom - Volunteer Rubie Pickard, a VAD, was aged 67 and worked in the Department that supplied British military hospitals with daily newspapers).

As I have mentioned before, many other women were killed or died in uniform during the First World War.  They are buried in Commonwealth War Graves Cemeteries throughout the world.   Next time you visit a WW1 Cemetery, please have a look to see if you can find any of the women buried there.

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM ALL...