Amy Curtis (née Chamberlain)

Place of birth: Wolverhampton

Service: Nurse, VAD, July – November 1918 / Gorff

Death: 1918/11/06, Auxiliary Hospital Wallasey, Pneumonia / Niwmonia

Memorial: Gwersyllt, Denbighshire

Notes: Amy’s father was a railwayman who moved the family around the English midlands before setting in Gwersyllt. She married James Chamberlain in 1909 and had a daughter Lilly in 1910. James was killed in action in December 1917, and Amy joined the VAD in July 1918. She was 31 when she died; her name appears in the Welsh Book of Remembrance.

Sources: http://www.clwydfhs.org.uk/cofadeiladau/gwersyllt_wm.htm

Reference: WaW0231

Red Cross record card

Red Cross record of Amy Curtis’s service.

Red Cross record card (reverse)

Red Cross record of Amy Curtis’s service. (reverse)

Welsh Book of Remembrance

Mrs Amy Curtis’s name in the Welsh Book of Remembrance.

Edith Frances Barker

Place of birth: Liverpool

Service: Nurse, VAD, February/Chwefror 1915 – Apr

Death: 1918/04/03, St Omer, France, Illness / Salwch

Memorial: St Collen\'s Church, Llangollen, Denbighshire

Notes: Born 1869, the daughter of a Liverpool Brewer, Edith lived with two brother in Pen-y-Bryn Hall, Llangollen for a number of years from 1901. She nursed in Malta and France where she died aged 49. She is buried in Longueness (St Omer) Souvenir Cemetery, and her name appears on Llangollen War Memorial.

Sources: https://grangehill1922.wordpress.com/2013/11/19/edith-frances-barker/

Reference: WaW0174

Imperial War Graves Document

Document giving instruction for inscriptions on headstones in Souvenir Cem Longueness. Edith Barker’s age is given as 49.

Red Cross Record Card (reverse)

Red Cross record for Edith Frances Barker (reverse).

Red Cross Record card

Red Cross record for Edith Frances Barker. This gives her age as 37.

War Memorial

War memorial, Llangollen. Edith’s name is near the top of the second column from the left.

Emma Hardy

Place of birth: Cardiff ?

Service: Nurse, VAD, 15/10/07 – 17/11/06

Memorial: City Hall, Cardiff, Glamorgan

Notes: Emma Hardy was an employee of Cardiff Council. She served as a VAD, paid, for two years, first in the 3rd Western General Hospital, Cardiff and then in the 26th General Hospital in France. Her name appears on the Roll of Honour in Cardiff City Hall.

Reference: WaW0015

Red Cross record card

Red Cross record for Emma Hardy.

Red Cross record card (reverse)

Red Cross record for Emma Hardy (reverse)

Cardiff Roll of Honour

Name of Emma Hardy (second column, near the top) on the Roll of Honour in Cardiff City Hall.

Mary Thompson Ritchings

Place of birth: Swansea

Service: Doctor, Commandant, VAD

Notes: Born in 1879, Dr Mary Ritchings was Commandant of the Swansea Volunteer Aid Detachment by 1912. In 1915 she became medical director of the YMCA Red Cross Hospital, one of the largest in Wales with 360 beds. She worked here until the end of the war, but also continued to hold weekly sessions at the Mother and Baby Welcome, a pioneering baby clinic which was commended by Queen Mary, among others. She was awarded the MBE in June 1918.

Reference: WaW0250

Newspaper photograph

Photograph of Dr Ritchings with a soldier patient.

Newspaper photograph

Inspection of Swansea VAD, with Mary Ritchings Commandant. Cambrian Daily Leader 31st October 1913.

Red Cross record card

Record card for Dr Mary Ritchings.

Newspaper report

Report of Mary Ritchings's work at the Mothers and Babies Welcome.

Ann (Annie) Louisa Handley

Place of birth: Llandovery

Service: Nurse, VAD, 1914/12 - 1919/03

Death: 1969, Cause not known

Notes: Annie Handley was one of three Welsh nurses serving on the hospital ship Britannic (sister ship to the Titanic). The others were M A Harries and Nurse Edwards. All survived when the ship struck a mine in the Aegean sea on 21st November 1916 and sank, with the loss of 30 lives out of 1065 on board. She spent the remainder of the war nursing in France.

Sources: https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/lifestory/4956464

Reference: WaW0254

Red Cross record card

Cross card for Annie Handley

Newspaper report

Report of the survival of Ann Hardley

Red Cross record card (reverse)

Red Cross card for Annie Handley (reverse)

Newspaper report

Report of presentation to Annie Handley at the Williams Pantycelyn Memorial Vestry. Cambria Daily Leader 8th January 1917.

Annie Handley

Annie Handley VAD. Courtesy Alathea Anderssohn.

Annie Handley

Annie Handley in outdoor uniform.Courtesy Alathea Anderssohn.

Mary Hopkins

Place of birth: Pontardulais

Service: Nurse, VAD, 1915 - 1919

Notes: Mary Hopkins joined the VAD part time in September 1915. She may have trained as a nurse in London. She then worked in the Welsh Military Hospital at Netley before being transferred to France in March 1917. Her brother Second Lieutenant Daniel Hopkins, mathematics master at Holyhead County School, was killed at the Battle of Arras a few weeks after Mary arrived in France. It is not known whether they met in France before his death, but such meetings were not uncommon.

Sources: https://sites.google.com/site/holyheadwarmemorial19141918/home/army/daniel-idwal-hopkins-south-wales-borderers.

Reference: WaW0253

Red Cross record card

Red Cross record for Mary Hopkins VAD

Red Cross record card (reverse)

Red Cross record for Mary Hopkins VAD (reverse)

Catherine (Katie) Evans

Place of birth: Holyhead

Service: Nurse, VAD

Death: 1914/10/16, Holyhead, Peritonitis

Notes: Katie was the second of seven surviving daughters of Hugh Evans, a marine engineer, and his wife Elizabeth (twin girls died in infancy). Her Red Cross record has not survived, but it is likely that she served at the Holyhead Red Cross Hospital. She died aged 34. On the day after the funeral her sister Pollie Williams [qv] volunteered for the VAD. Many thanks to Aled L Jones and Barry Hillier.

Reference: WaW0251

Pollie (Mary) Williams (née Evans)

Place of birth: Holyhead

Service: Nurse, VAD, 1914/10/21 – August 1918

Notes: Pollie was one of the younger sisters of Katie (Catherine) Evans VAD [qv] who died 16th October 1914. Pollie joined the VAD the day after her sister’s funeral. In August 1918 she married Hugh Williams.

Reference: WaW0259

Red Cross record card

Red cross card for Pollie Williams née Evansrn

Letter

Letter from Pollie Evans to Agnes Conway of the Women’s Work Sub Committee about Katie’s photograph.rnrn

Aldwyth Katrin Williams

Place of birth: Llanbedr-y-Cennin

Service: Nurse, VAD, 1914 - 1918

Death: 1918/11/08, Llanbedr-y-Cennin, Influenza / Ffliw

Memorial: St Tudnos Churchyard, Llandudno, Caernarfonshire

Notes: Aldwyth was the only daughter of the Rector of Llanbedr-y-Cennin. She joined the VAD early in the war, and worked for three days a week in the Red Cross hospitals in Llandudno, cooking and cleaning as well as nursing. She was 26 when she died.

Sources: http://historypoints.org/index.php?page=great-orme-grave-aldwyth-williams

Reference: WaW0262

Grave of Aldwyth Williams

Grave of Aldwyth Katrin Williams, St Tudno’s Church, Great Orme, Llandudno. Photo courtesy of Laurence Manton

Newspaper report

Report of the funeral of Aldwyth Katrin Williams, Y Clorianydd, 27th November 1918, Identical reports were published in Y Cymro and Y Dydd.rn

Elizabeth Thirza Gorvin

Place of birth: Cardiff ?

Service: Nurse, VAD, 1915 - 1919

Notes: Thirza Gorvin worked as an unpaid volunteer at Hospitals in Cardiff and Monmouthshire. Image and information provided by Glamorgan Archives.

Reference: WaW0266

Thirza Gorvin

Signed photograph of Thirza Gorvin in VAD uniform. Courtesy of Glamorgan Archivesrn

Red Cross Record card

Red Cross card for Thirza Gorvinrn

Red Cross card for Thirza Gorvin (reverse)

Red Cross card for Thirza Gorvin (reverse)