Looking for information on Queen Alexandra Nurse Edna Lock

[Jo K]

I am currently researching my Grandfather, but one of the things my Uncle told me was that my Grandmother , Edna Lock, (born 1897) was a Lieutenant with the Queen Alexandra nurses. All I know is that at least by 1915 she was at Graylingwell War Hospital in Chichester as her address is mentioned as one of her brother's next of kin on his service records and that is where she met my Grandfather. She may have carried on nursing after WW1 as I know that she became a doctor in 1938. As far as I am aware, she did not serve overseas. I have tried looking up her name on the National Archives website, but come up with nothing. Is it likely that if a record exists that it is with the MOD instead or is there somewhere else I could look? Tried Forces War Records and her name wasn't there either. Ancestry only has her on the Medical Registers after she became a doctor, but nothing for WW1.

Any help will be greatfully received.

Thank you.

[Sandie Hayes]

Was Lock her maiden name?

Hopefully Sue Light will pick up your post. Have a look at her website: http://www.scarletfinders.co.uk/6.html

[Jo K]

Yes Lock was her maiden name. Her father didn't approve of her relationship, so she and my Grandfather didn't marry until 1932! Thank you for the link. I will have a browse.

[mandy hall]

Hello Jo

You may find this recent article from the Chichester Observer about Graylingwell interesting. You may also like to contact Katherine Slay at West Sussex Record Office (see end of article) who is trying to collect information on patients at Graylingwell during the war. I am sure she would be also be interested in your grandmother.

http://www.chichester.co.uk/news/your-community/city-s-important-role-caring-for-injured-troops-1-4810818

Mandy

[Jo K]

Hello Jo

You may find this recent article from the Chichester Observer about Graylingwell interesting. You may also like to contact Katherine Slay at West Sussex Record Office (see end of article) who is trying to collect information on patients at Graylingwell during the war. I am sure she would be also be interested in your grandmother.

http://www.chicheste...roops-1-4810818

Mandy

Thank you for that. I had a look at the photo, but my Grandmother wasn't in there! I will have to ask the family about photos. I vaguely remember a picture of my Grandfather in a hospital bed. If I manage to get any more information, I will contact her.

[Sue Light]

Jo

She was way too young to be a member of Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service during the Great War. She would have had to be a fully trained nurse (three year training) and over the age of 25, which might possibly be dropped to 23 in some cases during wartime. As it was not usually possible to begin nurse training until at least the age of twenty, and more commonly 21-25, her age suggests that even if she did do a general nurse training she could not have completed that until 1920 at the earliest. So her work at Graylingwell was either as a VAD or perhaps more likely as a civil employee of the hospital. If she was a VAD, the British Red Cross Society Archives might have some service details for her:

BRCS Archives

I have a database of all nurses who joined QAIMNS up to 1926, and her name doesn't appear in that, and there are no records in the public domain covering the period after 1926. I also have two copies of the General Nursing Council Register here, for 1928 and 1942, which gives the details of all nurses registered or practising in England and Wales, but again there is no entry for Edna Lock - I have a feeling that her married name might have been Keating? If so there is no entry in 1942, though I realise that is too late anyway. It is possible that she has somehow missed the dates for records I have here, but at present I can see no evidence that she trained as a nurse. She could have fitted in a training and then given up nursing by the early 1920s, but that still excludes the possibility that she was ever a member of QAIMNS.

Sue

[Jo K]

Jo

She was way too young to be a member of Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service during the Great War. She would have had to be a fully trained nurse (three year training) and over the age of 25, which might possibly be dropped to 23 in some cases during wartime. As it was not usually possible to begin nurse training until at least the age of twenty, and more commonly 21-25, her age suggests that even if she did do a general nurse training she could not have completed that until 1920 at the earliest. So her work at Graylingwell was either as a VAD or perhaps more likely as a civil employee of the hospital. If she was a VAD, the British Red Cross Society Archives might have some service details for her:

BRCS Archives

I have a database of all nurses who joined QAIMNS up to 1926, and her name doesn't appear in that, and there are no records in the public domain covering the period after 1926. I also have two copies of the General Nursing Council Register here, for 1928 and 1942, which gives the details of all nurses registered or practising in England and Wales, but again there is no entry for Edna Lock - I have a feeling that her married name might have been Keating? If so there is no entry in 1942, though I realise that is too late anyway. It is possible that she has somehow missed the dates for records I have here, but at present I can see no evidence that she trained as a nurse. She could have fitted in a training and then given up nursing by the early 1920s, but that still excludes the possibility that she was ever a member of QAIMNS.

Sue

Thanks Sue. That may explain why she is hard to find, although my Uncle said she was a Lieutenant. By 1942 she was Dr Keating having become an MRCS, LRCP in 1938.

[Sue Light]

Although they had always served with officer status, nursing sisters in the British military nursing services didn't answer to 'Lieutenant' until 1941, so hard to say how that came to be included - one of the joys of research!

Sue

[Jo K]

Well, you must know what family rumours are like. I will pass on the information and see whether my uncle remembers anything more about her nursing career. I got the date of her becoming a doctor wrong, it is 1930, so assuming that she had at least 5 - 7 years training, then she could have been nursing (or pretending to be a nurse!) into the early 20s.

[keithmroberts]

This topic on memory is quite interesting - it is well worth looking through.

Keith

[Jo K]

This topic on memory is quite interesting - it is well worth looking through.

Keith

I don't suppose there is a link to it?!

[keithmroberts]

Whoops - it took me ages to find it the first time as well.

Put it down to pre conference nerves. I feel the need to get to the OC as soon as possible. So many real ales.

Keith