Page 16 - QARANC Vol 18 No 2 2020

14 The Gazette QARANC Association
to believe these days). Two in UK had been approved previously but it was clear that there was simply not enough capacity for training in just two schools. Student nurses were allowed to take the Preliminary State examination after just one year in training and this avoided the potential problem of taking prelims and finals at the same time and a short list in Gazette number 9 gave the names of those who had been successful in Parts 1 and 2 of the Preliminary State examinations (these exams were phased out in the late 60s). Students also had to pass the Army Nursing Certificate.
In 1952 The Gazette had started to publish news of births, marriages and deaths. There was a high number of marriages of other ranks that took place in 1951 and 1952 reported in Gazette number 11 ... 62 in total! This Gazette also reports that other ranks were now eligible for entry to the Medford cup, awarded to the winner of the QARANC tennis tournament. They were already eligible for competitive swimming events. Opening up sports participation to all ranks is a testament to the power of sport to be inclusive and remove artificial barriers to enable regimental cohesion and give everyone an equal chance of success. Gazette 12 reports that a cup and personal memento would be presented annually to an officer or other rank who had contributed most to the sports prestige of the Corps in the preceding year.
Gazette number 9, pages 10-16 contains a lengthy account of other rank training. Sadly there isn’t room to reproduce the account in this article, but it can be accessed through the Gazette archive on-line. As has been previously stated in this article, there were many trades other than nursing in the QARANC, and it was also clearly recognised that regimental training was of equal importance with trade training. Nurse training also had to mirror the Army principle that it should lead to qualifications recognised in civil life, so every student nurse was prepared for entry on to the Nursing Register of the General Nursing Council. Along with this, all recruits had to undertake Army education courses leading to Army Certificates of Education. Nurse training took four years, and students could be entered for the GNC examinations following success at their Class 1 Nursing Orderly examinations and becoming an ‘Army Trained Nurse’. Other trade training,
for example laboratory assistants, physiotherapy and radiography was offered at the Royal Army Medical College at Millbank, (laboratory assistant) Woolwich (radiography) and Netley (physiotherapy). Some courses needed a civilian secondment in order to gain the appropriate award; for example, 18 months in a civilian hospital was required for an Army trained physiotherapist to be eligible for membership of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists.
The Depot and Training Establishment at Hindhead continued to develop courses for the advancement of NCOs. The first sergeants and staff sergeants course was held in September 1952, and consisted of both theory and practical instruction. Four corporals and 11 sergeants took part in the passing out parade held in November 1952, the first of its kind for the Corps; and Sergeant JM Douglas who passed out top of the course was presented with a gilded Corps brooch on a gold pin. All NCOs had previously been seconded from the WRAC so the Corps was clearly beginning to establish its own identity within the greater Army.
Large numbers of marriages continued to be reported in the Gazette. Officers were given much greater prominence than other ranks in these announcements, which to our modern eyes seems divisive, but we should suppose that this just reflects the culture and practice of the early 1950s. Perhaps the shift from an all-officers corps was a little slow in progress for some used to the officer milieu of World War 2 and the post war years.
Gazette 2 of Volume 2, reports a Commendation to an other rank member of the Corps, Private H Campbell, who while on duty in the Families ward of BMH Hannover saved the life of a patient who had climbed out of a window and was hanging by her arms about 120 feet from the ground. Private Campbell rushed to the window and grasped the patient’s arms and prevented her from falling to the ground. The Commander in Chief of Northern Army Group stated that Private Campbell showed great courage and devotion to duty. This is the first mention in The Gazette of such an act by a QA other rank. I guess we would all like to think that we would do the same in a similar situation but few of us have been tested in such a way.
Number 5 of volume 2 records
another first for the Corps other ranks. Corporal EK Gallant who joined the Corps in 1950 is congratulated on having the distinction of being the first other rank QARANC to be awarded the ARRC in recognition of her splendid work as a Nursing Orderly Class 1 (presumably as a student nurse in training) serving at the British Military Hospital Fayid in the Middle East.
In a short paragraph after the commendation article, there is a quick mention of three other ranks passing the State Final examinations - the first ever SRNs trained by the Corps. The first Warrant Officer of the Corps was named in Gazette volume 2 number 7. Warrant Officer 2 Baily undertook the course with 40 men of the RAMC and ‘did very creditably’. It was announced in the same Gazette that an annual prize would be awarded by the officers to the other rank who had performed the best in Class 1 examinations. The prize of £10.00 worth of saving certificates was awarded to Corporal ZM Crawford and today that would be worth about £275.00!
This article concludes by naming the first five QAs who passed the State Final Examination and became State Registered Nurses. Staff Sergeant RA Dobbs, Corporal P Gibson, Corporal P Houston, Corporal E Emerson, and Corporal CE Burnett. Three of those named applied for and were accepted for officer commissions. It is clear then that the place of other ranks in the Corps was secure, and that the decision to morph from an all-officer Corps to one that mirrored other corps and regiments of the British Army was the correct one. Today our other ranks continue that tradition of service and we take pride, as I hope they do, in their achievements.
I have really enjoyed learning about the early history of other ranks in our Corps through the medium of our Gazette archive, and I thank the first editors of the Gazette for making sure they included lots of information about them. Unfortunately Covid-19 restrictions have prevented me from accessing any sources and books that may be in the museum or at RHQ, but if any reader has any information to add, please do let me know care of RHQ, or email: gazette@qarancassociation. org.uk
Alison Spires Editor QARANC Association Gazette