Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Signature on an October 1916 letter from the 32nd Stationary Hospital, Wimereux:



Any suggestions what it could be? I've tried 'Roleson' on the National Archives lookup, but no joy:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help ... 1914-1918/

Robson?

MaryA wrote:Robson?

Yes - Cecil Hope Robson. One more success, Mary! After posting, I remembered that the 32nd Stationary was a takeover of the Australian Voluntary Hospital, so the nurses were probably Australian and were probably not listed on the National Archives site. Well; she was Australian, but IS listed - lots of documents. I haven't downloaded yet, but it's definitely her. Her handwriting was pretty unique!

Thanks yet again....

Name:
Cecil Hope Robson, Hospital Nurse.
Female
Electoral Year:
1913
Ithaca
Queensland
Brisbane
Australia

Bertieone wrote:Name:
Cecil Hope Robson, Hospital Nurse.
Female
Electoral Year:
1913
Ithaca
Queensland
Brisbane
Australia

Thanks Bert - that's her OK; there can't be many 'Cecil Hope's to confuse us!

If it helps,


Name
Cecile Hope Robson
Birth
20 Nov 1889
Father
John Shield Robson
Mother
Elizabeth Evelyn Patten
Birth Place
Queensland
Registration Year & Place
1890
Queensland

Bertieone wrote:If it helps,


Name
Cecile Hope Robson
.....

Thanks Bert. 'Cecile' is interesting; sounds more female than 'Cecil'... but she did use 'Cecil':



This nurse wrote to my grandmother - then 10 years old - to tell her of her father's death in 1916. She signed the letter 'Sister'. She wasn't a Sister in Wimereux but she had been a sister in Serbia. An Australian government site has a newspaper story she wrote:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/20064354?

It was a remarkable time. I guess her superiors in Wimereux saw her well capable of sharing the harrowing task of writing to relatives. A reference for her said that 'She is very kind to the patients'.

Just another unsung hero.

luxor wrote:
Just another unsung hero.

Well she is sung here! She must have been a very compassionate lady and a good choice for such a sad job. What lovely old fashioned phraseology she used.

MaryA wrote:
What lovely old fashioned phraseology she used.

Off topic; but this will be of interest to some... My grandmother also got letters from 'Towse of the Gordon Highlanders'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beachcroft_Towse

This man is like something from a Boy's Own comic - you think he can't be real. Blinded in the Boer War in an action that earned him the VC; Churchill witnessed the act; Queen Victoria shed tears as she pinned the VC on him. When WW1 started Towse moved to France and helped in the hospitals at Wimereux; talking to the wounded and typing letters. Here's a typical one:

Mrs. W. C. Dew, Balnagowan, is in receipt of a letter from Captain E. B. B. Towes, of the Gordon Highlanders, with reference to her son, in which he states: "'32 Stationary Hospital, near Wimereux, France. May 17: — "I am writing to you at the request of your son, Lance-Corboral W. T. Dew, of the Australian Machine Gun Corps, who is now in this hospital, suffering a wound is the right thigh. He is, so far, going on as well as can be expected, but I regret to say that he has been very seriously wounded and that he is still in a critical condition. He is, however, easier than he was, and is to-day, very slightly better. I hope and pray this slight improvement will continue. You may rest assured that he is in very capable hands, and that he is receiving every possible care and attention. Any letters to him ought to be addressed as usual and not to this or any other hospital. He sends his very best love and hopes that vou will not worry yourself on his account. His only regret is that he cannot just at present write to you himself. May I also add my own deep sympathy for you in our very great anxiety, and express the hope that long before you receive this letter you will have heard, bv cable, that he is well on the way to a complete recovery."

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article ... m=wimereux stationary&searchLimits=

A US surgeon recorded in his journal:

'There was a large gathering for dinner: Col. Eames, the Australian CO.; Col. Pike, D.M.S. of the 1st Army just back from the Front; the Consultants, Fullerton, Sargent, and Wallace; two French officers, one of them the old Commandant at Boulogne wearing on his breast the black and green ribbon of the Franco-Prussian War — black for sorrow and green for hope.

The most striking figure of all was a Captain (Sir Beachcroft) Towse, wearing the uniform of the Gordon Highlanders with a V.C. ribbon — slim, dapper, erect, precise — and blind! One of the most promising officers of the regular army, a great polo player, shot through both orbits in the Boer War. He is now writing letters home for Tommies on a typewriter, and spends his days in the hospitals, except when playing golf (actually! ) on what is left of the course, and entertaining people at the mess. He kept me up, shivering with cold, long after the others had gone to bed. He made his way about the room like a cat, smoked his cigarettes — though his olfactory sense is also gone, as Sargent told me — with precision, and handled his glass of whiskey as though he could see as well as taste.

https://archive.org/stream/390020111232 ... u_djvu.txt

Wonderful background, thank you for sharing this.