Mary Elizabeth (May) Jones

Place of birth: Llanfairfechan

Service: Stewardess, Cunard Steam Ship Company

Death: 1915/05/17, SS Lusitania, Drowning / Boddi

Memorial: Mercantile Marine Memorial to the Missing, Tower Hill, London

Notes: May had been a senior stewardess with the Cunard Steam Ship Company for many years. She drowned aged 43 when SS Lusitania was torpedoed on 17th May 1917, together with 14 other stewardesses including Jane Howdle [qv]. Eight survived. She was buried with other victims at Old Cobh Cemetery, Queenstown, Ireland.

Sources: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/visit/floor-plan/lusitania/people/peoples-stories.aspx?id=15547

Reference: WaW0261

Death notice

Death Notice of Mary Jones, North Wales Chronicle 14th May 1915.

Newspaper report

Report of memorial service for Mary Jones, Y Clorianydd 19th May 1915rn

Elsie Agnes Courtis

Place of birth: Llandaff, 1894

Service: Chauffeuse, FANY, 1914 - 1918

Notes: Elsie originally signed up for ‘kitchen or nursing duties’, but later became an ambulance driver. She was awarded the Military Medal in 1917 ‘for bravery in rescuing wounded under fire in France’.

Reference: WaW0129

Women awarded the Military Medal

Photograph of women, including Elsie Courtis, who were awarded the Military Medal, 1918.

London Gazette, 26th June 1918

Elsie Courtis’s award of the Military Medal recorded in the London Gazette, 26th June 1918

VAD record card

One of Elsie Courtis’s VAD record cards.

Ella Jane Vincentia MacLaverty

Place of birth: Llangattock-Vibon-Avel

Service: Driver, FANY, Red Cross, 1914 ? - 1919

Notes: Ella MacLaverty, born 1880, was the youngest child of the wealthy vicar of Llangattock near Monmouth. She may have joined the Red Cross as a chauffeuse in 1914; she was definitely a member of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry by July 1918, and may have been part of the St Omer convoy when George V visited the battlefields. Late in the war and after the Armistice she was employed driving those involved with clearing unexploded bombs in Hazebrouck and Poperinge.

Sources: https://tochcentenary.wordpress.com/2020/01/05/the-women-who-knew-talbot-house/?fbclid=IwAR3pjQb2iBRWs1CH1vjyMJC9ek1RiF5eCHWPM6HfXW2FK3BuGVzRfwe-vCk

Reference: WaW0414

Red Cross record card

Record card for Ella MacLaverty.

Red Cross record card [reverse]

Record card for Ella MacLaverty (reverse)

Communicant’s slip

Communicant’s slip for Talbot House, the Toc H church centre in Poperinge, Flanders.

Annie Elizabeth (Nancy) Brewer (Mistrick)

Place of birth: Newport

Service: Nurse, Fondation Baye

Death: 1921/01/30, Newport, Brights disease

Notes: Annie Brewer, also known as Nancy, was born in 1874. Her father worked in the Dos Road Nail factory. She qualified in ‘the nursing and attendance of insane persons’ in 1899. After a few years working in hospitals she seems to have become a nurse/companion, travelling to many parts of Europe. At the outbreak of War she joined a private French hospital and ambulance organisation, the Fondation Baye, and worked as part of the Fondation in many war zones of France. She was wounded when her ambulance was bombed, and also suffered serious illness. She remained in France in the Army of Occupation until late 1920. She was decorated several times by the French government, including two awards of the Croix de Guerre and also the Legion d’Honnour. During her time in France she also married a young ambulance driver, Daniel Mistrick. She returned to Newport early in 1921 to nurse her mother, but died very shortly afterwards. Annie took many photographs of her time in France, and was also frequently photographed by others. A selection can be seen below.

Sources: www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/authors/88112f9c-1724-34e3-8c65-6d48968dc06b22cb34378481r_date%22%20and%20%28gallica%20all%20%22nancy%20Brewer%22%29

Reference: WaW0187

Annie (Nancy) Brewer

Photograph of Annie (Nancy) taken in Torquay, 13 . 3 . 15

Annie Brewer and ambulance

Annie Brewer beside an ambulance possibly driven by Daniel Mistrick

Annie in the operating theatre

Annie Brewer giving an anaesthetic in a camp operating theatre.

Announcement of award of Croix de Guerre

Announcement in the Journal Officiel de la Republique Français, 17th December 1917: Miss BREWER (Nancy), voluntary nurse in the de Baye unit, at the hospital at Dugny: a highly skilled nurse whose moral strength and devotion have been conspicuously shown on many occasions, notably 18 August 1917 during the shelling of her ambulance. Gave on that day a magnificent example of coolness and of absolute disregard for danger, lavishing her care on the wounded while under enemy artillery fire.

Nurses looking at a zeppelin

Photograph by AB of a group of nurses looking up at a zeppelin flying over.

Young man bathing

AB’s photograph of a young man, possibly Daniel Mistrick, bathing in a river.

Annie Brewer

Annie Brewer in a snow covered dugout

Announcement of award of Medaille de la Reconaissance français

Announcement in the Journal Officiel de la Republique Français 22nd October 1920: Miss Brewer (Annie Elizabeth, Nancy), British, senior nurse in the unit of Mlle de Baye: has been with this at the Front since 1915, at Vitry-le-François, at Deuxnouds, before Beauzée, at Souilly, at Dugny; since the Armistice has been attached to the Army of Occupation, notably at Saarbrücken; taken ill in April 1918, has had to undergo a long period in hospital; scarcely able to return to duty, daily imposing on herself new tasks way beyond her strength; at present undergoing treatment in rnhospital in a condition that her doctors describe as extremely serious.

Gwendoline Elizabeth Davies

Place of birth: Llandinam

Service: Collector, philanthropist, canteen worker, French Red Cross, 1916 - 1918

Death: 1952/07/03, Leukaemia /Lewcemia

Notes: Gwendoline, born 1882, was the elder granddaughter of David Davies the coal owner and builder of Barry Docks. She, her sister Margaret [qv] and her brother David each received one third of his vast fortune on the death of their father in 1898. All three were strict Calvinistic Methodists, with a strong philanthropic streak. The two sisters began to travel widely, and to study art in Europe. In their early twenties they were beginning to form the collection that is now at the National Museum Wales. In March 1913 the collection was exhibited, anonymously, in Cardiff; the sisters covering all of the cost. It attracted 26000 visitors. At the outbreak of war the sisters promoted a scheme to invite Belgian artists and musicians to come to Wales, settling them in Aberystwyth and Llanidloes [see De Saedeleer]. In 1916, following the death of her cousin in the Dardanelles, Gwen volunteered to join the French Red Cross, leaving in July to open a Cantine des Dames Anglaises where she remained until the end of the war. The Cantine was moved in 1917 to Troyes, where her sister joined her. Gwen’s job as Directrice meant visits to headquarters in Paris, which in turn enabled her to add pictures, including two Cézannes, to her collection. In early 1918 her collections in Paris were at risk from air-raids and long distance shelling, so it was arranged for them to be shipped back to Britain. By 1922 she had given up collecting art. She felt she could not spend money in this way ‘in the face of appalling need everywhere’. During the 1920s Gwendoline set up a centre for the arts at Gregynog near Llandinam, promoting art in the cause of peace and social progress. She continued to give generously to educational and other causes. On her death in 1951 she bequeathed her remarkable collection of paintings and sculpture to the National Museum of Wales.

Sources: Oliver Fairclough [ed] Things of Beauty: What two sisters did for Wales. National Museum Wales 2007. Trevor Fishlock A Gift of Sunlight. Gomer 2014\r\nhttps://museum.wales/articles/2007-07-29/The-Davies-Sisters-during-the-First-World-War/

Reference: WaW0333

Oprning of the Ocean Coal Company pithead baths

Gwendoline Davies (centre) and Margaret (left) at the opening of the first pithead baths in Wales, summer 1916. This was shortly before she left for France.

Cantine des Dames Anglaises

The Canteen in Troyes, France, of which Gwendoline was Directrice.

Loan exhibition 1913

Loan exhibition of the Davies sisters’ collection in City Hall, Cardiff, February 1913. It includes Rodin’s The Kiss, bought by Gwendoline in 1912.

Midday, L'Estaque

This Cézanne landscape was bought in Paris by Gwendoline Davies in February 1918.

Margaret Sidney Davies

Place of birth: Llandinam

Service: Collector, philanthropist, canteen worker, French Red Cross, 1917 - 1919

Death: 1963, Cause not known

Notes: Margaret, born 1884, was the younger sister of Gwendoline [qv] and granddaughter of David Davies the coal owner and builder of Barry Docks. She, her sister and her brother David each received one third of his vast fortune on the death of their father in 1898. All three were strict Calvinistic Methodists, with a strong philanthropic streak. The two sisters began to travel widely, and to study art in Europe. Margaret also studied drawing and printmaking. In their early twenties they were beginning to form the collection that is now at the National Museum Wales. In March 1913 the collection was exhibited, anonymously, in Cardiff; the sisters covering all of the cost. There were 26000 visitors. At the outbreak of war the sisters promoted a scheme to invite Belgian artists and musicians to come to Wales, and settle in Aberystwyth and Llanidloes. In 1917 Margaret joined Gwendoline at the Cantine des Dames Anglais, now sited at Troyes railway station. In her diary she wrote that the chief blessings in a canteen were ‘a tap of water and a gramophone. The former makes life bearable for us and the latter makes life bearable to the poilu’ (private soldier). For a while she and Gwendoline were moved to an American canteen nearer the front; there they experienced air raids and two of their colleagues were killed by bombs. In the winter of 1918-1919 she worked for three months in a canteen in Rouen organised by the Scottish Churches before returning to Wales. Later Margaret helped set up the centre for the arts at Gregynog. She continued to collect paintings, usually by modern British artists, until the late 1950s. Her collection, like her sister’s, was bequeathed to the National Museum of Wales.

Sources: Oliver Fairclough [ed] Things of Beauty: What two sisters did for Wales. National Museum Wales 2007. Trevor Fishlock A Gift of Sunlight. Gomer 2014\r\nhttps://museum.wales/articles/2007-07-29/The-Davies-Sisters-during-the-First-World-War/

Reference: WaW0334

Cantine des Dames Anglaises

Margaret Davies is the figure on the right, at the back of the Cantine des Dames Anglaises.

Plas Dinam

Woodcut of Plas Dinam by Margaret Davies, 1920s.

Isabella Lilian Mitchell

Place of birth: Cattistock, Dorset

Service: Canteen worker, ambulance driver, French Red Cross, 1915 - 1918 ?

Death: 1970, Kent, Cause not known

Notes: Isabella was the only daughter of a Scottish family settled in Brecon. Her father A A Mitchell was an Alderman and JP, and both her brothers volunteered as army officers. In September 1915 she was working in the French Red Cross Canteen at Creil Station north of Paris. She is said to have received the Croix de Guerre in the summer of 1918 ‘for three years motor ambulance service with the French Army, and especially for good work at Creil’. Thanks to Marianne Last.

Reference: WaW0395

Newspaper report

Report of Isabella’s canteen work in Creil, France. Brecon County Times 2nd September 1915.

Newspaper report

Report of Isabella’s award of the Croix de Guerre. Brecon County Times 1st August 1918.

Ambulance drivers

Photograph of British motor ambulance drivers, France 1917.

Alice Williams

Place of birth: Cardiff

Service: Nurse, French Red Cross / Y Groes Goch Ffrengig, 1915 - 1918

Notes: Alice Williams was a member of the French Red Cross and had a 'lifelong connection' with Roath Road Wesleyan Methodist Church, Cardiff. The Roath Road Roamer reported in June 1917 ‘Miss Williams has been in the thick of things – as a nurse for two years, and this is the first time she has left France. Much of her time she has spent within three miles of the German trenches so she knows something about things and has an interesting story to tell'. She is dressed here in the uniform of the French Red Cross. Image and information courtesy of Glamorgan Archives (DWESA6).

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

Reference: WaW0110

Alice Williams in French Red Cross uniform

Alice Williams was a member of the French Red Cross working at field hospitals in France 1915 – 1918.

Edith May Francis

Place of birth: Caersws

Service: Nurse, Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU), Feb 1918 – Dec 1919

Notes: Born 1892, Edith was a qualified nurse with three and a half years’ experience when she joined the FAU. She spent nearly 2 years at the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Dunkirk. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church, not a Quaker.

Sources: http://fau.quaker.org.uk/

Reference: WaW0232

Edith May Francis

Edith Mary Francis, Friends Ambulance Unit

FAU record card

FAU record card for Edith Francisrnrnrn

Bessie M Richards

Place of birth: Wenallt ?

Service: Girl Guide Commisioner, Girl Guides, 1915 - 1918

Notes: Bessie was obviously a leading Girl Guide, and old enough to have done some volunteering at Aberdare Red Cross Hospital. In August 1917 she was appointed Commissioner for Aberdare and Merthyr, with the object of forming new Companies in the area.

Reference: WaW0412

Newspaper report

Report of Bessie Richards’s appointment as Commissioner for Aberdare and Merthyr. Aberdare Leader 11th August 1917