Easiest way to check VAD/nurse - Bournemouth area

[SteveMarsdin]

Good morning All,

My Belgian wife's Great-Grandfather, Theophile Pierre Deval, was evacuated to Britain as a casualty, in the early years of the war. He married an English girl, Daisy Wilkins in 1916, near Bournemouth, where they subsequently lived. My wife thinks that they met when Daisy was nursing Theophile in hospital.

Can somebody please advise me of the most efficient way of checking whether Daisy did indeed work as a nurse and if so, which hospital she is likely to have worked at (presumably in the Bournemouth area)?

Many thanks in anticipation.

[Moonraker]

We have several nursing experts in the Forum who can advise better than I on Daisy, but my reason for posting is that I know the area quite well. We've mentioned hospitals there once or twice before and I've got a couple of hits by entering "Bournemouth +hospitals" in to the Beta search facility above. I suspect that there would have been several more hospitals opened to deal with Great War casualties, not to mention those already in existence.

Given that in the first months of the war there were quite a few Belgian refugees in Britain, one avenue might be to look at the local papers for late 1914 to early 1915 to see if any were accommodated in Bournemouth; if so, there could well be a reference to them being treated in a local hospital. A bit of a chore, I'm afraid, especially if you live in East Yorkshire!

Moonraker

[SteveMarsdin]

Thanks, Moonraker,

I must use the "Beta search" more !

The post you highlight specifically mentions that several hospitals helped wounded Belgians. I'll research them further.

Many thanks