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The important Zulu War R.R.C. pair awarded to Mrs. Jane C. Deeble, Superintendent of Nurses, Army Nursing Service, who was decorated by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle on 5 July 1883 Royal Red Cross, 1st Class, V.R., gold and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; South Africa 1877-79, no clasp (Mrs. J. C. Deeble, ‘’Supert. of Nurses.”) nearly extremely fine (2) £2,400-£2,800 --- Provenance: Buckland Dix & Wood, December 1991 (South Africa Medal only). Jane Cecilia Deeble (née Egan) was born on 28 May 1827 and entered St Thomas’ Hospital as a Probationer in 1868. Joining the Army Nursing Service on 1 November 1869, she took appointment at Netley as Superintendent of Nurses and was later posted to South Africa for service during the Zulu War. The recipient’s Army Service Record at this time adds: ‘Specially reported on for conspicuously good service. Highly praised for her administrative capacity and thanked by command of the Queen.’ Invested at Windsor Castle from the hand of Her Majesty, Deeble’s R.R.C. was the tenth to be awarded following the inception of the decoration in 1883. Of the previous nine issues, eight had been bestowed upon ladies of royal or similar connections and the other on Florence Nightingale. Therefore, Mrs. Deeble’s R.R.C. must be considered the second to be awarded to an actual nurse. Sold with copied research.

A Great War O.B.E. pair awarded to Commandant May Burke, Eastbourne Division, British Red Cross The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Civil) Officer’s 1st type, lady’s shoulder badge, silver-gilt, hallmarks for London 1918, on lady’s bow riband; Voluntary Medical Services Medal, silver, with one Additional Award Bar (May Burke.) the gilding worn to first, otherwise very fine (2) £160-£200 --- O.B.E. London Gazette 7 January 1918: ‘Mrs. May Burke. Commandant, Urmston and Fairfield Auxiliary Hospitals, Eastbourne.’ May Burke joined the British Red Cross in December 1910 and served during the Great War as Commandant of Sussex No.2 (Eastbourne) division. In 1918 she left her home at Compton Lodge in Eastbourne and moved to Edensor House in Bakewell, Derbyshire, reprising her role as Commandant with Derbyshire No. 26 (Bakewell) division. Sold with a photograph of the recipient in uniform and a letter from the British Red Cross dated 20 March 1992, confirming the above details, adding that the recipient was awarded a Mention in Despatches in 1917. This remains unconfirmed.

An extremely rare Punjab Frontier R.R.C. pair awarded to Senior Nursing Sister Mary E. Barker, Indian Army Nursing Service, who nursed British and Indian soldiers in a Himalayan fort under constant enemy fire Royal Red Cross, 1st Class, V.R., silver-gilt, gold and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; India General Service 1895-1902, 1 clasp, Punjab Frontier 1897-98 (Nursing Sister M. E. Barker. I.A.N.S.) good very fine (2) £3,000-£4,000 --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, June 2005. R.R.C. London Gazette 21 April 1899: ‘Miss Mary Ellen Barker, Indian Nursing Service. In recognition of the services rendered by her in connection with the nursing of the sick and wounded during the late operations on the Punjab Frontier.’ One of only 3 R.R.C. awards for this campaign, the other two being announced in the same gazette. Mary Ellen Barker was born in Mansfield, Nottingham, on 25 March 1863, the daughter of a stone merchant. Educated at a Ladies’ Private School in Barlborough, Derbyshire, she entered the Nightingale Fund Training School at St. Thomas’s Hospital in Lambeth in July 1889. Completing her training ‘very satisfactorily’, she was taken onto the permanent staff of the Diptheria Ward and was later appointed Head Nurse on the Surgical Ward. Employed in 1894 as a private nurse, Barker proved instrumental in saving the life of the Dowager Countess of Morley when her bedding caught fire at Whiteway Mansion, Chudleigh, Devon. For this act she was awarded a silver medal and three guineas by the Society for the Protection of Life from Fire at a meeting held on 26 September 1895. Supported by a strong reference from the Earl of Morley, her second application to the Indian Army Nursing Service proved fruitful and she was appointed Nursing Sister on 27 November 1895. Posted to the Station Hospital at Rawalpindi for her first term of five years, Barker soon caught the attention of Lady Superintendent Loch when she noted in her diary: ‘August 1897. Sister B is under orders to go to the Malakand and naturally is in a tremendous state of excitement.’ Detached to the Malakand Frontier Force, Barker served on the North-West Frontier of India from 15 August to 7 October 1897. For her efforts to nurse the sick and wounded she was awarded the R.R.C. and India General Service Medal, the former being presented to her on parade at Murree on 25 July 1899 by General Sir Arthur Power Palmer. A contemporary article published in The Nursing Record & Hospital World on 9 September 1899, adds a little more detail regarding both awards: ‘Miss Barker, during the frontier campaign, was shut up in one of the Malabund forts, being the only woman in it, and worked night and day nursing the wounded, besides being constantly under fire. She also rendered great service at the base hospital during the same campaign. This is not the first occasion on which Miss Barker has distinguished herself. She has already received a medal for saving life from fire, having carried a burning patient out of a hospital (sic) at great risk to her own life.’ Returning to Rawalpindi, Barker completed her first term on 26 November 1900. Signing up for further duties, she transferred to Peshawar in June 1902, and in April 1903 became officiating Senior Sister at Mian Mir. With her health declining, she finally resigned from the service on 15 August 1905. Sold with copied Indian Army Nursing Service Record and private research.

A fine ‘Victorian’ R.R.C. group of four awarded to Matron Lenora Maxwell St. John, Indian Army Nursing Service, later British Committee of the French Red Cross and Serbian Relief Fund Royal Red Cross, 1st Class, V.R., silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; British War and Victory Medals (L. Maxwell St. John.); Serbia, Kingdom, Order of St. Sava, Fifth Class, lady’s shoulder badge, silver-gilt and enamel, Bishop in green robes, minor contact marks and edge nick to BWM, very fine and better (4) £800-£1,000 --- R.R.C. London Gazette 25 July 1899. The Register of the Royal Red Cross, 1883-1994, notes: ‘In recognition of her special devotion and competency in the discharge of her duties and the care bestowed in training British soldiers and Army Hospital Corps attendants in nursing duties.’ Leonora Maxwell St. John (née Muller) was born in Glasgow on 3 July 1862. She was first appointed to the Temporary Army Nursing Service on 12 March 1885 as a replacement for nurses going to Egypt. Admitted to the Permanent Service on 3 July 1887, she later took appointment as Nursing Sister in the Indian Army Nursing Service on 21 February 1888. Promoted Acting Superintendent 21 August 1890, and Lady Superintendent 1 April 1893, she completed two terms of service with the I.A.N.S., ending on 16 March 1899, and was decorated by the Queen at Osborn House on 24 August 1899. In 1903 she married Captain Arthur St. John of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and took the surname Maxwell-St. John. She then served from 1904 to 1914 as a member of the India Office Nursing Board, interviewing candidates for appointment to the I.A.N.S. in London. From 1914 to 1915 she served under the British Committee of the French Red Cross, firstly as Matron of The Auxiliary Military Hospital No. 307, better known as the Anglo-French-American Homeopathic Hospital. Established at Neuilly in a villa on the Boulevard Victor-Hugo in February 1915, it had 40-75 beds and was mostly British staffed. It closed in March, 1916. Maxwell St. John subsequently served with the Serbian Relief Fund in Corfu from 3 June 1916 to 13 September 1916, before crossing to Serbia and witnessing a further year of nursing as Matron of the Serbian Relief Fund Hospital. This latter work was formally recognised by His Majesty The King of Serbia with the award of the Order of St. Sava 5th Class on 31 October 1917: ‘in recognition of services rendered to the Serbian people.’ Sold with extensive copied research including an interesting letter written by the recipient on 12 February 1916 to the Under Secretary of State for India, stating the loss of her R.R.C. decoration during an official hospital visit in France: ‘There was a crush, my cross was wrenched off - probably unintentionally’. She was later informed that a duplicate award could be supplied, on payment of £3. 16s. 6d. Consequently, the R.R.C. decoration in this lot may well be that official replacement.

A rare ‘Boxer Rebellion’ R.R.C. Pair awarded to Nursing Sister Marion J. Hislop, Indian Army Nursing Service Royal Red Cross, 1st Class, V.R., silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; China 1900, no clasp (Nursing Sister M. J. Mislop [sic]. I.A.N.S.) good very fine (2) £1,400-£1,800 --- R.R.C. London Gazette 13 December 1901: ‘In recognition of their services to the sick and wounded during the operations in China.’ Marion Jeanette Hislop was appointed Probationer at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London from November 1884 to November 1887, and took her first appointment as Sister at the Great Ormond Street Hospital For Sick Children from June 1889 to October 1890. Appointed to the Indian Army Nursing Service in October 1891, she served as Deputy Superintendent at the Sister’s Quarters of the Station Hospital in Allahabad, subsequently boarding the transport Palamcolla and sailing for Hong Kong for service during the Boxer Rebellion. The Nursing Record and Hospital World offers a little more information regarding this period: ‘Five of the Sisters of the Indian Army Nursing Service are at present serving in China. They are Senior Nursing Sister Marion Jeanette Hislop, and Sisters Agnes Mary Waterhouse, Louisa E. Lingard, Clara Lucy Cusins, and Christian Frances Hill. Their service are, no doubt, much appreciated by our sick soldiers. We hear very little of the nursing arrangements made for the care of our sick and wounded in China, and the news that five experienced Sisters of the Indian Army Nursing Staff are on duty there, is welcome, even though their services may be but as a drop in the ocean.’

An extremely fine Great War R.R.C. and Second Award Bar group of four awarded to Principal Matron Dorothea M. Taylor, Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, who was further recognised by His Majesty the King of Italy for her valuable work with the Italian Expeditionary Force Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.V.R., with Second Award Bar, silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, the reverse privately engraved ‘D. M. Taylor Jan 1916 Q.A.I.M.N.S.’, on lady’s bow riband; British War and Victory Medals, with copy M.I.D. oak leaves (A. Pr. Matron D. M. Taylor.); Italy, Kingdom, Bronze Medal della Salute Publica, unnamed as issued, nearly extremely fine (4) £2,000-£2,400 --- R.R.C. London Gazette 14 January 1916. R.R.C. Second Award Bar London Gazette 1 January 1921. Italy, Medal of Merit for Public Safety London Gazette 2 November 1920. Dorothea Matilda Taylor was born in Edinburgh on 29 November 1873, the daughter of physician William Taylor. Educated at St. George’s High School in Edinburgh, she crossed the Firth of Forth and River Tay to take her nursing training at Dundee Royal Infirmary from May 1900 to May 1903. Appointed Staff Nurse to the Q.A.I.M.N.S. on 10 July 1903, she was raised Sister on 18 November 1904 and sent to Egypt from April 1906 to October 1910. Sent to Khartoum on a tour of duty in 1907, she likely treated people suffering from malaria, yellow fever, and other infections associated with a lack of safe water. Returned to the United Kingdom, Taylor was promoted Acting Matron on 8 August 1914 and placed on home service. Awarded the Royal Red Cross, she received her decoration from the hand of the King at an investiture held in Buckingham Palace on 15 January 1916. Posted overseas to Italy on 8 December 1917, she later wrote a most emotive account of her experiences: ‘On a cold, bleak morning, early in December 1917, I and my party arrived at the Italian Frontier on our way to join the Italian Expeditionary Force. The ground was white with snow, and it was exceedingly cold. The railway station was guarded by Italian soldiers, and even at the door of the refreshment room there was a sentry with a fixed bayonet. We were informed by the Railway Transport Officer that food was very short in Italy, and that he did not know where we were to go, but he would send us on to Turin, where we arrived about 5 p.m. - No one seemed to know anything about us at Turin, so we were again sent on - this time to Genoa - and arrived there about midnight. Again, we were not expected, so we were taken to No. 11 General Hospital to be kindly received and housed until quarters could be found for us.’ Sent to a small hospital in Arquata and then on to Stationary Hospitals at Cremona and Bordighera, Taylor spent New Year’s Day of 1918 at Padova in a ‘dreary and cold hotel’, the night being spent in a cellar as the town received the attention of the enemy. Transferred to work at a Casualty Clearing Station in the foothills of the Austrian Alps, she took solace in the beauty of the landscape and hospitality of the Italian people, before being sent on to a hospital in Taranto and digs in newly constructed Nissen huts. It was at around this time that Taylor’s health began to suffer, likely in consequence of the volume of work and bombing by the armies and air forces of the Central Powers; the recipient’s Service Record notes her struggling with concussion, neuritis and headaches. Sent back to England at the cessation of hostilities, Taylor received the Second Award Bar to her Royal Red Cross at an investiture held at Buckingham Palace on 8 March 1921. Her hard work from 1917 to 1918 was further recognised by the King of Italy, Taylor receiving the rare award of the Bronze Medal della Salute Publica - usually conferred for service to Italian citizens in staving off disease and protecting societal health. Raised Matron on 31 January 1921, Taylor took further appointment at the Officer’s Hospital in Scarborough and the Military Hospital in Cosham, but with her health failing she was invalided on 15 December 1924 and placed on retired pay. She died of pneumonia on 11 October 1928, her last address noted as Swanston Cottage, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft. Sold with the recipient’s original silver Q.A.I.M.N.S. cape badge, hallmarked Birmingham 1915.

An unattributed Great War R.R.C. group of four miniature dress medals Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver-gilt, gold, and enamel; 1914 Star, with clasp; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves, mounted as worn, good very fine An unattributed Great War A.R.R.C. group of five miniature dress medals Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; 1914 Star, with clasp; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves; France, Third Republic, Medaille d’Honneur des Epidemies, silver, mounted as worn, good very fine (9) £80-£100

A fine Great War R.R.C. group of five awarded to Matron Dora Westbrook, Imperial Yeomanry Hospital Staff, later British Red Cross Society Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (Nursing Sister D. Westbrook. I.Y. Hp. Staff); King’s South Africa 1901-02, no clasp (Nursing Sister D. Westbrook.); Voluntary Medical Service Medal, with Second Award Bar (Dora King.); British Red Cross Society Medal for War Service 1914-18, bronze, with integral top riband bar, very fine and better (5) £600-£800 --- R.R.C. London Gazette 24 October 1917. Dora Westbrook trained in nursing at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. She joined Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service Reserve on 15 May 1900 and served during the Boer War as a Nursing Sister at the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital in Dreelfontein. According to The Yeomen of the Karoo, The Story of the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital at Dreelfontein, this military hospital was created by the charitable efforts of Lady Georgina Curzon, daughter of the Duke of Marlborough, and Lady Beatrice Grosvenor, daughter of the Duke of Westminster. Tasked initially with providing the highest quality medical care for the Imperial Yeomanry, the hospital was staffed by 706 medical professionals and offered 1960 beds to sick and injured soldiers. The Chairman’s report of 1902 notes that for its short period of existence, the hospital treated over 20,000 patients and developed a reputation as the best equipped, most sophisticated medical, surgical and convalescent hospital of the war, borne heavily of the untiring efforts of its aristocratic figureheads and their successful fundraising efforts. Westbrook later served during the Great War as Matron of Highfield Hall Hospital in Southampton, and was awarded the R.R.C. under her married name of Dora King. She received the decoration from the hand of the King at an investiture held at Buckingham Palace on 12 December 1917.

A Great War R.R.C. group of five awarded to Matron Charlotte I. K. Sumner, British Red Cross Society and Order of St John of Jerusalem, late Territorial Force Nursing Service, who helped to evacuate large numbers of sick and wounded from Antwerp in September 1914 Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; 1914 Star (C. I. K. Sumner. B.R.C.S. & O.St. J.J.); British War and Victory Medals (C. I. K. Sumner.); Belgium, Kingdom, Civic Decoration, Second Class, 1 clasp, 1914-1918, silver and enamel, edge bruise to BWM, otherwise good very fine (5) £1,000-£1,400 --- R.R.C. London Gazette 26 February 1917. Belgium Croix Civique Second Class London Gazette 3 October 1922: ‘For distinguished service rendered during the war of 1914-19.’ Charlotte Irene King Sumner was born in Cheetham, Lancashire, in 1875. Qualifying as a nurse at the Leicester Royal Infirmary from 1900 to 1905, she joined the Territorial Force Nursing Service and was appointed Matron in the London Gazette of 9 December 1910. She enjoyed a year nursing in France, at Tourlaville, Calais and Paris, before returning to England in 1912 and taking appointment as Matron of the Princess Christian Military Hospital in Englefield Green. Enjoying the balmy summer of 1914 in Belgium, it seems that Sumner soon found herself accidentally caught up in the machinations of the Schlieffen Plan; rather than catch the next ferry home to England, she chose instead to stay in Belgium and volunteered her services to the Brussels unit of the B.R.C.S. & O.St.J.J. The story of her life at this time was later published in The Gentlewoman magazine on 10 March 1917: ‘One of the most remarkable instances of bravery on the part of our nurses is that displayed by Miss C. I. K. Sumner who was nursing in Antwerp in August and September 1914. She stayed on during the bombardment, only leaving the town when it was taken on October 9th. The detachment to which she belonged took with them as many wounded as could be moved, and made their escape to Holland, where for some time they had merely the barest necessities, and were working under great difficulties.’ Returning to France, Sumner spent further time as a Sister with the British Committee of the French Red Cross. She was later awarded the R.R.C. whilst serving as Matron at the Princess Christian Military Hospital in Englefield Green and was further decorated by His Majesty The King of the Belgians with the uncommon award of the Belgian Croix Civique. Transferring to Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, Sumner continued to care for others for many years before retiring to Poole in the late 1930s. She died in 1949.

Family Group: A Great War M.B.E. group of three awarded to Mrs. Jane S. Henry, British Red Cross Society The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Civil) Member’s 1st type, lady’s shoulder badge, silver, hallmarks for London 1916, the reverse privately engraved ‘J. S. Henry March 1917’, on lady’s bow riband; British Red Cross Society Medal for War Service, unnamed as issued, lacking integral top riband bar; Belgium, Kingdom, Queen Elisabeth Medal, bronze, the last two mounted as worn, good very fine Three: Private R. A. Henry, Royal Air Force, later A.R.P. Post Warden, Harrow British War and Victory Medals (36690. Pte. 1. R. A. Henry. R.A.F.); Defence Medal, the first two mounted as worn, the last loose; together with the recipient’s riband bar, contact marks, traces of lacquer, very fine and better (6) £160-£200 --- M.B.E. London Gazette 7 January 1918: Mrs. Jane Selina Henry. ‘For services in connection with the War.’ Mrs. Jane Selina Henry (née Sherwood), was the mother of Robert Alexander Henry.

A fine Great War R.R.C. group of seven awarded to Chief Principal Matron Emily V. Forrest, Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer’s (Sister’s) breast badge in frosted silver (1926-36), on lady’s bow riband; 1914 Star (Sister E. V. Forrest. Q.A.I.M.N.S.); British War and Victory Medals (A. Matron E. V. Forrest.); Jubilee 1935, unnamed as issued; Coronation 1937, unnamed as issued, the first lacking top wearing pin, good very fine and better (7) £600-£800 --- R.R.C. London Gazette 1 January 1919. Emily Vaughan Forrest was born in Brockley, Kent, on 15 July 1882, the daughter of a Superintendent at the Board of Trade. Educated at the Royal Naval School in Twickenham, she trained as a nurse at the Poplar Hospital in East London from March 1905 to March 1908. Appointed to the Q.A.I.M.N.S. as Staff Nurse on 4 August 1908, she went on to witness pre-War service at Woolwich, York and London. Sent to France on 17 August 1914, Forrest was raised Sister on 18 May 1917 and Acting Matron from 3 November 1918 to 29 March 1919. She was awarded the A.R.R.C. on 1 January 1917 and promoted to R.R.C. for service in France. The latter award was conferred by the King at an investiture held at Buckingham Palace on 2 November 1920. Remaining in the service of the Q.A.I.M.N.S., Forrest was posted to Hong Kong from 1922 to 1924, and then enjoyed a series of postings in India from 1930 to 1938, including Poona, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Simla. Promoted Chief Principal Matron in India on 24 June 1934, she was admitted as an Officer Sister of the Order of St. John on 20 July 1934 upon appointment as Chief of the Nursing Corps and Divisions, Empire of India, St. John Ambulance Brigade, the honour published in the London Gazette of 1 January 1935. Entitled to both the Jubilee and Coronation Medals, Forrest died on 6 January 1964. A much admired personality, her obituary adds: ‘She was very popular, kind, but firm when required and she certainly brought out the best in her staff... She had a great understanding and a very great charm of manner. Her sense of humour was infectious; it was always a pleasure to see her smile often break into laughter at some amusing incident on or off duty.’ Sold with the recipient’s silver cape badge, hallmarked Birmingham 1917.

A scarce Inter-War R.R.C. group of four awarded to Senior Nursing Sister Ethel Kelso, Queen Alexandra’s Military Nursing Service for India, who later served in her early 70s as a Lady Ambulance Driver on the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; 1914 Star (Nursing Sister E. Kelso, Q.A.M.N.S.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Nursing Sister E. Kelso.) good very fine (4) £600-£800 --- One of only twelve 1914 Stars awarded to nurses of the Indian Service. R.R.C. London Gazette 31 December 1921. M.I.D. London Gazette 22 June 1915. Ethel Kelso was born in Trimulgherry, India, on 8 October 1873, the daughter of Lieutenant John Andrew Kelso of the Royal Artillery, who was shortly afterwards killed in action at the Siege of Peiwar Kotal on 2 December 1878. Educated in Bath at the School for Daughters of the Officers of the Army, she trained as a nurse at Charing Cross Hospital from 1899 to 1902 and remained on the staff as Sister in a male medical ward until 24 January 1904. Interviewed on 3 February 1904 for the Queen Alexandra’s Military Nursing Service for India, she soon found herself bound for Secunderabad aboard the Moldavia. Appointed Nursing Sister, she transferred to Meerut in January 1908 and Ranikhet in July 1908, followed by postings at Mhow and Rawalpindi. On the outbreak of the Great War she was selected as one of 17 Indian Service nurses to go to France, nursing in Marseilles at the Rawalpindi British General Hospital from October 1914. Relocated with the hospital to Wimereux, she was Mentioned in Despatches by Sir John French before returning home to India on 13 December 1915. Taking appointment at Poona in 1916 and Nowshere in April 1918, Kelso was raised Senior Nursing Sister at Mhow on 10 May 1920. A short while later she retired and was awarded the R.R.C., which she received from the King himself at Buckingham Palace on 9 February 1922. Settling in south-west Cornwall, Kelso later served from 15 June 1942 to 9 January 1946 as an Ambulance Officer with the Mullion Nursing Division of the St. John Ambulance Brigade; despite the idyllic coastal setting, her life was likely extremely busy with large numbers of air force personnel stationed in her home village and thousands of American G.I.s making preparations for the D-Day landings at Trebah Gardens. Sold with a fine Charing Cross Hospital nursing badge, engraved ‘Ethel Kelso. Dec. 1902.’ to reverse, with copied research.

An Inter-War R.R.C. group of five awarded to Lady Superintendent Ethel Green, Queen Alexandra’s Military Nursing Service for India Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; 1914-15 Star (Sister E. Green. Q.A.M.N.S.I.); British War and Victory Medals (Sister E. Green.); Jubilee 1935, unnamed as issued; together with the recipient’s Charing Cross Hospital Medal, bronze, unnamed, good very fine (6) £700-£900 --- Provenance: Christie’s, July 1984. R.R.C. London Gazette 1 January 1936. M.I.D. London Gazettes 15 August 1918 and 2 November 1918. Ethel Green was born in Cheltenham on 15 May 1883. Educated at Manchester High School and Cricklewood Ladies College, she trained for her nursing certificate at Charing Cross Hospital in London from 1 September 1905 to 12 October 1909. She applied to join the Q.A.M.N.S.I. on 27 February 1911 and was soon accepted pending a vacancy; taking temporary appointment in Birmingham, she finally sailed for India aboard the City of Marseilles on 15 February 1913. Initially serving as Nursing Sister at Poona and Peshawar, Green was transferred to Mesopotamia in 1916. Here she was twice Mentioned in Despatches, being further notified of the award of the A.R.R.C. in the London Gazette of 25 February 1918. This was later forwarded to the Sister’s Quarters of British Stationary Hospital, Poona, on 3 January 1922. Promoted Lady Superintendent on 18 June 1932, Green witnessed her final posting at the hill station of Dalhousie, a summer retreat of the Earl of Dalhousie, who was once British Governor-General in India. Confirmed as entitled to the Silver Jubilee Medal, she retired from the service on 31 August 1935 and was awarded the R.R.C. soon thereafter. It was also at around this time that she applied for her BWM and VM, thus accounting for the error in rank where ‘Sister’ is substituted for the correct ‘Nursing Sister’.

A Second War R.R.C. group of five to Superintending Sister Edith Hope, Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service, who received the Norwegian Freedom Medal in 1947, believed to be the only award of its kind to her service Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.VI.R. 1st issue, silver-gilt, gold and enamel, reverse dated ‘1943’, on lady’s bow riband; Victory Medal 1914-19 (N.Sister E. Hope. Q.A.R.N.N.S.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Norway, Kingdom, King Haakon VII Freedom Medal 1939-45, bronze, unnamed as issued, very fine and better (5) £400-£500 --- R.R.C. London Gazette 2 June 1943: ‘For zeal and wholehearted devotion to duty in the Royal Naval Sick Quarters at Skegness since the beginning of the War.’ Edith Hope was born on 27 July 1880 and qualified as a nurse at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London. She joined Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service as Probationary Nursing Sister on 1 November 1913, serving at Haslar before her posting to the Hospital Ship Drina on 14 August 1914. Returning home in February 1915, she spent much of the remainder of the War at Shotley and was later awarded the A.R.R.C. in the London Gazette of 1 March 1920. Remaining in service, Hope spent much of the 1920s in Malta, Plymouth and Dartmouth, taking charge of the sick bay at the latter on 21 September 1928. She was later one of 10 retired nurses offered re-employment by the Q.A.R.N.N.S. in 1939, appointed to the role of acting Superintending Sister in charge of the newly opened Royal Naval Auxiliary Hospital in Newton Abbott, Devon. After a short period at Plymouth, Hope was later posted to the Sick Quarters at Skegness on 24 October 1940. She remained there for the rest of the war and was awarded the R.R.C. in 1943. Her efforts were further recognised by the Norwegian Government in the London Gazette of 26 August 1947, the award being for services to the Norwegian Navy at H.M.S. Royal Arthur - the Royal Navy shore establishment at Skegness. Sold with two original typed letters of congratulation for the A.R.R.C. and R.R.C.

A Second War R.R.C. group of six awarded to Principal Matron Kathleen M. Cooper, Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service, late British Red Cross Society and Order of St. John of Jerusalem, who rose from Pantry Maid to Principal Matron in a nursing career spanning more than 30 years Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.VI.R. 1st issue, silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, reverse dated ‘1944’; The Order of St John of Jerusalem, Serving Sister’s shoulder badge, 1st type (1892-1939), silver and enamel, circular badge with white enamel cross with heraldic beasts in angles raised above the background, on lady’s bow riband; 1939-45 Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1953, unnamed as issued, the second with minor white enamel loss, very fine (6) --- R.R.C. London Gazette 8 June 1944. The original recommendation from the Officer Commanding, R.N. Auxiliary Hospital, Seaforth, states: ‘The above-mentioned Acting Matron, Q.A.R.N.N.S., joined this hospital before the complement of Nursing Sisters and V.A.D.’s was completed. She has organised the nursing of patients in the hospital with the greatest efficiency and zeal, and has opened Quarters for the Nursing Sisters and a hostel for V.A.D. Members. She has so arranged these that the Sisters and V.A.D.’s are contented and happy, thereby increasing the efficiency of the work carried out by those members of the staff. She has also organised the duties and Quarters with the Superintending Sister at R.N.A.H. Woolton with equally satisfactory results. The hostel for the V.A.D.’s at Woolton is not yet ready, but they have been as contented and happy as it has been possible to make them in the hospital itself. I am most impressed with the standard of nursing efficiency reached by the V.A.D. nursing members who have received the greater part of their nursing instruction and practical experience in this hospital. She has been available, first as the Senior Superintending Sister and later as Acting Matron, for advice to all establishments in the Port of Liverpool in which Sisters Q.A.R.N.N.S. are carried, and in this also she has been of the greatest assistance.’ Kathleen Margaret Cooper served from 11 October 1917 with the British Red Cross Society as an Ordinary Member of the 4th Hampshire Voluntary Aid Detachment. Appointed to Pantry Maid and Nurse duties at Highfield Hall in Southampton, she later undertook her nursing studies at Birmingham General Hospital, qualifying SRN on 19 March 1926. Entering Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service as Nursing Sister on 2 July 1928, she served at Plymouth and on the island of Malta from 1932 to 1935. Advanced Superintending Sister on 8 February 1941, she was awarded the A.R.R.C. in the London Gazette of 1 July 1941 and posted to the Royal Naval Auxiliary Hospital at Seaforth on 5 June 1942. Transferred to Chatham in 1950, she ended her service as Principal Matron and died at Castle Cary, Somerset, on 21 April 1982. Sold with the recipient’s original General Nursing Council for England and Wales silver and enamel badge, engraved to reverse ‘K. M. Cooper S.R.N. 42349 19.3.26’; Royal Life Saving Society bronze medal, awarded to ‘K. Cooper Aug. 1934’; Silver and enamel badge of the G. H. B. League; B.R.C.S. ‘For Service’ badge, No. 24747; with two original group photographs of the recipient.

A fine Second War R.R.C. group of seven awarded to Matron Dora G. Grayson, Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, late Civil Hospital Reserve Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.VI.R. 1st issue, silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, reverse dated ‘1942’, on lady’s bow riband; 1914 Star (Miss D. G. Grayson. Civ: Hosp: Res.); British War and Victory Medals (Sister. D. G. Grayson.); 1939-45 Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, very fine and better (7) £800-£1,000 --- Provenance: Glendinings, September 1988. R.R.C. London Gazette 11 June 1942. Dora Granville Grayson was born in Kendal, Westmorland, on 16 March 1884, the daughter of wine and spirit merchant Oscar Granville Grayson. Educated at the Cheltenham Ladies’ College, she took her nursing studies at The London Hospital from 27 July 1910 to 28 July 1914 and then joined the Civil Hospital Reserve. This unit represented a group of trained nurses from throughout the United Kingdom who were vetted and recommended by their civil hospital matrons, each one willing and able to mobilise with the military nursing services in case of a future war; Grayson was promptly called up and disembarked in France on 8 August 1914, a member of the first party of 38 Civil Hospital Reserve nurses. Initially sent to No. 3 General Hospital at Rouen, Grayson transferred to the Q.A.I.M.N.S. Reserve on 8 November 1914 and was later accepted for the regular service as Staff Nurse in June 1916. Awarded the A.R.R.C. on 1 January 1918, she received her decoration at an investiture held at Buckingham Palace on 11 September 1918. Raised Sister, she continued to serve in France until the Armistice, latterly at No. 47 General Hospital. Sent to Hong Kong, Aldershot and York, Grayson finally resigned her appointment with effect from 4 July 1924. She returned to nursing during the Second World War and was awarded the R.R.C. as an Assistant Matron. She died on 16 April 1963. Sold with the recipient’s Q.A.I.M.N.S.R. cape badge by J. R. Gaunt, London; Badge of the London Hospital, white metal and enamel, engraved to reverse ‘Dora G. Grayson May 1910-July 1912, July 1914’ by J. Pinches, London; General Nursing Council Registration Badge, silver, engraved to reverse ‘D. G. Grayson S.R.N. 23300 19.10.23.’ by Thomas Fattorini.

A fine Second War ‘Waziristan Operations’ North-West Frontier R.R.C. group of ten awarded to Matron Eileen M. Blainville, Indian Military Nursing Service, late Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve and Queen Alexandra’s Medical Nursing Service, India, who was twice Mentioned in Despatches Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.VI.R. 1st issue, silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, reverse dated ‘1941’, on lady’s bow riband; British War Medal 1914-20 (Nurse E. M. Blainville.); Victory Medal 1914-19 (T-Nurse E. M. Blainville.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1930-31 (Sister E. M. Blainville, I.M.N.S.); India General Service 1936-39, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1936-37, with M.I.D. oak leaf (Matron E. M. Blainville. I.M.N.S.); India General Service 1936-39, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1937-39 (Matron Mrs E. M. Blainville, I.M.N.S.); 1939-45 Star; War Medal 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf; India Service Medal; Jubilee 1935, privately engraved ‘Matron Mrs. E. M. Blainville. - I.M.N.S.’, very fine and better and a scarce ‘double-issue’ of the IGS 36-39 (10) £1,000-£1,400 --- R.R.C. London Gazette 20 June 1941. The official recommendation states: ‘She has once again proved her undoubted worth both previous to and during the present Operations, and, in the face of numerous difficulties, has by her forceful example and tireless energy, been mainly responsible for the high standard of nursing maintained in the Hospital. Her unstinted devotion and personal interest in each and every case has fully merited the confidence which her patients obviously place in her, - confidence which must have brought comfort to many of our unfortunately fatal casualties. She has not spared herself and has expected the same high standard from others to whom, by so subordinating her own interests to those of her patients, she has set a splendid example which others would do well to follow.’ M.I.D. London Gazettes 18 February 1938 and 17 December 1942. Eileen Maud Blainville (née Gray) was born in 1887 and married widower Renwith Neville Blainville in 1905. The marriage was short lived with Renwith Blainville recorded in 1911 as a single man boarding at an address in Lewisham. Rather than rest on her laurels - and with two children to support - Eileen Blainville applied to join the Q.A.I.M.N.S.R. and was transferred to the Q.A.M.N.S. (India) on 2 November 1917. Appointed Temporary Nurse, she served during the Great War at No. 25 Indian General Hospital and No. 9 Indian General Hospital from 6 June 1918 to 23 March 1919. Transferred to the Indian Military Nursing Service as Sister on 1 October 1926, Blainville served in Rawalpindi in 1927, Peshawar from 1928 to 1930, and at Meerut from 1931 to 1936. Raised Matron on 27 July 1931, she was subsequently transferred to the Combined Indian Military Hospital at Bannu, her work being recognised with a ‘mention’ by His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief in India. She was further selected to receive the 1935 Jubilee Medal. Returned home to England on leave, Blainville returned to India in the summer of 1938 and was awarded the R.R.C. for the devotion rendered to her patients at Bannu. She later received this decoration at a presentation made at Poona on 17 January 1945. Transferred to Secunderabad as Matron in December 1941, she was Mentioned in Despatches once again before taking retirement in January 1945. Sold with the recipient’s original 1935 Silver Jubilee Certificate; M.I.D. certificates (2); a signed letter of congratulations regarding the R.R.C. award from Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, Governor-General of India, dated 14 July 1941; and the recipient’s Indian Military Nursing Service Cape Badge, unmarked silver.

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Civil) Officer’s 2nd type, lady’s shoulder badge, silver-gilt, on lady’s bow riband, in Royal Mint case of issue nearly extremely fine £80-£100

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 1st type, lady’s shoulder badge, silver, hallmarks for London 1919, on lady’s bow riband, good very fine £100-£140

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type, lady’s shoulder badge, silver, with lady’s bow riband, in Royal Mint case of issue, nearly extremely fine £80-£100

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type, lady’s shoulder badge, silver, with lady’s bow riband, in Royal Mint case of issue, good very fine £80-£100

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type, lady’s shoulder badge, silver, with lady’s bow riband, good very fine £80-£100

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Civil) Member’s 2nd type, lady’s shoulder badge, silver, with lady’s bow riband, in Royal Mint case of issue, nearly extremely fine £80-£100

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Civil) Member’s 2nd type, lady’s shoulder badge, silver, with lady’s bow riband, in Toye Kenning & Spencer, London, case of issue, extremely fine £80-£100

Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), E.II.R., silver and enamel, undated as issued post-1984, on lady’s bow riband, about extremely fine £100-£140

A fine post-War R.R.C. group of five awarded to Temporary Principal Matron Ileene Minas, Indian Military Nursing Service Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.VI.R. 1st issue, silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, reverse dated ‘1947’, on lady’s bow riband and housed in a Garrard & Co. case; India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1930-31 (Matron I. Minas, I.M.N.S.); War Medal 1939-45; India Service Medal; Coronation 1937, unnamed as issued, very fine and better (5) £600-£800 --- R.R.C. London Gazette 1 January 1947: ‘A lady who has Thirty Years valuable and meritorious service to her credit, ten years of which was spent in Frontier Posts. Unusually capable - She has never spared herself in any way. She is a credit and an asset to the Indian Military Nursing Service.’ Ileene Minas was born in 1896 and served with Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service in India from 4 November 1915. Appointed to temporary service, she continued to nurse after the cessation of hostilities but was not permitted to transfer to the regular branch, despite promotion to Matron on 7 October 1925. Transferring to the Indian Military Nursing Service in 1926, Minas served the next eight years at Bannu on the North-West Frontier. Located on the Kurram River in the southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the city provided an important hub for the trade in livestock, wool, cotton, tobacco and grain. It also offered refuge for wounded and sick British and Indian troops during the Alfridi Redshirt Rebellion of 1930-31, Minas later being awarded the IGS Medal for nursing these men. Transferred briefly to Rawalpindi, followed by Quetta in 1935 and Poona in 1938, Minas is recorded in 1946 as Senior Matron, second only to the Chief Principal Matron of India. Award the R.R.C. in the Principal role, she retired at Indian Independence in August 1947. Sold with the recipient’s original I.M.N.S. cape badge and copied research noting Minas as one of only two members of the service to receive the 1937 Coronation Medal.

A Great War A.R.R.C. and inter-War Kaisar-I-Hind pair attributed to Staff Nurse Christina J. Oliver, Lady Minto’s Indian Nursing Association, late Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; Kaisar-I-Hind, G.V.R., 2nd class, 2nd type, silver, with integral top suspension brooch bar, in case of issue; together with the recipient’s Q.A.I.M.N.S.R. cape badge and Lady Minto’s Indian Nursing Association cape badge, silver, hallmarked Birmingham 1907, good very fine and better (4) £300-£400 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 3 June 1916. Kaisar-I-Hind, Second Class, India Gazette 1 January 1936. Christina Janet Oliver was born in the village of Oughtibridge, Sheffield, in 1884. She entered the Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Hospital and Dispensary as Probationer on 21 September 1908 and received her certificate of training on 12 October 1911. Taking employment as Staff Nurse at the National Hospital for Paralysis in Bloomsbury, she obtained a certificate in the electrical treatment of nervous diseases on 29 March 1912 and a massage certificate in April 1913. Appointed Staff Nurse in Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve, she received the A.R.R.C. at an investiture held at Buckingham Palace on 29 March 1919. Post-War, Oliver attended a midwife’s course at the Rotunda Lying-in Hospital in Dublin, receiving her certificate on 14 March 1921. She was later accepted by Lady Minto’s Indian Nursing Association and served a further 13 years from November 1923 to April 1936. Sold with copied research confirming qualifications and a latter posting to New Delhi, but no original documentation.

A Great War A.R.R.C. group of six awarded to Sister Florence C. Puddicombe, Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Reserve, later Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (Nursing Sister F. Puddicombe.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, no clasp (Nursing Sister F. Puddicombe.); 1914 Star (Miss F. C. Puddicombe. Q.A.I.M.N.S.R.); British War and Victory Medals (Sister F. C. Puddicombe.) very fine and better (6) £600-£800 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 1 January 1918. Florence Catherine Puddicombe was born in St. Aubin, Jersey, on 10 December 1867, and qualified as a nurse at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London in 1894. A founding member of the League of Nurses at St. Bartholomew’s, she joined Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Reserve on 28 March 1900 and served as a Nursing Sister during the Boer War. The roll for the QSA Medal later notes her with the Army Nursing Service Reserve at No. 5 General Hospital in Cape Town. A former Base Hospital, this General Hospital offered 940 beds to sick and wounded servicemen making it one of the largest in operation. Returned home to England, Puddicombe is noted in 1911 as a sick nurse at Felsted School. She later joined the Q.A.I.M.N.S.R. on 1 January 1914, her MIC noting service in France from 12 August 1914 at No. 2 General Hospital. Transferred to No. 14 Stationary Hospital, she received the A.R.R.C. from the hand of the King at an investiture held at Buckingham Palace on 11 December 1919. Released from service at around this time, the recipient’s Nursing Service Record notes her forwarding address as ‘St. Stephen’s Vicarage, Launceston, Cornwall.’ Sold with a Q.A.I.M.N.S.R. cape badge, hallmarked Birmingham 1915.

A Great War ‘Balkans theatre’ A.R.R.C. group of four awarded to Sister Mary M. L. Johns, Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband, in Garrard & Co. case of issue; British War and Victory Medals (Sister M. M. L. Johns.); France, Third Republic, Medaille des Epidemies en argent (M. L. Johns 1919) the case to first a little worn, nearly extremely fine (4) £500-£700 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 3 June 1919. France, Medaille des Epidemies London Gazette 21 July 1919. The French award was initially graded as ‘en vermeil’. The correction appears in the London Gazette of 4 September 1919. Mary Maud Lilian Johns was born in Chester on 17 January 1881, the daughter of a tea and provision merchant. Educated at the Ladies School, Rhyl, she trained as a nurse at the Borough Fever Hospital in Ipswich from 1908 to 1910. She then transferred to the Bethnal Green Infirmary from 1910 to 1913, before engaging in private nursing. Accepted for service with the Q.A.I.M.N.S.R. on 30 December 1915, Johns was mobilised on 10 January 1916 and sent to Salonika with No. 49 General Hospital on 20 April 1917. Here she would have been heavily engaged in helping wounded men and those suffering from malaria and other diseases. Transferred to No. 82 General Hospital in Constantinople, she served as part of the Army of the Black Sea from 24 July 1920 to 13 January 1921. Returned home to England, Johns transferred to District Nursing and was selected for the permanent reserve; she was removed in 1934 having failed to report. Sold with the recipient’s Q.A.I.M.N.S.R. cape badge, hallmarked Birmingham 1915.

A Great War ‘Salonika’ A.R.R.C. group of four awarded to Sister Isabella Thomson, Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; British War and Victory Medals (Sister I. Thomson.); Greece, Kingdom, Medal for Military Merit, Fourth Class, bronze, generally good very fine (4) £500-£700 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 1 January 1919: ‘For service in Salonika.’ Greek Medal for Military Merit, 4th Class, London Gazette 26 November 1919. Isabella Thomson was born at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, on 5 December 1881, the daughter of a retired Ship’s Master. She took her nursing studies at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary from 1907 to 1910, and applied to join Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve in May 1915. Posted as Nurse to Malta from 25 June 1915 to April 1917, and the 43rd General Hospital at Salonika from April 1917 to October 1918, she was released from service in 1919 in consequence of failing health; her Service Record notes in particular the strain associated with her work in Salonika.

A Great War M.B.E. group of six awarded to Commandant Laura J. Law, St. John Ambulance Brigade and Voluntary Aid Detachment The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Civil) Member’s 1st type, lady’s shoulder badge, silver, hallmarks for London 1919, on lady’s bow riband; The Order of St John of Jerusalem, Officer’s (Sister’s) shoulder badge, silver, with heraldic beasts in angles, on lady’s bow riband; Jubilee 1897, St. John Ambulance Brigade (Nursg. Sisr. Miss. L. J. Law.); Coronation 1902, St. John Ambulance Brigade, bronze (L. Law. N.S.); Coronation 1911, St. John Ambulance Brigade (Lady Supt. L. J. Law.); Service Medal of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, with four Additional Award Bars (Lady Supt. Miss L. J. Law. 10 July 1908) light contact marks, nearly very fine and better (6) £500-£700 --- M.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1919. Laura Jessie Law lived at 58 Manville Road, Upper Tooting London, and served as Lady Superintendent of the St John Ambulance Brigade from May 1911. Appointed to Nursing Division No. 10, she was later raised Commandant and placed in charge of Voluntary Aid Detachment No. 86. Further appointed to command the St John Warehouse throughout the Great War, she was later championed by Dame Commander Agnes Jekyll as ‘warmly recommended’ for recognition, receiving the M.B.E. as Secretary of the St John Ambulance Warehouse.

A Great War A.R.R.C. group of four awarded to Ward Sister Ada A. M. Gibson, Territorial Force Nursing Service Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Sister A. A. M. Gibson.); Territorial Force War Medal 1914-19 (S. Nurse A. A. M. Gibson. T.F.N.S.) nearly extremely fine (4) £500-£700 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 1 January 1919. M.I.D. London Gazette 25 May 1918. Ada Alice Maud Gibson was born in Holloway, London, in 1878, and trained in the Norfolk and Norwich General Hospital from 1899 to 1902. She enrolled as Staff Nurse in the 2nd London General Hospital Unit of the T.F.N.S. on 9 May 1909, and was mobilised on 17 August 1914. Remaining in England for the first few years of the Great War, she finally crossed the Channel to France with No. 53 British General Hospital on 23 April 1917. Raised Sister on 12 August 1918, Gibson was sent to No. 20 Casualty Clearing Station on 6 November 1918, but her time with this unit proved short owing to the Armistice and ill health. Repatriated home aboard the Hospital Ship Jan Breydel, she was admitted to the Prince of Wales Hospital for Officers at Marylebone on 11 March 1919. Recovered, she resumed her civilian nursing career, being recorded in 1921 as a hospital-trained Ward Sister employed at the Jewish Maternity Hospital in Whitechapel. Registering as SRN No. 2946 on 21 April 1922, she finally resigned from the T.F.N.S. on 19 February 1931. Sold with the recipient’s T.F.N.S. cape badge.

A Great War A.R.R.C. group of three awarded to Sister Ethel R. Whittington, Territorial Force Nursing Service Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband, in Garrard & Co. Ltd case of issue; British Red Cross Society Medal for War Service 1914-18, with integral top riband bar, in card box of issue; France, Third Republic, Medal of Honour, Ministry of the Marine, small gold medal, the reverse officially named ‘Miss Whittington 1908’, gold marks to edge with rosette on riband, in Ch. Marey, Paris, red leather case of issue, extremely fine (3) £200-£240 --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, February 2019. A.R.R.C. London Gazette 24 October 1917. Ethel Rose Whittington served during the Great War as a Sister at Moray Lodge Hospital, Camden Hill, London, and was decorated by the King at an investiture held at Buckingham Palace on 6 April 1918.

A fine Great War A.R.R.C., Dame of Justice of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem group of four awarded to Lady Superintendent-in-Chief Mrs. Beatrice H. Dent, The Most Venerable Order of Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem and St. John Ambulance Brigade Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, on lady’s bow ribbon; The Order of St John of Jerusalem, Dame of Justice, gold and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles, on lady’s bow riband; Coronation 1911, Police Ambulance Service (Beatrice Dent.); Service Medal of the Order of St John, silver (Mrs. Lancelot Dent A.R.R.C. For Conspicuous Service 1927.) good very fine and better (4) £700-£900 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 23 February 1917. Beatrice Holdsworth Dent (née Dimsdale) was born in Kensington on 19 July 1878, the daughter of Joseph Cockfield Dimsdale. A banker by profession, her father would later serve as Lord Mayor of the City of London in 1901 and Member of Parliament for the City of London from 1900 to 1906, becoming 1st Baronet Dimsdale on 24 July 1902. In 1899, Beatrice married underwriter Lancelot Wilkinson Dent. The couple soon became parents to a daughter and Beatrice began to focus more upon her work with The Order of St John of Jerusalem and St John Ambulance Brigade. Appointed Commandant and awarded the A.R.R.C., she was decorated by the King at an investiture held in Buckingham Palace on 25 April 1917. Raised Lady Superintendent-in-Chief of the St John Ambulance Brigade Overseas, she left England in 1927 for a tour of inspection of India. For this work and other conspicuous service she was raised Dame of Justice of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in the London Gazette of 3 January 1928. Relocating to Oxfordshire, she is recorded in 1939 as a member of staff of the Women’s Voluntary Service. She died on 30 September 1967 in Eastbourne.

A Great War ‘Mesopotamia’ A.R.R.C. group of four awarded to Nurse Isobel M. Guthrie, Queen Alexandra’s Military Nursing Service for India Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Tempy. Nurse I. M. Guthrie.); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Iraq (Nurse I. M. Guthrie.) very fine (4) £500-£700 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 3 June 1919: ‘In recognition of valuable service with the British Forces in Mesopotamia.’ M.I.D. London Gazette 7 February 1919. Isobel Muriel Guthrie was born on 20 August 1893 and initially served in Mesopotamia as a Temporary Nurse on a six-month contract with Queen Alexandra’s Military Nursing Service for India. Awarded the A.R.R.C. and further mentioned by Lieutenant General W. R. Marshall for ‘gallant and distinguished services in the field’, Guthrie was later posted as Nursing Sister to Basrah in Iraq. Here she met and married Captain Harold S. Digges of the Wiltshire Regiment, the ceremony taking place on 10 March 1921. Sold with the recipient’s original M.I.D. certificate and copied research which notes that she received her decoration in India in the latter half of 1924.

A Great War A.R.R.C. group of four awarded to Nursing Sister Mabel O. Lindsay, Canadian Army Medical Corps, late Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service for India Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, the obverse privately engraved to obverse ‘Mabel Ogilvie Lindsay June 1918’, on lady’s bow riband; 1914-15 Star (N. Sister M. O. Lindsay. Can: A.M.C.); British War and Victory Medals (N. Sister M. O. Lindsay) good very fine (4) £400-£500 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 21 June 1918. Mabel Ogilvie Lindsay was born in Edinburgh on 12 July 1881 and completed her nursing studies at the Radcliffe County Hospital in Oxford. She spent the following three years with Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service for India, before attesting for the Canadian Army Medical Corps Nursing Service on 29 March 1915. Appointed Nursing Sister at No. 16 Canadian General Hospital in Orpington, Kent, she received her A.R.R.C. at an investiture held at Buckingham Palace on 22 February 1919.

A Great War A.R.R.C. group of three awarded to Nursing Sister Alexandra E. Lowe, South African Military Nursing Service Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband, in Garrard & Co. case of issue; British War and Victory Medals, with copy M.I.D. oak leaves (N/Sister. A. E. Lowe.) good very fine and better (3) £400-£500 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 3 June 1919. The original recommendation states: ‘For devotion to duty at Fort Johnston, where she has carried out her duties both day and night as Sister-in-charge.’ M.I.D. London Gazette 31 January 1919. Alexandra Elizabeth Lowe, a professional nurse, was appointed to the South African Military Nursing Service as Nursing Sister on 23 July 1917. Proceeding to Central Africa via Beira on 8 August 1917, she arrived at Zomba for duty at No. 2 Hospital on 19 August 1917. Mentioned in General Hawthorn’s Despatch for ‘excellent services during the period 1 December, 1917, to 31 July, 1918’, Lowe was later decorated for her work at Fort Johnston in Nyasaland. Founded by Sir Harry Johnston in the 1890s to defend the southern tip of Lake Nyasa, the Fort provided barracks for the 1/4th King’s African Rifles during the Great War and offered a staging post for counter-operations against enemy troops under the command of Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. Lowe left Nyasaland in January 1919 and returned home to Pretoria on 4 February 1919. Released from service, she gave her future address as 39 Newbury Road, Durban. Sold with copied research.

A fine Great War A.R.R.C. group of four awarded to Matron Agnes Midgeley, British Committee of the French Red Cross Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; British War and Victory Medals (A. Midgeley. B.R.C. & St. J.J.); France, Third Republic, Medaille de La Reconnaissance, bronze, unnamed, edge nicks to VM, very fine and better (4) £400-£500 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 1 January 1918. Agnes Midgeley was born in Grimston, Yorkshire, on 20 February 1885, and took her nursing studies at the Anlaby Road Infirmary in Hull from January 1909 to January 1912. Volunteering for service with the British Committee of the French Red Cross at the outbreak of hostilities, she was soon posted as Sister to the Anglo-French Hospital at le Treport. This unit was founded and maintained by the Honourable Lady Murray and initially operated as a 65-bed hospital in a former golf hotel. It was later taken over by the British Red Cross in the summer of 1916 as a hospital for British Officers. It was at around this time that Midgeley’s health began to weaken. After four operations on a septic arm she was evacuated home to England aboard the Hospital Ship Brighton on 25 January 1917. Remaining on sick leave for nearly four months, she returned to her former hospital - now known as No.10 B.R.C.S. - as Matron. Awarded the A.R.R.C. and noted in her Red Cross Record as recommended for the French decoration, she was demobilised on 7 January 1919. Sold with the recipient’s copied Nursing Service Record and an extract from the Journal Officiel, dated 21 December 1919, which offers in the French language a citation to the French award: ‘Miss Midgley (sic) (Agnes) of British nationality, senior nurse in the hospitals of the British Red Cross and the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, diligent work in the important functions of a senior nurse in the service of the sick and injured French people, rendered with a dedication to every moment’; and copied research, including a photographic image of the recipient.

An inter-War A.R.R.C. group of four awarded to Nursing Sister Leonora C. Hooper, Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service, who was heavily engaged in treating wounded servicemen on the First Day of the Gallipoli landings Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; 1914-15 Star (Nursing Sister, L. C. Hooper, Q.A.R.N.N.S.); British War and Victory Medals (N. Sister L. C. Hooper Q.A.R.N.N.S.) very fine and better (4) £400-£500 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 1 January 1930. Leonora Chamberlain Hooper was born in Carisbrooke, Hampshire, on 24 August 1884. She trained for her nursing certificate at Northampton General Hospital from 1906 to 1909, and entered Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service as a Probationary Nursing Sister at Haslar on 4 September 1912. Transferred to Plymouth on 1 November 1913, she served aboard the Hospital Ship Soudan from 17 August 1914 to 4 September 1915. A converted transport vessel, Soudan played an important role in the Gallipoli Campaign, much of it documented by the S.M.O., Dr. G. Trevor Collingwood, M.V.O., in his publication Notes on the Work of a Naval Hospital Ship at the Dardanelles: ‘The first operations consisted in the destruction and demolition of the forts at the entrance, and between February 25 and March 19, 1915, 137 Naval casualties were received, after which there was a lull, only four wounded being sent on board. The next operations consisted in the landing of the Army supported by the Navy, under a very heavy fire from both sides of the Straits. From April 25 to May 1, 429 wounded were received, 352 Military and 30 Naval Ratings being admitted on the first day. After this, the Army having established a footing ashore, the “Soudan” withdrew to a safer anchorage.’ Returned to Plymouth, Hooper spent a further period of service aboard the Hospital Ship Berbice from 28 February 1917 to 3 March 1918, spending the final months of the Great War back at Haslar. She subsequently registered with the General Nursing Council as SRN No. 9564 on 27 October 1922 and was employed on an overseas tour to Malta in the early 1920s. Transferred to R.N. Sick Quarters at Ganges on 15 February 1928, she was awarded the A.R.R.C. and retired to pension on 15 July 1934. Taking employment as a lady’s companion, she is later recorded in 1939 as a resident of the Isle of Wight and serving as an A.R.P. warden.

A Second War A.R.R.C. group of six awarded to Principal Matron Sheila H. McDowall, Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, who was decorated for her work at No. 63 General Hospital in Tobruk Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.VI.R. 1st issue, silver and enamel, reverse dated ‘1942’, on lady’s bow riband; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine (Sister. S. H. McDowall. Q.A.I.M.N.S.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf, nearly extremely fine (6) £700-£900 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 9 September 1942. The original recommendation by the Officer Commanding states: ‘This lady has worked at this hospital for a year. During this period she has always held posts of great responsibility and she deserves the highest credit for her powers of organisation, her nursing ability and her tact. She has fired her juniors with equal enthusiasm for their work. Her own work here is worthy of high reward.’ M.I.D. London Gazette 30 June 1942. Sheila Helen McDowall was born in Pontefract, Yorkshire, on 4 October 1909. She trained as a nurse at Guy’s Hospital in London from 1931 to 1934, being registered SRN No. 72871 on 22 June 1934. Appointed Staff Nurse on probation in the Q.A.I.M.N.S. on 1 May 1937, she was sent to Millbank in London and on to Cambridge Military Hospital at Aldershot in December 1937. Posted overseas to Palestine in November 1938, she was raised Sister and went on to render extensive service at No. 63 General Hospital in Cairo from November 1940. Transferred to Tobruk in April 1942, she was later Mentioned in Despatches and decorated with the A.R.R.C. Returned to England, McDowall received her award at an investiture held by the King at Buckingham Palace in November 1943. She subsequently nursed at hospitals in York and Catterick, before being sent to Accra in West Africa as Principal Matron. Following post-War duties in Johannesburg and Ceylon, McDowall returned home and retired from the service on 6 March 1948. She married Cecil R. Mullins in Winchester in 1956 and died there in March 2001 at the age of 91. Sold with copied research.

A fine Second War A.R.R.C. group of six attributed to Sister Hilda Cryne, Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve, who saved the lives of men suffering from smallpox in Algiers Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.VI.R. 1st issue, silver and enamel, reverse dated ‘1943’, on lady’s bow riband; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, very fine and better (6) £400-£500 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 16 September 1943. The original recommendation by the Officer Commanding, No. 94 General Hospital, states: ‘During February and March 1943, a number of cases of severe Smallpox were treated in this wing. Only one of the small Nursing Officer staff could be spared for nursing these cases, and Miss Cryne immediately volunteered for this duty. She, assisted by four nursing orderlies, nursed and cared for the patients in the most devoted and unselfish manner - working in tents in cold and very wet weather and under most trying conditions. To her unremitting care some of the worst cases undoubtedly owe their lives. It is a very great pleasure to recommend that an award be made to this Nursing Officer in recognition of, and in appreciation of her most valuable work and outstanding devotion to duty.’ Hilda Cryne lived in Crosby, Lincolnshire, and took her nursing studies at St. Andrew’s Hospital in Bow from 1938 to 1941. Commissioned into Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve as Sister on 7 October 1942, she sailed for North Africa and was taken on the strength of No. 94 General Hospital on 21 December 1942. Remarkably, she was recommended for the A.R.R.C. less than six months after joining the service, a feat commensurate with the high degree of risk associated with the smallpox contagion. A letter which accompanies the lot from the recipient’s brother to the present vendor, dated 12 July 1993, adds: ‘She served in both the Italian and African campaigns. She was blown up in an ambulance in Italy and as a result suffered spinal injuries which confined her to a hospital bed for 3 months... The medal (A.R.R.C.) was presented to her in Rhodesia by the Queen Mother, then the wife of the late King George VI.’ Sold with the original Buckingham Palace named enclose to Miss Hilda Cryne, A.R.R.C., two letters from the recipient’s brother, and copied research including a coloured photograph of her.

A Second War A.R.R.C. group of three awarded to Nursing Member Beatrice J. Hayward, British Red Cross Society, who was ‘indefatigable’ in her attention to the wounded following an air raid on Gosport, and was later the recipient of a Commander in Chief’s Commendation for a similar event Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.VI.R. 1st issue, silver and enamel, reverse dated ‘1945’, on lady’s bow riband; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, good very fine (3) £400-£500 --- A.R.R.C. London Gazette 1 January 1945. The original recommendation states: ‘R.N.H. Haslar. She showed outstanding zeal after an air raid, and was indefatigable in her attention to the injured and in reassuring women personnel in damaged quarters.’ Commander-in-Chief’s Commendation 28 May 1944: ‘For good services after an air raid.’ Beatrice Jane ‘Janie’ Hayward (née Eley) was born in Market Drayton, Shropshire, on 25 January 1920. She married William Thomas Hayward at Gripping in Suffolk in late 1939, but the marriage proved a brief one with the loss of her husband on 5 June 1941 in consequence of the torpedoing of the troop transport Anselm by U-96. Enrolling as a Nursing Member in the British Red Cross, Hayward served with the Sussex V.A.D. at Horsham, before being posted to Haslar on 10 March 1944. Billeted at the W.R.N.S. Quarters on St. Michael’s Road, Portsmouth, she was promoted Nursing Member Grade 1 on 10 June 1944 and awarded the A.R.R.C. six months later. Sold with a fine archive of original documentation, including: letter of notification regarding A.R.R.C. award from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, dated 4 January 1945; letter of notification from the British Red Cross, dated 1 January 1945, noting her ‘outstanding zeal, patience, and cheerfulness, and for courage and whole-hearted devotion to duty while serving in H.M. Naval Hospitals.’; letter of congratulations from the Chairman of the V.A.D. Standing Committee, dated 2 January 1945; notification slip regarding investiture of A.R.R.C. at Buckingham Palace on 3 July 1945; British Red Cross Society letter of congratulations regarding the award of the Distinguished War Service Certificate, dated 7 March 1945, and corresponding note of congratulations from the Commodore and Officers of the R.N. Barracks, Portsmouth; together with a fine assortment of personal correspondence, including a letter from the B.B.C. inviting Hayward to appear on the programme ‘What’s My Line?’ as a Stock Car Racing Driver - something at which she appears to have excelled.

A fine and impressive Order of St. John group of seven awarded to Officer Elsie F. Bell, St. John Ambulance Brigade, late Voluntary Aid Detachment, whose nursing service spanned nearly half a century The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Dame of Grace lady’s shoulder badge, gold and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles, on lady’s bow riband; The Order of St John of Jerusalem, Officer’s (Sister’s) shoulder badge, silver and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles, on lady’s bow riband; British War and Victory Medals (E. F. Bell. V.A.D.); Defence Medal; Coronation 1953, unnamed as issued; Service Medal of the Order of St John, with four Additional Award Bars (Cty/Supt. E. F. Bell. Derby. S.J.A.B. 1953.) minor white enamel loss to obverse tips of second, very fine and better (7) £400-£500 --- Elsie Ferguson Bell was born in Stafford in 1891, the daughter of Sir John Ferguson Bell of Mickleover, a former Mayor of Derby. A nurse by profession, she served in France with the Voluntary Aid Detachment from 18 October 1916, including postings to No. 25 Stationary Hospital at Rouen, No. 47 General Hospital at Le Treport, No. 2 Stationary Hospital at Abbeville and No. 81 Stationary Hospital in Marseilles. Returned home to Derby, she later nursed in Ward VI of the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, her appointment finally ending on 15 March 1919. Remaining in the Service of the St. John Ambulance Brigade, she is recorded in The Derbyshire Times of 18 June 1943 as a County Cadet Officer for the Nursing Division. A year later she is noted as 1st Lady County Cadet Officer. She was finally invested by Lord Wadhurst in March 1963 as a Dame of the Order of St John, the ceremony taking place at the Grand Priory Church, Clerkenwell, London.

A particularly fine Great War M.B.E. group of five awarded to Miss Ada Crosby, British Red Cross Society and Order of St. John of Jerusalem, who ‘transformed’ the Buekers Hotel in Finsbury Square into a fully functioning 100-bed Auxiliary Hospital The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Civil) Member’s 1st type, lady’s shoulder badge, silver, hallmarks for London 1916, in Garrard & Co. Ltd. case of issue; The Order of St John of Jerusalem, Dame of Grace set of insignia, comprising shoulder badge, silver and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles, in case of issue; Star, silver and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles; Jubilee 1935, unnamed as issued, on lady’s bow riband; Coronation 1937, unnamed as issued, on lady’s bow riband; Voluntary Medical Service Medal, silver, with three Additional Award Bars (Ada Crosby) good very fine and better (6) £500-£700 --- M.B.E. London Gazette 7 June 1918: ‘Superintendent, Domestic Staff, City of London Auxiliary Hospital, Finsbury Square.’ Ada Crosby was born in 1860, daughter of Sir Thomas Boor Crosby, M.D., L.L.D., F.R.C.S., a prominent London surgeon and Lord Mayor of the City of London from 1911 to 1912. A long standing member of the British Red Cross and Order of St John of Jerusalem, she was appointed Dame of Grace in the London Gazette of 4 March 1913 and was awarded the M.B.E. for her work at the City of London Auxiliary Hospital. A fine contemporary article published in The British Journal of Nursing, titled ‘Care of the Wounded’ and dated 4 September 1915, adds: ‘Miss Crosby, the Commandant, an ex-Lady Mayoress, is there, daily with Miss G. A. Rogers, and in their capable hands a transformation is going on, and a new landmark created at the junction of Finsbury Square and Christopher Street, where all who run may read that the City of London Red Cross Hospital henceforth dominates that pleasant corner.’ Raised Honorary Secretary to the B.R.C.S., Crosby also served as Vice President of Birkbeck College and sat for many years on the St. Pancras Borough Council. The recipient’s obituary published in The Times on 9 October 1948, further notes: ‘Her father was a widower when he was elected Lord Mayor and she filled the role of Lady Mayoress during his term of office with grace and distinction.’

An Order of St. John group of five awarded to Mrs. Mary Stock, British Red Cross Society and Order of St. John of Jerusalem The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer’s (Sisters) shoulder badge, silver and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles, on lady’s bow riband; British War and Victory Medals (M. Stock.); France, Third Republic, Medal of Honour, Ministry of War for Devouemont Epidemies, silver, reverse embossed ‘Mrs. M. Stocke 1915’; Society for Aid to the Military Wounded Cross 1914-19, silver, with original red cross riband and olive branch, good very fine and better (5) £240-£280 --- Mary Stock served as a Nurse with the British Committee of the French Red Cross during the Great War.

Jubilee 1977, unnamed as issued, with lady’s bow riband, in rather scruffy card box of issue; Jubilee 2002, unnamed as issued, in card box of issue; Jubilee 2012, unnamed as issue, in card box of issue, nearly extremely fine and better (3) £80-£100

An Order of St. John group of four awarded to Chief Nursing Officer Noreen Hamilton-Wedderburn, St. John Ambulance Brigade The Order of St John of Jerusalem, Officer’s (Sister’s) shoulder badge, silver and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles, on lady’s bow riband; Defence Medal; Coronation 1953, unnamed as issued; Service Medal of the Order of St John, with one Additional Award Bar (45491. Chief/Nsg/Off. Hamilton-Wedderburn. Hqs. S.J.A.B. 1951.) very fine (4) £80-£100 --- Noreen Hamilton-Wedderburn was born in Hanover Square, London, on 29 January 1913, the second daughter of Captain Henry Hamilton-Wedderburn of the Scots Guards. Noted in the Leicester Daily Mercury of 16 June 1952 as Chief Nursing Officer of the St John Ambulance Association in London, she married Colonial Diplomat John Almeric de Courcy Hamilton in June 1960, and died in Fulham on 24 February 1990.

An impressive Order of St. John pair awarded to Sister Flora K. Fitzmaurice, Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service Reserve, who risked her own life to save others during a serious typhus outbreak in 1897 The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Serving Sister’s shoulder badge, 1st type (1892-1939), silver and enamel, circular badge with white enamel cross with heraldic beasts in angles raised above the background, on lady’s bow riband, the reverse privately engraved ‘Flora Kathleen Fitz Maurice Inniskea Augt. 1897. Conferred Augt. 1898.’; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (Sister F. K. Fitzmaurice. I.Y. H.P. Staff.) good very fine (2) £300-£400 --- Flora Kathleen Fitzmaurice trained as a nurse at the City of Dublin Nursing Institution and was one of 11 nurses selected from that hospital to nurse the victims of a typhus outbreak on the remote west coast island of Inniskea. Located off the coast of the Belmullet peninsula in County Mayo, the island offered extremely primitive working conditions. An extract from the British Journal of Nursing offers a vivid description: ‘The nurses who first went to the island had to cook both for the patients and for themselves, to wash their own clothes and to do everything that was possible under the circumstances for the patients also. The food was scant and of very bad quality. There were no beds, and when the nurses had done a hard day’s work in all the filth and misery prevailing among the people, they were often unable to cook any food for their own use, and had to go without... They had at one time forty-eight cases of typhus to nurse in the separate huts, and had to visit all of these patients two or three times a day. They made no complaint, but worked on until they both broke down, and both took typhus fever from those whom they were attending.’ Contracting typhus herself, Fitzmaurice was fortunate to survive. She was later decorated with the Order of St John of Jerusalem, the bestowal by the Countess Cadogan at the Vice-regal Lodge offering public recognition to both the individual nurses and the Order of St John, the group citation noting: ‘in recognition of very conspicuous and devoted conduct in the month of June, during an outbreak of virulent typhus fever on the Island of Inniskea on a very wild and barren part of the west coast of Ireland.’ Making a good recovery, Fitzmaurice enrolled in Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service Reserve on 2 July 1900, and served on the Staff of the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital at Dreelfontein during the Boer War. Sold with private research and a copied group photograph of the 11 nurses decorated by the Countess Cadogan, the recipient being among their ranks.

A poignant Great War Order of St. John casualty group of six awarded to Nursing Sister Thelka Bowser, Voluntary Aid Detachment and Order of St. John of Jerusalem, who died at home in St Leonards on Sea after becoming seriously unwell whilst on active service in France The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Serving Sister’s shoulder badge, 1st type (1892-1939), silver and enamel, circular badge with white enamel cross with heraldic beasts in angles raised above the background, on lady’s bow riband, engraved to reverse ‘St. John’s Gate, Clerkenwell 1.6.1915 - 19.3.1916’; 1914-15 Star (T. Bowser. V.A.D.); British War and Victory Medals (T. Bowser. V.A.D.); Coronation 1902, St. John Ambulance Brigade, bronze (T. Bowser. N.S.); Coronation 1911, St. John Ambulance Brigade (Nurs. Sister T. Bowser.) very fine and better (6) £400-£500 --- Thekla Bowser - sometimes known as Ida Thekla or Lola Thekla - was born in Marylebone in 1877, the daughter of John Carrick Bowser of London. A Serving Sister of the Order of St John since 1902, she nursed with No. 92 (London) District, V.A.D., from 1 June 1915 to 3 February 1916, but became unwell whilst in France. Discharged on 19 March 1916 in consequence of an intestinal obstruction, she was issued Silver War Badge No. 166182 on 23 June 1917. She died a little over a year later on 11 January 1919 and is commemorated upon the Screen Wall of Hastings Cemetery in Sussex. Sold with the recipient’s corresponding miniature award of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, engraved to reverse as per the full-size decoration.

An Order of St. John group of six awarded to Nurse Mary E. D. Burkitt, Voluntary Aid Detachment, later St. John Ambulance Brigade The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Serving Sister’s shoulder badge, 1st type (1892-1939), silver and enamel, circular badge with with enamel cross with heraldic beasts in angles raised above the background, on lady’s bow riband; 1914-15 Star (M. E. D. Burkitt. V.A.D.); British War and Victory Medals (M. E. D. Burkitt. V.A.D.); Coronation 1911, St. John Ambulance Brigade (Nurs. Sister M. E. D. Burkitt.); Service Medal of the Order of St. John, silver, with two Additional Award Bars (6291 A/Sis M. E. D. Burkitt. Balham & Streat. Nsg Divn. No. 11 Ds. S.J.A.B. 1975 [sic]), the unit and incorrect date to last re-engraved, light contact marks, nearly very fine and better (6) £260-£300 --- Mary Emily Dorothea Burkitt was born in Castle Connell, Limerick, Ireland, in 1879. A resident of 8 Woodfield Avenue, Streatham, she attested for the Voluntary Aid Detachment and served with the Order of St John at Moka Hospital in St Malo from 29 October 1914 to March 1915. Returned briefly to England, she embarked for France on 13 May 1915 and served until December 1916 at No. 3 General Hospital at Le Treport. This was followed by a third term as a nurse in France from 20 March 1917 to March 1919, before release from service. Appointed Serving Sister in the St John Ambulance Brigade on 23 June 1939, it seems likely that Burkitt witnessed further service during the Second World War; her home borough of Streatham was particularly hard hit during the London Blitz, with particular emphasis on the railway line. Worse was to come on 3 August 1944, when 12 people were killed by a V1 flying bomb in the Pendle Road area. Surviving the attentions of the Luftwaffe, V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets, Burkitt died on 1 January 1951 at Limes Nursing Home, Streatham Hill.

An Order of St. John group of four awarded to Nurse Cynthia M. Owen, Voluntary Aid Detachment and Order of St. John of Jerusalem The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Serving Sister’s shoulder badge, 1st type (1892-1939), silver and enamel, circular badge with white enamel cross with heraldic beasts in angles raised above the background, on lady’s bow riband; 1914-15 Star (C. M. Owen. V.A.D.); British War and Victory Medals (C. M. Owen. O. St. J.) very fine and better (4) £160-£200 --- Cynthia M. Owen lived at 73, New Cavendish Street, Marylebone, and initially worked as a Nurse at Gifford House Auxiliary Hospital in Roehampton from 7 November 1914 to 14 July 1915. Sent to St. John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, from 6 September 1915 to 9 October 1915, she served in France at Etaples with No. 96 Division (London) S.J.A.B., from 22 October 1915 to 2 June 1918. British Red Cross records note that she returned home to London on sick leave for two months and was married soon thereafter, becoming Mrs. Morkill. Sold with the recipient’s St John Ambulance Association re-examination cross, silvered, engraved to reverse ‘166406 Cynthia Owen’; St John Ambulance War Service Badge No. 497, with London suspension; and a fine Etaples ‘Xmas 1915’ Order of St John of Jerusalem sweetheart brooch, silver and enamel.

Riband: A large quantity of both British and World riband, including partial rolls of the 1914 Star; British War Medal 1914-20; Victory Medal 1914-19; General Service 1918-62; 1939-45, Atlantic, Pacific, Burma, Italy, and France and Germany Stars; as well as a comprehensive selection of lengths of medals riband, including various British orders and decorations (especially the Order of the British Empire and the Order of St John); campaign medals from 1850-2000; Coronation and Jubilee medals (including various lady’s bow ribands); Long Service medals; and foreign decorations typically encountered in British groups, generally unused condition and a most useful supply (lot) £180-£220

Renamed and Defective Medals: 1914-15 Star, naming neatly erased; British War Medal 1914-20, naming erased; Victory Medal 1914-19, naming erased; together with a cast copy British War Medal 1914-20; and the lady’s bow riband for a 1st type Military Division M.B.E., suspension broken on VM, otherwise good very fine (4) £60-£80

Austria, Empire, Honour Decoration of the Red Cross, Silver Medal, silver and enamel, on bow riband, in card box of issue, nearly extremely fine France, Third Republic, Legion of Honour, Chevalier’s breast badge, silver, gold appliqué, and enamel, in Aucoc, Paris, case of issue, minor enamel damage to tips of points, good very fine Poland, People’s Republic, Order of Polonia Restituta, Fourth Class breast badge, gilt and enamel, with rosette on riband, nearly extremely fine Saudi Arabia, Kingdom, Medal for the Liberation of Kuwait 1991 (2), one with riband bar, in case of issue; the other loose, extremely fine United States of America, Military Merit Medal, bronze-gilt, unnamed, with riband bar ands lapel bar, in case of issue, nearly extremely fine (6) £70-£90

An Order of St. John group of four awarded to Acting Sister Philadelphia L. F. Pattenden, St. John Ambulance Brigade The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Serving Sister’s shoulder badge, 1st type (1892-1939), silver and enamel, circular badge with white enamel cross with heraldic beasts in angles raised above the background, in fitted case of issue; War Medal 1939-45; Service Medal of the Order of St. John, silver, with one Additional Award Bar (17826 A/Sis. P. L. F. Pattenden. Temple Nsg. Div. No.1 Dis. S.J.A.B. 1938.); London and North Eastern Railway S.J.A.B. 15 Years First Aid Efficiency Medal with 20 Years clasp, 9ct gold, on lady’s bow riband (P. Pattenden) nearly extremely fine (4) £160-£200 --- Philadelphia L. F. Pattenden was born in Grays, Essex, in 1898, and was appointed Serving Sister of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in 1931.

An Order of St. John group of four awarded to Acting Sister Louisa E. E. Turtell, St. John Ambulance Brigade The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Serving Sister’s shoulder badge, 1st type (1892-1939), silver and enamel, circular badge with white enamel cross with heraldic beasts in angles raised above the background, on lady’s bow riband, in fitted case of issue; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Service Medal of the Order of St. John, silver, with three Additional Award Bars and top V.A.D. riband bar (25819 A/Sis. L. E. E. Turtell. No. 1015. S.J.A.B. 1942.) nearly extremely fine (2) £120-£160 --- Louisa Edith Ellen Turtell was born on 16 November 1896 and is recorded in 1939 as a resident of Toller’s Lane, Coulsden, and a Nursing Member of the St John Ambulance Brigade. Sold with the recipient’s S.J.A.B. bronze Re-examination Cross, the reverse engraved ‘307126 Louisa E. E. Turtell.’

Japan, Empire, Red Cross Order of Merit, breast badge, silver and enamel, with original hook and eye suspension, with lapel rosette, in fitted case of issue; Red Cross Membership Medal (2), silver, with original hook and eye suspension and rosette on riband, in rio-nuri lacquer case of issue; white metal, with original hook and eye suspension and rosette on riband, with lapel bow, in card box of issue; Russo-Japanese War Medal 1904-05, with clasp, bronze, with original hook and eye suspension, in wooden box of issue; 1931-34 Incident War Medal, with clasp, bronze, with original hook and eye suspension, in original paper packaging, about extremely fine (5) £70-£90 --- Sold with a poor-quality copy of the Japanese Allied Victory Medal.

An Order of St. John pair awarded to Woman Superintendent Marjorie Pettitt, Metropolitan Police and Order of St. John of Jerusalem The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Serving Sister’s shoulder badge, silver and enamel, circular badge with white enamel cross with heraldic beasts in angles, on lady’s bow riband; Police L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., 2nd issue (Supt Marjorie Pettitt) with the recipient’s enamel and base metal Metropolitan Police cap badge, nearly extremely fine Pair: Woman Police Sergeant Janet C. I. Weir, Motherwell and Wishaw Police Force Defence Medal; Police L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., 2nd issue (Sergt. Janet C. I. Weir) in named card box of issue, nearly extremely fine (4) £70-£90

Tunisia, Kingdom, Order of Nichan Iftikah, 2nd type, Third Class neck badge, 83mm including bow suspension x 57mm, silver and enamel, silver marks to reverse, significant enamel damage to all points of Star, therefore fine £70-£90

A post-War B.E.M. group of three awarded to Flight Sergeant Lauretta Kerr, Women’s Auxiliary Air Force British Empire Medal, (Military) G.VI.R., 1st issue (420348 Flt. Sgt. Lauretta Kerr, W.A.A.F.), on lady’s bow riband; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, good very fine (3) £140-£180 --- B.E.M. London Gazette 12 June 1947. The original Recommendation states: ‘This N.C.O. is employed as Catering Sergeant at the Station H.Q. at Hendon. She has been employed solely on messing duties since her arrival at the station 10 months ago. She has performed her task, which has entailed work of a specially trying character, in a manner worthy of the highest praise. In spite of the serious manning position which caused her to be without experienced staff for 3 months, she devoted the whole of her time, with no respite at all, to organising her section, and maintaining the standard of messing at a high level. She took over a messing account debt of £525 on her arrival; through her untiring efforts this was cleared in less than four months. She also trained aircrew as Catering Officers during this period and they all gave her the highest praise. F/Sgt Kerr’s cheerful and conscientious devotion to duty under the most trying conditions has been an inspiration to her staff.’ Lauretta Kerr was further mentioned in the Sunday Sun (Newcastle) on 15 June 1947 as a resident of 34 Ridley Street, Southwick, Sunderland.