Edith Townsend

Place of birth: Cardiff

Service: Waitress, QMAAC, 1918 -

Notes: Edith Townsend and her sister Gladys were associated with Roath Road Wesleyan Methodist Church, Cardiff. They described their early experiences in the Roath Roamer (Vol.44, p.6). After training they spent time near Woolwich (and experienced three air raids), before being sent north to Newcastle - 'very much like Cardiff'. Image and information courtesy of Glamorgan Archives (DWESA6).

Sources: https://archifaumorgannwg.wordpress.com/

Reference: WaW0120

Edith and Gladys Townsend, QMAAC

Sisters Edith and Gladys Townsend in QMAAC uniform, 1918.

Gladys Townsend

Place of birth: Cardiff

Service: Waitress, QMAAC, 1918 -

Notes: Gladys Townsend and her sister Edith were associated with Roath Road Wesleyan Methodist Church, Cardiff. They described their early experiences in the Roath Roamer (Vol.44, p.6). After training they spent time near Woolwich (and experienced three air raids), before being sent north to Newcastle - 'very much like Cardiff'. Image and information courtesy of Glamorgan Archives (DWESA6).

Sources: https://archifaumorgannwg.wordpress.com/

Reference: WaW0121

Edith and Gladys Townsend QMAAC

Sisters Edith and Gladys Townsend in QMAAC uniform, 1918

Amy Laura Whitcombe

Place of birth: Hengoed

Service: Worker, QMAAC

Death: 1918-11-03, S C Convalescent Hospital, Plymouth, Influenza / Y Ffliw

Memorial: War memorial, Ystrad Mynach and Hengoed, Glamorgan

Notes: aged 24.

Reference: WaW0063

Ystrad Mynach War Memorial

Name of Amy Whitcombe on Ystrad Mynach War Memorial

Grave record

Grave record for Amy Whitcombe

Ada Doris Maud Lesser (Radcliffe)

Place of birth: Nova Scotia

Service: Worker, QMAAC

Death: 1918/12/04, Tidsworth Military Hospital, Wiltshire, Influenza / y ffliw

Memorial: Danygraig, Swansea, Glamorgan

Notes: Born c.1879, Ada moved with her parents to Swansea. She married Arthur Charles Lesser in December 1899. The inscription on her grave says she was 36 when she died, but she was probably older. Thanks to Diana Morgan

Reference: WaW0190

Grave of Ada Lesser

Grave with the name of Ada Lesser, QMAAC

Mary Ann Evans

Place of birth: Ebbw Vale

Service: Assistant cook, QMAAC

Death: 1919/03/23, Percy House Auxiliary Military Hospital, Isleworth, Middlesex, Influenza ? / Fliw ?

Notes: According to the 1911 census, Mary Ann probably came from a Welsh speaking family. Her father was a colliery foreman. She was working in Middlesex when she died, probably of influenza. Her name has recently been recorded on a commemorative headstone at Risca cemetery.

Sources: http://firstworldwar.gwentheritage.org.uk/content/catalogue_item/mary-ann-evans

Reference: WaW0283

Commemorative headstone

Headstone commemorating Mary Ann Evans, Risca cemetery.

Grave record

Grave record of Mary Ann Evans

Daisy Morris

Place of birth: St Dogmaels

Service: Munitions ? then Clerk-Telephonist, QMAAC, 1918/06/06 – 1919/05/06

Notes: Born in St Dogmael’s in 1895, her father was a coastguard, Daisy may have worked in munitions in Barry Docks. When she joined QMAAC in 1918 she was living in Barrow, near her sister at Flookburgh, north Lancashire.

Sources: National Archives WO-398-159-25

Reference: WaW0309

QMAAC application form

Daisy Morris’s application to join the QMAAC.

Maud Jarman (Larnder)

Place of birth: Glangwryne, Mongomeryshire

Service: Waitress, QMAAC, 1918/07/25 - 1919/05/13

Notes: Maud Jarman had been working as a housemaid for three years, currently at the Wynnstay Arms Hotel in Machynlleth, when she responded to an advertisement for QMAACs in the Cambrian News. She joined at Cardiff in July 1918 to serve as a waitress at various army bases. After her discharge from the Corps in May 1919 there seems to have been considerable confusion about her back pay and sick pay. There seems to have been considerable confusion as to who should pay her. A good section of her file in the National Archives is devoted to sorting this problem, which was finally resolved in September 1919.

Sources: National Archives WO-398-117-26

Reference: WaW0318

Letter

Letter from Maud Jarman asking to join QMAAC. National Archives.

Letter (reverse)

Letter from Maud Jarman asking to join QMAAC (reverse). National Archives.

Newspaper advertisement

Advertisement for QMAACS. Possibly this is the one Maud referred to in her letter. Cambrian News 31st May 1918.

QMAAC Document

Part of the official correspondence about Maud Jarman’s pay. National Archives.

Margaret Davies

Place of birth: Pontymister ?

Service: Cook, QMAAC

Death: 1919/02/18, Not known , Not known / Anhysbys

Memorial: Rica Old Cemetary, Risca, Monmouthshire

Notes: Almost nothing is known of Madge Davies who was a cook in QMAAC.

Reference: WaW0350

War Graves Register

Entry for Margaret Davies in the War Graves Register.

Next of kin

Details of next of kin for Margaret Davies (Relationship not known).

Editha Elma (Bailey), Lady Glanusk (Sergison)

Place of birth: Haywards Heath, Sussex

Service: ‘Active war worker’, Red Cross

Notes: Lady Glanusk was born in 1871 and married the 2nd Baron Glanusk in 1890. From the outbreak of war she became very involved in wartime activities, and was an indefatigable writer to the newspapers, calling for young women to encourage their men to join up, and demanding the internment of enemy aliens. She was the President of the Red Cross in Breconshire, (for which she was awarded a CBE in 1920), and was heavily involved in the Penoyre Red Cross Hospital in Brecon. Two of her three sons were killed in the war, one a 17-year-old midshipman.

Reference: WaW0228

Lady Glanusk

Lady Glanusk with the matron and staff of Penoyre Hospital, Brecon.

Newspaper letter

Letter to ‘The Women of Breconshire’ published in the Brecon County Times 5th November 1914.

Newspaper letter

Letter ‘The Alien Enemy Danger’ published in the Brecon County Times 25th March 1915

Red Cross record card

Red Cross record card detailing the service of Lady Glanusk

Red Cross record card (reverse)

Red Cross record card detailing the service of Lady Glanusk (reverse)

London Gazette

Citation for award of CBE to Lady Glanusk, London Gazette (Supplement) 30th March 1920

Mabel Dearmer

Place of birth: Llanbleblig, 1872

Service: Volunteer, Red Cross/Y Groes Goch

Death: 1915-07-11, Serbia, Typhus/Pneumonia Teiffws/ Niwmonia

Notes: Mabel Dearmer, born 1872, was a successful writer, dramatist and illustrator of adult and children’s books. She and her husband the Rev Percy Dearmer were both pacifists and supporters of the Church League for Women’s Suffrage. When her husband accepted a post as chaplain to the British Red Cross in Serbia, she volunteered to go too, and died in July 1915. Her letters home were published posthumously as ‘Letters from a Field Hospital’.

Sources: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/2014/08/mabel-dearmer-in-serbia.html https://www.amazon.com/Letters-field-hospital-Mabel-Dearmer/dp/117677140X#reader_117677140X

Reference: WaW0092

Mabel Dearmer's grave, left.

Grave, on the left, of Mabel Dearmer, Kragujevac Central Cemetery, Serbia

Mabel Dearmer

Mabel’s photograph was collected by the Women’s Subcommittee of the Imperial War Museum as part of its collection of women who died during the War

Book illustration

One of Mabel Dearmer’s characteristic children’s book illustrations, 1901rnrn

Stobart Hospital Staff List

List of the staff of the Stobart Hospital, Kragujevac, Serbia. ‘Dearmer, Mrs Percy’ is listed under ‘Women Orderlies’ and her husband The Rev Dr P Dearmer is the Hon Chaplain. Emily Hill [qv] is listed under ‘Nursing Sisters.