Page 25 - QARANC Vol 19 No 2 2021

The Gazette QARANC Association 23
The original entry written by Lieutenant Cawley in Sister Mason’s autograph book.
ward during a sleepless night.
Records for 19 GH Alexandria show that 2nd Lieutenant Cawley was 29 years old, had served 18 months with the Manchester Regiment and had been in Egypt for one month when he was admitted to ward F,19 GH for Catarrh
and Tonsillitis on 8 February 1916. There are two strong candidates for the Captain at this time on ward. Captain PT Priestley (28 years old) who was admitted to ward F on 10 February 1916 and Captain AA Fraser (39 years old) admitted on 24 February 1916. His regiment was the Royal Artillery and he had served 26 years, and one year in Egypt. Of these two potential Captains, Captain Priestley is a more likely candidate. He was in the RAMC and may have known Sister Mason prior to his admission and this makes his address in the style of a report more likely as he may have addressed her in similar fashion if they met when dealing with medical stores for the ward. There are five entries from RAMC personnel in Sister Mason’s album which supports the argument that they were known to each other prior to his admission. Lieutenant Cawley was just a year older and they may have struck up a friendship and been near each
other in the ward.
Captain Priestley is known to have
contributed to the album confirming his relationship with Sister Mason but as there are a few anonymous entries the possibility that Captain Priestley contributed as well cannot be ruled out.
Finally, this entry led to a London Gazette entry dated December 1916 which recorded that Sister Mason had been mentioned in dispatches by General Sir .Archibald Murray, KCB, Commander-in-Chief, Egyptian Expeditionary Force, General Headquarters, Egyptian Expeditionary Force. 1st October, 1916.
Rebekah SloaneMather
Rebekah is registered as a PhD student at Cardiff University researching autograph books of First World War Army Nurses and VADs. Her studies are supported with funding from the QARANC Association.
Lidstone trained at Shirley Warren Infirmary Southampton. Betty joined the QAIMNS(R) on 9 August 1915. She arrived in France on 6 October 1915 joining the BEF on 8 October 1915 and was posted to No 2 General Hospital where her records show that she was ‘good medical nurse... very reliable and painstaking [with] good administrative powers.’ Betty was later posted to No 6 General Hospital in 1918.
Dorothy Cackett trained at
the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne from
1911-1914. Accepted into the QAIMNS(R), signing her declaration on 13 November
1914, in August 1916 she was
acting sister of No 6 General
Hospital and later Sister in
Charge of 19 Ambulance Train from 24 August 1916. The rarity of these entries from fellow QAIMNS is delightful. They show the camaraderie and professional respect between them and one wonders if Betty wrote in Dorothy’s album.
Contributions by fellow nurses are uncommon in the archive albums with the vast majority by the soldier patients in the nurses’ hospitals. Entries that comment on the nursing care are often couched in verse but give an insight into daily routine of the military hospital. The following was found in Sister E F Mason’s album by Lieutenant Cawley (14th Manchester Regt. a patient of 19 General Hospital Alexandria 8 March 1915):
‘Capt in ward to Sister Mason on night duty stealing in the ward at 2.0am with a torch. “Sister you’re the light of
the world with that torch” and expands in verse...
‘Light of the world faint were our weary feet with wandering far
but thou didst come our lonely hearts to greet thou morning star
and thou didst bid me lift my hand to thee and afterwards said “your pulse is 70”.
The Biblical description of Jesus ‘Light of the world’ from Matthew 5:14-16 was popularised in hymns like ‘Lead Kindly light’ and ‘Light of the world’ (composed by Laura O D Chant in 1901 at the request of the Superintendent of the Central Wesleyan Mission in Manchester) whose last verse uses the lines ‘Where is death’s sting, where, grave thy victory’ words now synonymous with Remembrance services today. Lieutenant Cawley applies this to Sister Mason, suggesting that her presence on the ward with a torch offers divine comfort. It also reminds us of Florence Nightingale as the ‘Lady of the Lamp’ an image now synonymous with the work of the military nurse in the Crimean War. The adaptation of existing material is a common theme in the autograph albums, even extending to reusing and personalising other entries in the same book. Lieutenant Cawley’s reworking reflects his relationship with his nurse and the reassurance she gives him
during the long nights.
As the entry refers to ‘Captain
to Sister’ it implies that Lieutenant Cawley overheard the exchange on his
Entries that comment on the nursing care are often couched in verse