Page 44 - QARANC Vol 15 No 2 2017

42 QARANC THE GAZETTE
I was lucky enough to be able to visit The National Archives and find and then copy the service record of my great aunt, who served in the TFNS in the First World War. Margaret Brodie was my maternal grandfather’s younger sister, and volunteered for war service and then for foreign service. The focus on the First World War commemorations has been on the Western Front, but my great aunt served for several months in Salonica, and on hospital ships, as well as with 1st Scottish General Hospital based in Aberdeen. I have told her full story as part of an online course that is being run by the QARANC Association.
The Association will be running a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on ‘Researching British Army Nurses’, starting on 6 November 2017. The course runs over six weeks and is open to anyone who has Internet access, anywhere in the world, and you can enrol by visiting https://learn.canvas. net/enroll/XT7P8X
The course aims to give those interested in family history, involving Army nurses or those generally interested in nursing history, an opportunity to explore some of the context, and some of the methodologies involved in researching Army nurses.
The course is divided into six ‘modules’; one for each week of the course. These are:
• Exploring medal rolls
• Using newspapers, journals
and the Web as sources
• Using diaries and letters as
sources
• Identification features in
photographs and pictures
• Army nurses in the census
• Using The National Archives Each week there will be example
material to download and work with, as well as discussions, quizzes and other activities. The course covers transcribing, ethics and also the context of Army nursing and women’s history as a whole.
Unknown Territorial Force Nurse First World War. Her tippet shows the brass “T” brooches as well as the cape medal
As with all online courses you can choose where and when to log in and work with the material. If you engage with every activity, each module will take between three to four hours to complete. A certificate of completion for 20 hours of self-directed study will be awarded if all the modules are completed.
If you would like more information
before enrolling, please do not hesitate to contact me at Robertson House. Tel: 01276 412754 or email gensec@ qarancassociation.org.uk
Maj (Retd) Alison Spires TD
QARANC Association Heritage and Chattels Committee
To enrol for the MOOC: https://learn.canvas.net/enroll/XT7P8X
QARANC Association History website: www.britisharmynurses.com
To search for details of British Army nurses buried or commemorated in Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemeteries: www.cwgc.org. You can search for a named individual or a cemetery.
To search for the record of a First World War Army nurse: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
To apply for the record of an Army nurse after 1920: https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records.
You can also apply for your own record using this link.