Andrew P Posted 18 April , 2008 Share Posted 18 April , 2008 Found this little story in the Western Australian Returned & Services League publication 'The Listening Post' from 1922. Unfortunately the name of the nurse is not recorded but hope it is of interest. A Digger was traveling between Fremantle & Perth. At Claremont a lady friend boarded the train, and the digger engaged her in conversation until she alighted at Subiaco. After she had left, a “lady” in the carriage sniffed and asked the digger if he was aware that the woman was married to a chinaman. “Yes” replied the Digger, “I know it. I also know that the lady is a qualified nurse, that she went to London at her husbands expense, and became matron of one of the biggest hospitals in Northern England. I know her because I was one of those she nursed back to health. Furthermore, I know that she holds a French, Belgian & Serbian decoration and that she was decorated by the King at Buckingham Palace. As to her Chinese husband, his name was prominent on every charity list during the war. And now please tell me what you and your husband did in the Great War?” The lady alighted at the next station. Cheers Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Posted 18 April , 2008 Share Posted 18 April , 2008 Was the times, was it not. Good on him!!! Cheers Kim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 18 April , 2008 Share Posted 18 April , 2008 Lovely story - thanks for posting it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Light Posted 18 April , 2008 Share Posted 18 April , 2008 It does indeed make a good story, but perhaps the accuracy of it needs to be taken with more than a little pinch of salt Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted 19 April , 2008 Author Share Posted 19 April , 2008 Yep I know. There can't have been too many Australian nurses to be decorated with all those awards, so I'm sure that would narrow it down. I do recall hearing stories of a prominnent Chinese resident donating a lot of money to the war cause in WA though. Time to hit the microfiche newspapers again I think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Light Posted 19 April , 2008 Share Posted 19 April , 2008 Andrew The story could easily have its foundations in truth, but there are several things that don't add up (proceeds to pick at it bit by bit ) I'm assuming that she came to England sometime after the outbreak of war, already married. I find it hard to believe that she could have become 'Matron of one of the biggest hospitals in northern England'. This would have been very unlikely in a civilian hospital - why would an Australian woman, travelling during wartime, have got this post - and of course both her marital status and (I have to say it!) the nationality of her husband would have been against her. It doesn't sound as though she could have been a member of the AANS, and anyway, until a fair way through the war, marriage was outlawed. If she did come to England to work (and run some hospital in Northern England), then how on earth did she fit in enough service to get all these foreign awards? France, Belgium and Serbia would have kept her very busy indeed. And what awards would the King have conferred on her? Not likely to be the foreign awards, so is the inference that she also received a British award - the ARRC? A possibility of her nursing with the British military nursing services? Yes, and possibly in northern England, but not as a Matron. And more unlikely that in that capacity she would have qualified for those foreign awards. Of course it's quite likely that an Australian nurse with a Chinese husband travelled to England during the war, worked as a nurse, and received an ARRC for her trouble. Or went to France, Belgium or Serbia to work. I just think along the way the whole story has become rather embellished to make an exciting tale! Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericwebb Posted 28 April , 2008 Share Posted 28 April , 2008 Anybody who was anybody on the voluntary hospital scene did their bit it Serbia, and even those who were temporarily interned after the October 1915 invasion were back in the UK by February 1916 - plenty of time to do a bit in France, then return home, or vice versa. Reading up Elsie Inglis and pals, what's most striking is their quite extraordinary energy and how some of them seem to have found their way, serially, to every trouble spot there was. So - this story may be embellished a bit, and as such it may never have happened, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was indeed such a lady - or pretty close. [being of the type she appears to have been, it wouldn't suprise me if she kept her maiden name, for professional use at least.] Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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