Barbara Esmee St John VAD

[KevinBattle]

Name: ST. JOHN, BARBARA ESMEE. Rank: Member. Service: Voluntary Aid Detachment

Age: 31. Date of Death: 12/10/1916. Service No: Sussex/112

Additional information: Daughter of the Rev. Henry Beauchamp and Emily Anne St. John, of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire and (since 1914) Vicar at St Mary’s, Ninfield, Sussex.

Grave/Memorial Reference: III. I. 4. Cemetery: Wimereux Communal Cemetery

Name: Esmee Barbara St John. Age: 31 Death Date: 12 Oct 1916. Rank: Volunteer.

Regiment: Voluntary Aid. Type of Casualty: Died.

(Plaque in St Mary’s). IN LOVING MEMORY OF BARBARA ESMEE St JOHN. RED CROSS NURSE. 112th SUSSEX V.A.D. SECOND DAUGHTER OF THE REV. H. BEAUCHAMP & EMILY A. St JOHN WHO DIED ON DUTY IN FRANCE. OCTr 12th 1916 AGED 31 YEARS

Her obituary read:

Member Barbara Esmee St. John of Voluntary Aid Detachment, died on 12/10/1916 aged 31. Cause of death: Died of Landry's paralysis. (Now known as Guillain Barre Syndrome).

Daughter of the Rev. Henry Beauchamp and Emily Anne St. John, of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire and Ninfield, Sussex.

Member St. John is buried at Wimereux Communal Cemetery in France.

Grave ref: III. I. 4. Other information: Service number: Sussex/112

(Note: Wimereux is where Lt Col John McCrea, Canadian Army Medical Corps (whose poem “In Flanders Fields” which symbolised the poppy as a symbol of sacrifice), is buried.

Perhaps one for Jim Strawbridge?

[Sue Light]

These are the references to her from the Matron-in-Chief's war diary, which (as usual) only hint at what was going on. I can't find the cuttings, which I know I've seen in the past, but a search of the journals will find them. I know there was a lot of talk about VADs undertaking duties they should not have been doing, but this was strongly refuted by some of the senior nursing and medical staff. And the cause of death given here doesn't fit in with what you've unearthed.

7.10.16

Letter from Miss Denne to say a Miss St. John, VAD, had been sent to 14 Stationary Hospital with scarlet fever. Two Sisters in the Isolation Hospital were suffering from Dysentery – in the officers’ block, and the OC thought they were too ill to move to 14 Stationary where Sisters suffering from infectious diseases are usually nursed. No conveniences of any kind in the Officers’ Hospital for Sisters and Miss Denne felt they were really not so ill, but the officer was very anxious to get the care of all Sisters suffering from infectious diseases in that area.

12.10.16

DDMS Boulogne, telephoned, informing us of somewhat sudden death of Miss St. John, VAD, at 14 Stationary Hospital suffering from scarlet fever. She had been admitted on the 6^th. The night before she had developed certain heart complications but was not very ill, but during the night she became worse and died next day. Funeral was tomorrow but owing to nature of illness it was not considered advisable that it should be delayed in any way to enable the relations to attend.

13.10.16

Went with Miss Hill, VAD, to Boulogne, to attend the funeral of Miss St. John, VAD In consequence of being delayed on the road, only arrived in time to hear the Last Post being sounded.

18.10.16

DGMS came to see me on his way to Paris in connexion with a newspaper cutting with reference to the death of Miss St. John, VAD

26.10.16

Received from Miss Hartigan, A/Matron, 26 General Hospital, with reference to the death of Miss St. John, VAD and attaching copy of cutting from “The Times” giving an account of the responsible work which she had done, which was not quite in order.

5. 11.16

Principal Matron, Etaples, wrote enclosing article in “British Journal of Nursing” on Miss St. John, VAD, pointing out that it was rather sad that when such a large number of trained people were at our disposal that VADs should be given such responsible work in connection with wounded soldiers.

Sue

[Jim Strawbridge]

Name: Esmee Barbara St John. Age: 31 Death Date: 12 Oct 1916. Rank: Volunteer.

Regiment: Voluntary Aid. Type of Casualty: Died.

(Plaque in St Mary’s). IN LOVING MEMORY OF BARBARA ESMEE St JOHN. RED CROSS NURSE. 112th SUSSEX V.A.D. SECOND DAUGHTER OF THE REV. H. BEAUCHAMP & EMILY A. St JOHN WHO DIED ON DUTY IN FRANCE. OCTr 12th 1916 AGED 31 YEARS

My photograph of the St. Mary's plaque reads "In memory of Barbara Esmee St. John. Red Cross nurse – 112th Sussex V.A.D. who died on duty in France October 12th 1916 – age 31 and was buried with full military honours in the Soldiers Cemetery, Wimereux”. Is there more than one memorial to her in the church?

[KevinBattle]

Sue: Info on cause of death was from these sites:

Barbara Esmee St John Obituary and here

Thanks for your further information though.

I wouldn't have thought there would have been any concern about giving scarlet fever as cause of death, and Landry's paralysis seemed unusually precise when most hospitals seemed to be overworked. Maybe it was a "sanitised" explanation for the relatives?

Jim: This was the inscription Memorial

[Sue Light]

The war diary seems very clear on her cause of death, and I can't see that it would be easy to confuse Scarlet Fever with Guillain-Barré, but who knows why that diagnosis should have been attributed to her. Maybe not quite so mundane to the family as Scarlet Fever.

Sue

[Sue Light]

Here's the piece from the British Journal of Nursing, and there is a mention of paralysis, which could have ended up being translated into G-B, but I think the jury is probably still out!

Sue

[KevinBattle]

Sue, the scarlet fever seems to have induced the paralysis, so both diagnoses (diagnosi?) would seem correct.

She did have scarlet fever but then paralysis (Guillain Barre?) set in and that was what caused her death.....

Well, that's my reading of the report!

[Marilyne]

On 09/10/2011 at 01:11, KevinBattle said:

Sue, the scarlet fever seems to have induced the paralysis, so both diagnoses (diagnosi?) would seem correct.

She did have scarlet fever but then paralysis (Guillain Barre?) set in and that was what caused her death.....

Well, that's my reading of the report!

Hi all,

Just re-opening this thread... as I'm busy with the ladies buries in Wimereux I just dived into the case of Miss St John and have been googling Guillain-Barré syndrome ( by the way, the two gentlemen are French doctors who discovered the determining diagnostic element in 2 French soldiers in 1916). Google guided me to an article in a journal of neurology that sais that GBS can be a neurological complication of "common fevers", like scarlet fever.

Every day is a school day!!! 

M.

[alf mcm]

Marilyne,

The following excerpts from Maud McCarthy's war diary may be of interest;-

07.10.16
Abbeville
Letter from Miss Denne to say a Miss St. John, VAD, had been sent to 14 Stationary Hospital with scarlet fever.

12.10.16
DDMS Boulogne, telephoned, informing us of somewhat sudden death of Miss St. John, VAD, at 14 Stationary Hospital suffering from scarlet fever. She had been admitted on the 6th. The night before she had developed certain heart complications but was not very ill, but during the night she became worse and died next day. Funeral was tomorrow but owing to nature of illness it was not considered advisable that it should be delayed in any way to enable the relations to attend.

13.10.16
I also let him [DGMS] know of the sudden death of Miss St. John. Went with Miss Hill, VAD, to Boulogne, to attend the funeral of Miss St. John, VAD In consequence of being delayed on the road, only arrived in time to hear the Last Post being sounded.

18.10.16
Abbeville
DGMS came to see me on his way to Paris in connexion with a newspaper cutting with reference to the death of Miss St. John, VAD, also about a cutting in the “Nursing Mirror” written by a VAD about the work she was doing out here.

21.10.16
On my return found letter from Colonel Evans about Miss St. John’s death.

26.10.16
Abbeville
Received from Miss Hartigan, A/Matron, 26 General Hospital, with reference to the death of Miss St. John, VAD and attaching copy of cutting from “The Times” giving an account of the responsible work which she had done, which was not quite in order.

05.11.16
Abbeville
Principal Matron, Etaples, wrote enclosing article in “British Journal of Nursing” on Miss St. John, VAD, pointing out that it was rather sad that when such a large number of trained people were at our disposal that VADs should be given such responsible work in connection with wounded soldiers.

Regards,

Alf McM

[Marilyne]

Hi Alf,

They most definitely are... Sue Light quoted them higher up in the thread. What's however interesting is the fact that she first developped scarlet fever, but has Landry's (or GBS) on her death certificate... 

M.

[BarbaraG]

Details on IWM Memorials Register and referenced by Kevin Battle at the start of this entry.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/17312

Her photograph is also on the IWM database Catalogue number WWC H2-67-1

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205381223

Edited 3 May , 2023 by BarbaraG