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May Brooks
Place of birth: Cardiff
Service: Worker, WAAC/QMAAC, 1917 - 1919
Notes: May Brooks was a clerk in a confectionary firm before joining the WAAC. She served at various places in the south of England. She contracted influenza, spending a week in hospital, and was discharged on compassionate grounds in June 1919. Image and information courtesy of Glamorgan Archives (DWESA6).
Sources: https://archifaumorgannwg.wordpress.com/
Reference: WaW0117
May Brooks, WAAC/QMAAC. Image courtesy of Glamorgan Archives
May Brooks in the outdoor uniform of the WAAC/QMAAC. Image courtesy of Glamorgan Archives
Gladys Butler
Place of birth: Valleys, 1914
Service: Small child
Notes: Gladys Butler had vivid memories of being dressed in a miniature soldier's uniform (c.1916/17) and being stood on a table. When admired as a 'smart soldier boy', she insisted 'I'm not a boy, I'm a girl!' (CF November 2014)
Reference: WaW0090
Edith Carbis
Place of birth: Cardiff
Service: Messenger, Girl Guides / Geidiau
Notes: Edith Carbis's photograph appeared in the 'Roath Road Roamer’, January 1915. She seems to have left school, and acted as a messenger for the Lady Mayoress.
Reference: WaW0094
Kathleen Edithe Carpenter (Zimmermann)
Place of birth: Lincolnshire
Service: Scientist Biologist Environmentalist., University College Aberystwyth
Death: 1970, Cheltenham, Cause not known
Notes: Born 1891 to a German father and English mother, Kathleen Carpenter (she changed her surname from Zimmermann at the outbreak of WWI) was awarded her BSc in 1910. She remained at Aberystwyth for research, and subsequently became an Assistant Lecturer in the Zoology Department. She gained her PhD there in 1925. Her seminal studies focused on the environmental impact of metal pollution on Cardiganshire streams. This gained her international renown, particularly in the United States where she worked at several leading universities. Kathleen Carpenter is regarded as ‘the mother of freshwater ecology’.
Sources: Catherine Duigan: https://thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-features/158-biologist/features/1968-who-was-kathleen-carpenter ++
Reference: WaW0465
Kathleen Carpenter and fellow students
Kathleen Carpenter (front, 2nd left) Aberystwyth's literature and debating society in 1910
Catherine Anne Carroll (née Rees)
Place of birth: Swansea
Service: Munitions worker, Not known / anhysbys
Death: 1918/10/21, Swansea, Gas gangrene / Madredd nwy
Notes: Catherine, mother of four children, was a munitions worker in Swansea. According to her grandson she ‘fell from a tram injuring her leg and as a result got gangrene because of the working conditions in the munitions factory. She died 21.10.1918.’ Her husband. Pte William Carroll died in hospital in Egypt just over a month later. The children were brought up by their grandparents. Thanks to Roger Latch.
Reference: WaW0355
Catherine Carroll and Family
Catherine Carroll with her children May, Ted William and baby Betty. October 1914. Thanks to Roger Latch
Newspaper photograph
Photograph and report of death of Pte William Carroll. South Wales Weekly Post 23rd November 1918.
Florence Missouri Caton
Place of birth: ‘at sea’ off Cuba
Service: Nurse, SWH, September 1915 – July 1917 /
Death: 1917/7/15, Salonika, Appendicitis / Llid y pendics
Notes: Florence Missouri Caton was born on board ship (possibly the source of her middle name, though no evidence has yet been found) in about 1876, to parents from Wrexham. A trained nurse, she worked in Lancashire before joining the Scottish Women’s Hospitals in 1915. She had two periods of work in the Balkans. Shortly after her arrival in 1915 her unit was captured by the Austrians, and released in December. In August she returned to Serbia, working in various hospitals and dressing stations until she died of appendicitis in July 1917. She is buried In Lembet Road Military Cemetery, Salonika.
Sources: http://scottishwomenshospitals.co.uk/
Reference: WaW0212
Newspaper report
Report of death of Florence Caton, Y Brython, 30 August 1917. Translation: ‘Laying the nurse to rest. In faraway Serbia the remains of Nurse Caton of Wrexham were laid to rest. She had endeared herself to the wretched people of that country through her untiring labour of love in their midst. There is talk of erecting a white marble cross on her small grave.’
Ada Maude Cecil
Place of birth: Talywain, Pontypool
Service: Nurse, VAD
Notes: Ada Cecil joined the VAD in 1917 aged 20. For some reason she has four Red Cross record cards; three pink and one white. Initially she nursed in Wales, but later was posted to the New Zealand Military Hospital in Weybridge, Surrey, and Staffordshire. Ada was a member of Pisgah Baptist Church, Talywain, and is commemorated on the roll of honour in the church.
Reference: WaW0290
Roll of Honour
Ada Cecil’s name on the Roll of Honour at Pisgah Baptist Church, Talywain, Pontypool.rnrn
Elsie Chamberlain (née Cooil)
Place of birth: Liverpool
Service: Teacher, mother, local politician
Notes: Elsie with her family moved from Liverpool to Bangor when she was five. After finishing school, she became a teacher in local schools. Charlotte Price White [qv], the well-known local suffragist, told her ‘You have the ability to do public work and it is your duty to serve the citizens of Bangor’. She became involved in many war-time committees, and stood, unsuccessfully, in the municipal elections of 1919, finally becoming a councillor in 1930 and the first woman mayor of Bangor between 1941 and 1943. Elsie was the mother of the artist and writer Brenda Chamberlain, and died in 1972.
Sources: Jill Percy: Brenda Chamberlain, Artist and Writer (Parthian Books 2013)
Reference: WaW0409
Newspaper article
Report of a housing exhibition organised by the Bangor branch of the National Council of Women, including Mrs Chamberlain. North Wales Chronicle 15th August 1919
Newspaper report
Report of the municipal elections in Bangor. North Wales Chronicle 24th October 1919
Ellen Catherine Clay (née Williams)
Place of birth: Penrhos
Service: Nurse (Commandant), Chairman WLA Holyhead, VAD, WLA/Byddin Dir y Merched
Notes: Born a farmer’s daughter in about 1866, Ellen Williams married a local doctor, Thomas William Clay, in 1898. At the outbreak of War she became Assistant Commandant of Holyhead VAD. She worked in Holborn Red Cross Hospital as well as in Anglesey; additionally she helped run the Red Cross Canteen at Holyhead Railway Station. Mrs Clay also chaired the recruitment committee for the Women’s Land Army. She died in 1935.
Sources: Holyhead and Anglesey Mail 7 May / Mai 2014
Reference: WaW0153
Elizabeth Clement
Place of birth: Swansea
Service: Nurse, SWH, 1915 - 1916
Notes: Daughter of a Swansea pub landlord Elizabeth Clement trained as a nurse at Llanelli Workhouse, where she became Head Nurse. She joined the Scottish Women's Hospitals in the autumn of 1915. She and her party arrived in Serbia early in October. Shortly after their arrival the Austrian army gained ascendancy in Serbia, and most of October was spent moving from place to place to avoid the enemy. By 7th November they were prisoners of the Germans. Eventually their freedom was negotiated, and they arrived in Budapest on the way to Vienna on 6th February. Elizabeth was back in Swansea by mid-February 1916. She seems to have become something of a celebrity; her diaries were published in the South Wales Weekly Post, and her story also appeared at length in Llais Llafur. She gave talks on her experiences, and appeared in the talks of others. A lantern slide of her in ‘Serbian dress’ was shown in a lecture by the popular librarian Mr W. W. Young in January 1917.
Sources: http://scottishwomenshospitals.co.uk/women/
Reference: WaW0114
Elizabeth Clement
Photograph of Elizabeth Clement as head nurse at Llanelli workhouse. Herald of Wales and Monmouthshire Recorder 25th December 1915
Newspaper report
First part of the South Wales Weekly Post publications of Elizabeth’s diaries, South Wales Weekly Post 19th and 26th February 1916.
Elizabeth Clement with colleagues and Serbian soldiers
Photograph of Elizabeth Clement, Christmas Day 1915, with colleagues and Serbian soldiers. She is standing back row, third from right.
Newspaper report
Report of lecture on Serbia by W.W.Young. Elizabeth was shown in Serbian dress. Cambria Daily Leader 19th January 1917