Margaret Dorothy Roberts

Place of birth: Dolgellau

Service: Staff Nurse, QAIMNS Reserve / Wrth gefn, 29/09/1915 - 31/12/1917

Death: 1917-12-31, SS Osmanieh, Drowning

Memorial: Cathedral Nurse, Llanelwy, Flintshire

Notes: aged 47. SS Osmanieh was sunk by a German mine off Alexandria, Egypt. Grave in Hadra War Memorial Cemetery, Alexandria, Egypt. Born in the Workhouse in Dolgellau, she spent many years in Australia before returning to Britain to join the QAIMNS Reserves.

Sources: http://www.flintshirewarmemorials.com/memorials/st-asaph-memorial/st-asaph-cathedral-welsh-nurses-ww1/roberts-margaret-dorothy/; http://emhs.org.au/person/roberts/margaret_dorothy

Reference: WaW0051

Nurse Margaret Dorothy Robert's name on the Nurses' Memorial, St Asaph

Margaret Dorothy Robert's name on the Nurses' Memorial, St Asaph

Margaret Dorothy Roberts

Margaret Dorothy Roberts

Gertrude Madley

Place of birth: Llanelli, 1892

Service: Staff Nurse, QAIMNS Reserve / Wrth gefn, September 1916 - May 1920

Notes: Gertrude Madley was the daughter of a tinplate rollerman, and worked as a tinplate hand before training as a nurse in Swansea in 1913. She joined Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve as a Staff Nurse in September 1916. At just twenty-three years of age she was one of the youngest nurses to serve with the Reserve during the Great War. She served initally in Malta, and then, 1918 - 1920, in France

Sources: http://greatwarnurses.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/from-small-acorns-mighty-oaks-grow.html

Reference: WaW0098

Gertrude Madley in France 1919

Staff Nurse Gertrude Madley QAIMNS in France 1919

Alice Meldrum

Place of birth: Trevor Llangollen, 1880

Service: Staff Nurse, QAIMNS Reserve / Wrth gefn, 1914 - 1920

Notes: Alice Meldrum survived the sinking of the Hospital Ship HMHS Anglia 17th November 1915. The ship was carrying wounded men from Boulogne to Folkestone when it struck a mine. Alice's account reads:“We carried as many as possible on deck, and those that could threw themselves into the sea; others were let down in the lifeboat, but unfortunately it was only possible to lower one boat, as the ship was sinking so rapidly. The patients kept their heads wonderfully, there was no panic whatever, and when one realises that in the vast majority of cases they were suffering from fractured limbs, severe wounds, and amputations, it speaks volumes for their spirit, their grit and real bravery for they must have suffered agonies of pain. After we had satisfied ourselves that there was no possible chance of getting any more patients out, for by that time our bows had quite gone under, and only the ship’s stern was above water, with the propellers going at a terrific rate and blinding us with spray, we then got down onto the rudder and jumped into the sea……”. Three hundred wounded and crew were saved by naval and other ships in the area. She wrote 'there was a humourous side to it, for we must have looked very weird in the different garments that had been so kindly supplied to us by the officers and men of the destroyers, who did everything in their power for our welfare……..I would remind you that 40 minutes in the water in November is not the kind of sea-bathing that many would indulge in from choice …….After a good meal on the Ambulance Train, we were soon on our journey to London.”. Alice Meldrum was awarded the Royal Red Cross, and also wrote a short account of her experiences. She spent the remainder of the War working at field hospitals in France.

Sources: http://greatwarnurses.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/sinking-of-hospital-ship-anglia.html

Reference: WaW0101

Alice Meldrum's memoir

Experiences of Life on a Hospital Ship in Wartime� Alice Meldrum's memoir

Application to join QAIMNS

Alice Meldrum's application to join QAIMNS

Alice Meldrum

Alice Meldrum VAD

Royal Red Cross

Alice Meldrum's Royal Red Cross

Gwenllian Elizabeth Roberts

Place of birth: Llangynidr

Service: Sister, QAIMNS Reserve

Notes: Gwenllian Roberts was awarded the Royal Red Cross for her services at the Central Military Hospital, Chatham, Kent.

Reference: WaW0115

Gwenllian Elizabeth Roberts

Sister Gwenllian Elizabeth Roberts QAIMNSR wearing her Royal Red Cross medal

Gwenllian Roberts’s Royal Red Cross

Sister Gwenllian Roberts’s Royal Red Cross, awarded August 5th 1919.

Edinburgh Gazette listing Sister Roberts’s award

Edinburgh Gazette listing Sister Roberts’s award, August 5th 1919 (8th in the right hand column).

Newspaper report

Newspaper report of Sister Roberts’s award, Llais Llafur25th October 1919.

Mary R Jones

Service: Nurse, QAIMNS reserve / Wrth gefn yn y QAIMNS

Notes: Mary’s name appears at no 21 on the Roll of honour of those who served in WWI, Kings Cross Welsh Chapel London. She must have been a trained nurse working in London, but nothing is known of her.

Reference: WaW0199

Roll of Honour

Roll of honour of those who served in WWI, Kings Cross Welsh Chapel London

Mary Jones’s name on Roll of Honour

Mary R Jones’s name on Roll of honour of those who served in WWI, Kings Cross Welsh Chapel London