WAR DIARY: MATRON-IN-CHIEF, BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, FRANCE AND FLANDERS

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A Few of the Cast
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Emma Maud McCarthy
Matron-in-Ch
ief with the British Expeditionary Force, France and Flanders, 1914-19
 


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Peace Parade, London, 19 July 1919
Miss McCarthy, centre, to the right of the officer;  Ethel Becher, Matron-in-Chief, War Office on his left;  Sidney Browne, Matron-in-Chief, Territorial Force Nursing Service immediately behind the right shoulder of Miss Becher;  Edith Hordley, Principal Matron behind and to the right of the officer, looking to her left.  The woman in a dark suit believed to be Rachel Crowdy, Principal Commandant, VADs in France, but not confirmed.


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Edith Hordley
Princi
pal Matron


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Sister Ethel J. M. Keene RRC
Served in South Africa as a member of the Army Nursing Service Reserve, before joining the newly formed QAIMNS in 1902.  The top image taken early in her career, wearing her Boer War medals, and the lower one towards the end of the Great War
Grateful thanks to current members of the Keene family, for these and many more images of Ethel Keene throughout her life

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Helena Hartigan
Matron Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service, while at No.7 General Hospital, St. Omer, 1915

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Sister Ethel Kate Thompson QAIMNS Reserve
Awarded the Military Medal for her actions on the night of 10th November 1916, when No.24 Ambulance Train was bombed

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Mabel Mary Tunley,Matron QAIMNS, RRC and Bar, MM
One of the most decorated of military nurses to serve during the Great War.  She received the Military Medal for her actions during a bombing raid at Bethune on August 7th, 1916.  Also served during the Boer War, receiving both the Queen's and King's South Africa Medals.

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Miss Emily Northover RRC, Territorial Force Nursing Service
Originally mobilised with No.3 London General Hospital, she went on to serve in Salonika, and then worked as Matron in three hospitals in France, No.25 Stationary Hospital, and Nos.53 and 4 General Hospitals

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Mildred Bond RRC, Principal Matron QAIMNS
A long standing member of the service and Boer War veteran, who took over from Maud McCarthy when she left France in August 1919.  Miss Bond was the writer of the final few paragraphs of this online war diary, describing in detail Miss McCarthy's leave-taking.

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