Olive David

Place of birth: Cardiff

Service: Nurse, VAD, 15/06/12 – 16/01/14

Notes: Olive David spent most of her service at the 26th General Hospital, Etaples, France. Her name appears in the printed Roll of Honour of Charles Street Congregational Church, Cardiff.

Reference: WaW0328

Olive David

Olive David in VAD uniform.

Red Cross record card

Red Cross card for Olive David of Llandaff, Cardiff.

Red Cross record card (reverse)

Red Cross card for Olive David of Llandaff, Cardiff (reverse).

Roll of Honour

Name of Olive David on the Roll of Honour of Charles Street Congregational Church, Cardiff.

Alice Evans

Place of birth: Carmarthen

Service: Nurse, VAD, 1914 - 1919

Notes: Initially a volunteer at the Red Cross Hospital in Carmarthen, in 1917 Alice became a paid nurse at Netley Military Hospital, Southampton. In September 1918 she was posted to work at the National Explosives Factory at Pembrey.

Reference: WaW0353

Red Cross record card.

Red Cross Record card for Alice Evans.

Red Cross record card (reverse)

Red Cross Record card for Alice Evans, showing her service at NEF Pembrey.

Mary Elizabeth Lewis

Place of birth: Abergavenny

Service: Ward maid, VAD

Death: 1923/04/06, Abergavenny, Cause not known

Notes: Mary Elizabeth Lewis joined the VAD aged 19 in 1918. She served as a ward maid in France, in the Australian hospital in Sutton Verney, and then again in France for 6 months, being discharged in January 1920. She died three years later. Her gravestone in Abergavenny cemetery bears the badge of the British Red Cross Society.

Reference: WaW0384

Red Cross record card

Record of Mary Elizabeth Lewis’s service as a VAD.

Red Cross record card [reverse]

Record of Mary Elizabeth Lewis’s service as a VAD. [reverse].

Gravestone

Gravestone of Mary Elizabeth Lewis, showing the badge of the British Red Cross and the inscription ‘She served for two years in France during the Great War as a British Red Cross Nurse’. Thanks to Marian Senior and ALHS.

Ethel Dora Heins

Place of birth: Brecon

Service: Nurse, VAD, 1915/09/11 - 1918/05/18

Notes: Ethel Heins volunteered for the VAD early in the war, and after ‘special training’ was sent to work in the 19th General Military Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt, where she was for a year. During her time there she kept a diary, now in the National Library of Wales. In it she describes the voyage out, avoiding German ships, and the diseases that affected many of the hospital staff. After her return she worked in English military hospitals.

Reference: WaW0386

Red Cross record card

Red cross card of Ethel Heins. Her father was a well known piano shop owner and musician in Brecon.

Red Cross record card [reverse]

Red cross card of Ethel Heins showing her service in Egypt and England. [reverse]

Newspaper report

Report of Ethel Heins’s deployment to Egypt. Brecon County Times 16th September 1915.

Diary

Page from Ethel Heins’s diary, October 1915. The Miss Smales mentioned was VAD Florence Smales of Whitby, Yorkshire. National Library of Wales.

Elizabeth Jane [Batchie] Griffiths

Place of birth: Llandovery

Service: Clerk, VAD, 1918/01/28 – 1919/02/27

Notes: Batchie left school soon after her 18th birthday to join the VAD. She had previously trained as a volunteer with the Carmarthen Reserves. She worked as a clerk in the quartermaster’s stores at Catterick Military Hospital in Yorkshire, where she seems to have had an active social life! Thanks to Alathea Anderssohn.

Reference: WaW0392

Batchie Griffiths

Batchie Griffiths with other members of the Quartermaster’s Stores. Batchie is seated on the right. The photograph was taken on 24th March 1918. Thanks to Alathea Anderssohn.

Red Cross record card

Red Cross card for Batchie Griffiths. Note she was registered using her nickname.

Red Cross record card [reverse]

Record card for Batchie Griffiths giving details of her career.

Batchie Griffiths

Photograph of Batchie between her friends Biggsie [l] and Minnie [r]. Note that non-nursing VADs seem to have worn ties as part of their everyday uniform. Thanks to Alathea Anderssohn.

Discharge certificate

Discharge certificate for Batchie Griffiths, 29th February 1919.

Ethel Hodgens

Place of birth: Swansea

Service: Nurse, VAD, November 1914 – May 1919 / T

Notes: After an initial few months as a part-time volunteer, Ethel worked, paid, in military hospitals: one year at Oxford, then from May 1916 in Camiers, Tréport and Rouen, all in France. She worked until June 1919, and was mentioned in despatches in January 1918. She was 24 when she joined the Red Cross.

Reference: WaW039

Red Cross record card

Red Cross card for Ethel Hodgens.

Red Cross record card [reverse]

Red Cross card for Ethel Hodgens, showing her service in England and France [reverse].

Newspaper report

Brief report of Ethel Hodgens’s mention in despatches. Cambria Daily Leader 5th January 1918.

Fannie A Jones

Place of birth: Anglesey

Service: Nurse, VAD

Notes: Fannie’s VAD record is rather peculiar. According to her card (which has had the initial changed from F to E), she joined the VAD in January 1916 and worked for 1 hour. However it does say she has worked at Fazackerley War Hospital in Liverpool, and the North Wales Chronicle for 23rd March 1917 records her award of the Royal Red Cross.

Reference: WaW0403

Red Cross record card

Red Cross card for Fannie Jones, showing the change of F to E.

Red Cross record card [reverse]

‘No more information’

Newspaper report

Report of award of Royal Red Cross to Fannie Jones. North Wales Chronicle 23rd March 1917

Ethel Vaughan Owen

Place of birth: Llanidloes

Service: Nurse, VAD

Notes: Ethel, a doctor’s daughter, joined the VAD in 1915. Her service included postings to the Hospital Ship Britannia and to Valletta Hospital, Malta, where she became seriously ill with dysentery, but recovered. Many did not. rn

Reference: WaW0402

Red Cross record card [reverse]

Red cross card for Ethel Vaughan Owen, showing her overseas service.rn

Report of Ethel Vaughan Owen’s award of a Red Cross stripe.

Red Cross record card

Red cross card for Ethel Vaughan Owen.

Lily Stock

Place of birth: Pontypool

Service: Nurse, VAD, November 1917 – August 1919

Notes: Lily served with the VAD in Hospitals in Bristol and Colchester. She was paid, her pay rising from £12 per annum to £20 per annum. Her name appears on the Griffithstown Baptist Church Roll of Honour – possibly twice, as both Nurse Stock and Lily Stock are named. There are two sets of Red Cross cards, one naming Beatrice Lily Stock and one just Lily. Otherwise the details are the same.

Reference: WaW0416

Red Cross record card

Red Cross card with name Beatrice Lily

Red Cross record card

Red Cross card with name Lily

Griffithstown Baptist Church Roll of Honour

Griffithstown Baptist Church Roll of Honour showing names of Nurse Stock and Lily Stock. Thanks to Gethin Matthews.

Mary Evans

Place of birth: Swansea ?

Service: Masseuse, VAD, 1914 - 1918

Notes: Mary Evans was a professional masseuse who volunteered for the VAD in four Red Cross Hospitals. Her health broke down in 1918, and she herself was admitted to hospital. Her practice was taken over by Mr and Mrs Walton in 1919.

Reference: WaW0418

Red Cross record card

Record card for Mary Evans

Red Cross record card [reverse]

Record card for Mary Evans giving details of her VAD service

Newspaper advertisement

Notice of the Waltons taking over Miss Evans’s practice. Cambria Daily Leader 23rd December 1919

Roll of Honour

Miss May Evans’s name on the Roll of Honour Henrietta Street Chapel, Swansea. Thanks to Gethin Matthews.