GrandsonMichael Posted 1 May , 2004 Share Posted 1 May , 2004 Greetings everybody, This photo is of my maternal Grandmother and I am convinced it was taken sometime during WW 1, but I don't have a clue as to where and when. Looks like a nurse me thinks, I'm afraid her good looks got lost along the (my) line.... Neither do I know if it was taken before or after she married my Grandfather in February 1915. Any bright ideas? Thanks in advance, (Grandson) Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ypres Posted 28 July , 2004 Share Posted 28 July , 2004 Michael, (looking through old postings I found your request for info) I don't know if you ever did find out about your grandmother or not. It maybe the uniform is that of a Nanny. I'm not sure but if she had been a qualified nurse I would have expected a different buckle. Qualified nurses usually wore elaborate buckles in silver. Have an old one here somewhere that I bought, (from an antique shop), after I qualified. Mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 28 July , 2004 Share Posted 28 July , 2004 BUT have you notided the scissors? there is also a picture with an aussie in a dug out wearing a simular belt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 28 July , 2004 Share Posted 28 July , 2004 this is it: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Light Posted 28 July , 2004 Share Posted 28 July , 2004 The hat is very typical of a nurse prior to the war. The starched bows had been popular for some decades [seems incredible!], and the nurses were frequent sufferers of abscesses of the neck caused firstly by the chafing of the collar and bow, compounded by infection picked up from the patients. They were common in many hospitals right across the country, but perhaps more so in the larger training schools, and the cost was less likely to be borne in poorer hospitals. In London, the Middlesex Hospital sported a particularly fine example! I have seen them still in use in private hospitals in wartime, but they seemed to have been totally eradicated by war, thank goodness. Silver buckles were not common at that time, and rarely occured at all within hospitals. They were more likely to be worn by nurses in private houses [of which there were many], as a status symbol, and so that the nurse was not likely to suffer the indignity of being mistaken for a housemaid. They only really became a normal part of uniform after the registration of nurses became law in 1919, and training was regulated and standardised. As a student nurse I could never work out why we were not allowed to wear rings on our fingers or in our ears, but the staff nurses could float about with damned great silver buckles. As soon as I qualified I was straight down the Portobello Road to find myself one! If this very pretty woman was married in 1915, I suspect that the picture was taken prior to her wedding. Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Nixon Posted 29 July , 2004 Share Posted 29 July , 2004 And what a cracking, healthy looking aspidistra! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kieron Hoyle Posted 29 July , 2004 Share Posted 29 July , 2004 The hat is very typical of a nurse prior to the war. The starched bows had been popular for some decades [seems incredible!], and the nurses were frequent sufferers of abscesses of the neck caused firstly by the chafing of the collar and bow, compounded by infection picked up from the patients. I would agree with Sue, I have a number of photos of nurses from this period and the uniform looks quite typical...hardly practical to work in! When I first started working as a nurse one of my first patients on the Geriatric ward, Clara had been a nurse during WW1 and still had a scar from where she had developed an abscess from her collar - made worse she thought, from nursing a patient with gas gangrene - she remembered being told off for catching the infection and being very ill for a number of weeks! Sadly I wasn't too interested in WW1 back then, always the way . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted 29 July , 2004 Share Posted 29 July , 2004 Does the absence of any kind of badge indicate anything? Or didn`t they wear badges in those days? It was the first thing my wife commented on (They get very sniffy, these old nurses!) Phil B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandsonMichael Posted 29 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 29 July , 2004 Hi Mandy, Kristof & Sue, Thanks for your reactions. This is why this forum is so great, one dumps a question about a nurse in a silly place (Soldiers) and after two months it is noticed and bingo. Mandy, I found out a little more about my grandmother just over a month ago. Found a sort of diary which belonged to her and in which other people also wrote messages. Apparently she worked in a Sanatorium. I was wondering about the belt, amazing Kristof, noticing the simularity of the belts. Sue, I was way out with my guess (wishfull thinking?). She worked in a sanatorium in Chinford ? at least from 1909 through part of 1911. She was born in 1888. So indeed she was nursing ? before her marriage. Thanks for your comments and any other info shall be more than welcome. I regret I never knew her, she died when my mother was still young. Paul, watch it mate! Comparing my Gran to a plant??? Cheers, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandsonMichael Posted 29 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 29 July , 2004 Jeepers creepers, So I am slowly or rather composing an in depth answer and suddenly two more answers infiltrate and I never noticed I could hardly find any photo of nurses with the Bowa Constrictor collars, any good websites I could search? Thanks, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.S.Regt. Posted 29 July , 2004 Share Posted 29 July , 2004 Hi I do not know if it is the same as British nurses but this is a Canadian Nurses buckle from WW1. Sorry for the poor picture but you can only do so much with a scanner. Best regards N.S.Regt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kieron Hoyle Posted 29 July , 2004 Share Posted 29 July , 2004 I could hardly find any photo of nurses with the Bowa Constrictor collars, any good websites I could search? http://www.shef.ac.uk/~nmhuk/uniform/unitimeline.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Light Posted 29 July , 2004 Share Posted 29 July , 2004 Michael Here's another photo - I have a feeling that this thread is veering way off course! I can look out some more some time, but have a busy weekend starting right now, as 'mother of the bride', so can't linger too long today Buckles - British military nurses never wore buckles during WW1. After WW2 they wore webbing belts with plain buckles just as a fastening with some uniform, and from the late seventies the other ranks [i.e. student nurses] wore buckles, but the Sisters wore plain buttoned belts with their working dress throughout [this may have changed over the last 20 years - not sure]. But from the very beginning of the service, trained nurses within the army framework wore a service badge on the right side of their cape. Badges - There have always been two sorts of badges in civilian nursing; the national badge given to nurses who passed the exam for state registration, and badges given by hospitals to their trained staff. The first sort didn't appear until the twenties, because before that there was no registration of nurses. The second sort came in very slowly, but I don't think there were very many pre and during WW1. Buckles and badges seem very much part of post-registration nursing in the UK. Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandsonMichael Posted 29 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 29 July , 2004 Thanks again... Sue, congrats to the happy ones and have a great time this weekend... Cheers & cheers once more, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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