No.1 Canadian General Hospital, Etaples

[Tonym]

A Canadian newspaper reporting the bombing incident of the hospital quotes ".....deliberate murder of Canadian and British Nurses.....". The Hospital War Diary only names the Canadian Nurses, so who were the British.

Searching my records I find only two British female names buried in Etaples Cemetery whose dates coincide with the bombing:- Annie Watson BAIN, Nursing Sister, St John's died 1st June 1918 and Bertha Gavin STEPHENSON, Croix de Guerre, Civilian, Y.M.C.A. died 30th May 1918. Can anybody confirm that these two ladies were victims of the bombing and are there any others missing from my records?

Your assistance appreciated

Tony

[Borden Battery]

Here are some websites to check. Borden Battery

War Story of the Canadian Army Medical Corps

This is a very comprehensive "on-line" book on the Canadian Army Medical Corps during the Great War. This on-line book of some 300 pages [with text, figures and footnotes] includes the following chapters an Introduction, Rise of the CAMC, Assembly at Valcartier, Salisbury Plain, With the BEF in France, Second Battle of Ypres (Gas), Festubert, Givenchy, Plugstreet, Establishment of Hospitals in France, Stationary Hospitals and Other Medical Units. [Recommendation by marc leroux / www.canadianGreatWarProject.com][CEF Study Group - Jan 2006]

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/adami/camc/camc.html

Hospitals and Casualty Clearing Stations – BEF

The website includes eighteen direct photostats of documents, dated 13th. July 1923 which were sent from the Ministry of Pensions to the British Red Cross Society Records Office. Theses typed pages give the names of the locations, in alphabetical order, dates and positions of the various Hospitals or Casualty Clearing Stations on the Western Front for the British Expeditionary Force. The names of these medical units are as follows: Bac-Du-Sud-La to Boisleux-au-Mont, Bonn to Bussy - Le- Chateau. Calais to Chocques. Clerques to Don, Duai to Etaples, Etaples to Gezaincourt, Gezaincourt to Hazebrouk, Hazebrouk to Le Quesnoy, Le Touquet to Lozinghem, Mallasise to Moulle, Namps to Paris Plage, Pernes to Recmenil Farm, Remy to Roziere, Rouitz to Sweveghem,Tincourt to Versailles. This material may be of use to researchers trying to verify hospital and CCS locations. [Recommended by ____] [CEF Study Group – Updated Aug 2006]

http://www.vlib.us/medical/CCS/ccs.htm

The National Film Board WW1 Film Project

The National Film Board of Canada ( NFB ) continues a program to digitize Canadian films from the Great War. A collection of films that document Canada's participation in World War I, including training exercises, major battles, aviation footage and the war effort in Canada and include the following film clips:

Colonel Sam Hughes Reviews the Troops, Canadian Training School in Bexhill, Sir Robert Borden with Canadian Troops 1, 2nd and 10th Battalions in Training, Cavalry in Training, Canadian Training School in Shorncliffe, Observation Balloons, Fighter Planes, Airplane Casualties, Canadian Journalists Visit France, The 22nd (French Canadian) Battalion, Canadian Generals, Canadian Corps Championship, Hospital Bombed by German Airplanes, German Atrocities in Cemetery, Sir Arthur Currie Being décorated by General Orth, Sir Robert Borden with the Canadian Troops 2, Borden in Ottawa, Canadian Forestry Corps, Canadian Light Railway Section 1, Moving Heavy Equipment On Muddy Roads, Canadian Engineers Laying Field Telephones, Canadians on the Western Front 1, August Offensive 2, Salvage Work on the Canadian Front, Prisoners and Wounded Coming in Dressing Station, Canadians on the Western Front 2, August Offensive 1, Battle of Arras 1, Canadian Troops in Action, To Willie With Compliments, Battle of Arras 4, Battle of Arras 2, Canadians Advance Near Cambrai 3, Canadians Advance Near Cambrai 2, Canadians Advance Near Cambrai 1, September Offensive 3, September, Offensive 2, Canadians Advance East of Arras 2, August Offensive 7, August Offensive 5, August Offensive 4, August Offensive 6, Battle of Arras 3, Canadians Advance East of Arras 1, September Offensive 1, Bourlon Wood, On the Road to Valenciennes, Valenciennes 1, Canadians Moving to Germany, Canadian Victoria Cross Winners, Canadians at Mons and Valenciennes 2. [CEF Study Group - May 2006 - Updated]

http://www.nfb.ca/ww1/

[Canadawwi]

HI!

I have a dozen newspaper accounts referring to the Etaples casualties. Two refer to nurses. They are a bit too big to post here so you may want to cheque all the accounts which are posted on my website here:

Etaples Hospital Bombing Accounts

I know you are looking for British nurses, but you may want to check into the Canadian Virtual Memorial as there may be some newspaper articles or other information posted for the casualties of this bombing. For example I found a detailed account of the event under the record for Nursing Sister Katherine Maud Macdonald, died May 19, 1918 here (press "Click here to View Photo" to see the article)

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm...casualty=497463

Another way to find casualties by date at the above site is to use the Advanced Search feature. Enter the date or date span of the death(s) and the names will come up. You can then check out each one. You do not need to enter the name - just dates, and you will get the list of names that correspond to those dates.

CVM - Advanced Search

M arika

[Tonym]

Thanks B B

Useful sites for further research but do not appear to answer my initial question,

and

Thanks M Arika

Certainly got some answers about 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital bombed about the same time but St. John's and YMCA do not appear in the list on the advanced search so no confirmation of the two names mentioned.

Anyway a domestice health problem with my wife at the moment so concentration is seriously affected. Got all I need on Sisters Lowe, MacDonald & Wake so the others will have to be patient for awhile.

Thanks both for your assistance

Tony

[royalredcross]

Betty Stevenson (note spelling) of the YMCA was killed bya German bomb on the night of 30/31st May 1918. but not in any of the hospitals. Her party was on the way back to the place where they had been sleeping but were caught half way by the raid. They took shelter under the banks by the side of the road. Unfortunately an aircraft jettisonned some bombs at the end of the raid and one of these killed Betty and wounded two others.

Norman

[Tonym]

Thanks Norman

I was a bit suspicious about YMCA being a nurse but I can now understand how she was involved.

Do you have any names of 'British' nurses killed in the raid, as quoted by the Canadian press? I may well have them on my lists but have no way of checking, the only one who appears to have been involved, by my lists, is Annie Watson BAIN.

Tony

[worthington]

Sister Frances Maitland Frew was posted to No 1 Canadian General Hospital on 30 March 1916. Previously she had been with CCCS No 1.

She went back to Canada following her resignation in July 1916.

Unusually for a sister in France at that time, she was a widow, aged about 33, and from Newfoundland. Enlistment details as follows: -

Frances Maitland Frew (nee Blair), widow, Height 5' 8", religion – Presbyterian, born 7 September 1881 - St John's, Newfoundland. She gave an incorrect date on her enlistment papers as she was actually born in 1879.

She was a trained nurse and had previous military service at the Quebec Military Hospital

She enlisted in Quebec on 25 September 1914.

I am very interested in finding out more about Sister Frew as she nursed my uncle back to health in 1915 whilst with CCCS No 1 at Fort Gassion.

In particular I would very much like to obtain a photograph of her for a book I hope to write. Any help would be most welcome!

I do have other less relevant information about Sister Frew.

Worthington