Records for Miss M. Whitson and Liverpool Merchants Hospital?

[E Wilcock]

Miss M Whitson has a Red Cross Medal card, and is on Lives of FWW website.

I know from a letter that of 25 Aug 1916 she was (?a nurse) in Liverpool Merchants'

This is listed as No 6 British Red Cross Hospital, (Liverpool Merchants Hospital). Not sure which branch - Paris-Plage, Etaples or Trouville

She is mentioned in letters to Liverpool and I expected her to be a sister of Henry Thomas Whitson, Captain The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 1st/10th Bn. who died of wounds 1918 and Ronald who was in the Royal Scots..

Our family memoirs which reference the Whitson family of Liverpool as neighbours of my father's family there are vague about forenames and the census entries dont seem to include any daughters.

[royalredcross]

Margaret S. Whitson. Served at Paris Plage.

(BRCS Register).

Norman

[E Wilcock]

Thank you so much - I also found this from the Liverpool Courier.

The fact that Miss Whitson and Miss Wyles received the award of the Royal Red Cross are only the formal expression by the authorities of the debt due by the nation, not only to them personally, but to all who served under them. In last week's article we accidentally omitted from the details given of the changes in personnel the fact that in 1916 Lt.-Col. Nathan Raw, the first senior physician, became commandant of the hospital in succession to Col. Peeke. From them until the end Lt.-Col. Raw was responsible for its administration, and has won the hearty approval of the committee by his labours, whilst he has also been rewarded by his appointment as a Commander ofthe Order of St.Michael and St.George.

[Sue Light]

Margaret Whitson received the Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (ARRC), London Gazette, 14/1/1916, and the Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (RRC), London Gazette, 23/2/1918.

She died 20th August 1937.

Sue

[E Wilcock]

Thank you so much Sue. I noticed by coincidence after posting this that you had this special interest in researching nurses.

I used her just to try out Lives of FWW just as you were doing.

Thanks to being given her forenames, I have located this nurse on the 1901 census and on Scottish censuses too.

So I now know that she was the sister of one of my grand father's Liverpool friends. There are references to meeting her in letters from my young uncle at the front, and to her nephew Ronald who was, it seems serving quite close to the Liverpool Regiment.

[Sue Light]

Although I don't have a copy of it, there is a note in the RRC Register that an obituary appeared in The Times on the following day, 21/8/1937. No idea if it's just a brief mention, or something rather fuller.

Sue

[E Wilcock]

Thanks Sue, will have a look at the Times next time I am go to the British Library.

Now with my feminist hat on, I need to get her forenames onto Lives of the FWW. I was using her as my token woman!

I did do a search on Find My Past nurses list and she didnt show up. I also looked unsuccessfully on the WO 399. I looked at her medal card via ancestry but now see that strangely the PRO catalogue her medal card with her forename even though the info isnt written on the card itself and thus didnt get into Lives of the FWW. If you are collecting nurses' data, please note, I corrected my previous post. With apologies. I found her as a Night Superintendent Hospital Nurse in the Nurses' Home at 35 Cambridge Place on the census in 1901, not 1911.

Her bother was not only a friend and neighbour of my grandparents with whom they went on holiday, but as a Director of the shipping company Balfour Williamson, a major customer. So the surname and photos too crop up in my father's memoirs. He was the same age as Alan Whitson the youngest son, and lucky for them they were both too young to serve in WW1.

I am pretty interested that Margaret had made a career for herself, given that her brother was such a successful business man. Her middle name is Shiress, the maiden name of her mother.

Thank you for guiding me with your expertise on nurses!

[ForeignGong]

Hi

The following is on P146 The British Journal of Nursing March 2 1918

At the Investiture at Buckingham Palace, on

February 23rd, the following members of the

nursing profession were decorated by the King

with the Royal Red Cross :-

FIRST CLASS.

Matron Margaret Whitson, British Red Cross Society

and on P192 March 6 1915

Liverpool Merchants’ Mobile Hospital;--Miss

Whitson, Lady Superintendent of Brownlow Hill

Infirmary, has been invited to act as Matron, and

has accepted the position.

Peter

[CarylW]

In the book 'Citizen Soldiers: The Liverpool Territorials in the First World War' Helen B McCartney. is this small snippet 'Private citizens too made the journey to the rear areas in France. Matron Whiston, Matron of the Liverpool Merchants Mobile Hospital commandeered the Hôtel des Anglais in Paris Plage for the use of visiting family or friends of wounded officers'

.

From the list of citations and sources at the back of the book under the heading 'Liverpool Scottish Regimental Museums Trust' is this 'Matron Whitson's diary 1915-1919 Acc. No 1 104' Maybe an e-mail to the Liverpool Scottish Museum Trust could help you to find out more about the diary itself. Ian Riley, one of our members is a trustee

http://www.liverpoolscottish.org.uk/

[Sue Light]

I did do a search on Find My Past nurses list and she didnt show up. I also looked unsuccessfully on the WO 399. I looked at her medal card via ancestry but now see that strangely the PRO catalogue her medal card with her forename even though the info isnt written on the card itself and thus didnt get into Lives of the FWW. If you are collecting nurses' data, please note, I corrected my previous post. With apologies. I found her as a Night Superintendent Hospital Nurse in the Nurses' Home at 35 Cambridge Place on the census in 1901, not 1911.

If you search FindMyPast and use the top menu which says 'Search Menu' and then 'Military, Armed Forces and Conflict' and do a simple search using 'Margaret' and 'Whitson' she does come up both in the British Red Cross Register of Overseas Volunteers, and also the Royal Red Cross records. She doesn't have a record in WO399 as she was not part of Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service or the Territorial Force Nursing Service, but she should have a service record held at the BRCS Archives. Email link via this page:

BRCS Archives

Sue

[Stephen Nulty]

Probate entry, just for information

[seaJane]

Although I don't have a copy of it, there is a note in the RRC Register that an obituary appeared in The Times on the following day, 21/8/1937. No idea if it's just a brief mention, or something rather fuller.

Sue

Sue, I have searched the Times Digital Archive and not found that obituary. Could they mean the Nursing Times?

sJ

[Sue Light]

I looked earlier and couldn't find it either. What usually happened was that a clerk checked The Times each day, and if they found a death notice of anyone with a RRC/ARRC, they amended the RRC Register and added the date - and oddly, crossed through the entry at that time. So I think it would have been The Times, but probably an error in the date. This is the actual entry in the RRC Register:

[seaJane]

Of the 8 Whitson obituaries and 38 Whitson death announcements in The Times since 1/1/37, none for Margaret. Sorry!

[E Wilcock]

I am so surprised and also delighted that the Miss Whitson mentioned by my Uncle has become a real person. Thanks you all for your help. Now I must set about adding her career and medals and these details to the Lives of the FWW site.

Spurred by your contributions, I went to look through my father's photos, hoping that we might have on of Miss Margaret Whitson - sadly not, just a group which includes her brother, his wife and two of their sons.

However, I did come across a box with further letters from my Uncle Edgar Gollin as a student or from others. These were kept by my grandfather but not filed with the letters from the front.

And unbelievable, there are two letters from Miss Whitson herself and with them (or with other letters in that box) is a photo of an unidentified hospital ward. I will scan it and try to post it - If you would like to see it Sue. But I cant do it till the weekend.

It feels wierd to have started this thread using her as an example of an unknown name and now to hold letters from her in my hands.

[seaJane]

Relieved to have found something in the Times! viz. Award of the RRC reported in the issue of Monday 25 February 1918.

But having now searched entire Times archive using the phrase Margaret Whitson, no luck

[mcmillan_e@sky.com]

Many thanks to all those contributors to this thread, as you have provided me with invaluable information and assistance with my attempt to trace details regarding Miss Margaret Whitson, who was my great, great paternal aunt. I have some family information which some of you may find useful in your quest to build up a picture of this lady and I will be pleased to share any details I have, if you care to send a message requesting same.

My maiden name is Whitson and I am so proud to learn of the part my ancestor played in WW1 and I think it amazing that at her hospital, my grandfather - Ronald Shiress Whitson, 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Scots, along with his elder brother (my great uncle) - Captain Henry (k/a Harry) Thomas Whitson in the Liverpool Scottish regiment, were cared for there when both were wounded. They were nephews of the matron, Miss Whitson, - their Father's younger sister - and, I believe, all three were at the hospital at the same time.

I might be able to provide information as to where all the family members fit in.

Elaine McMillan nee Whitson

[barkalotloudly]

I have a copy of the book "Liverpool merchants mobile hospital 1915-1918" in which there is a picture of Miss M S Whitson[Matron}

"Miss Whitson and Charles Cain had visited france in the early days of the war to investigate sites and interview the military authorities indeed to Colonel Raw and miss Whitson was due much of the success of the unit and they were consulted from the first by Lord Derby who founded and financed the hospital"

[mcmillan_e@sky.com]

How fascinating that you have a picture of Miss Whitson. Is there any way I would be able to obtain a copy as I do not have any pictures or photographs of the lady in question?

[Stephen Nulty]

Lancashire Evening Post, 24th August 1936

Liverpool Daily Post, 18th January 1916

[E Wilcock]

Elaine, I am very glad to know of you. And also to know about the booklet which seems to be very rare. There is a copy in the Imperial War Museum library (author given as Chavasse) but one is not allowed to photograph documents there.

I had postponed making images of my material till the autumn as that is my time for indoor research. But I will see what I can do over the next week.

[mcmillan_e@sky.com]

Many thanks for the replies I received regarding my posting concerning my great, great aunt - Miss Margaret Whitson. All the snippets from various sources certainly do contribute towards building up a picture of my ancestor. From what I can gather, she seems to have been a highly respected individual and she deserves a huge amount of credit for setting up and running the field hospital which she did.

On a separate issue, this is a reply for E Wilcock (sorry I don't have a less formal name), in relation to the mention of her Uncle Edgar Gollin. I had been reading out the information posted on the forum regarding Miss Whitson, on the telephone to my aunt (late father's sister) - Mrs Heather Shipman (nee Whitson). She is the eldest daughter of Ronald, grandaughter of Thomas James Whitson, and it is presumably Thomas, his wife Edith, middle son Ronald and either his older brother Harry, or the younger brother (Alan), who are in the photograph which is referred to in an earlier posting. When I mentioned "Uncle Edgar Gollin" to my aunt, she knew who this was straightaway as she had often heard her parents and probably great grandparents too, talk about "the Gollins". My aunt is now 88 and she is the last surviving member of my grandparents' children. I just thought you might find it interesting to know that I have a relation who knew of your family.

Elaine.

[E Wilcock]

Thank you so much Elaine. I will private message you my email. It is also on the first page of my site, near the end. Perhaps we can exchange email addresses and continue to share some family history and send images off this forum. I will also now copy or scan the material.

[E Wilcock]

I have scanned the unidentified pic, believed to be of the hospital where Miss Whitson worked. But it could be the Duchess of Wesminster's Hospital where, a letter from Miss Whitson confirms Edgar Gollin was a patient.

[mcmillan_e@sky.com]

What a lovely piece of history to view! Elaine.