Page 40 - QARANC Vol 16 No 2 2018

38 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Corps Heritage Matters
The Association Heritage and Chattels Sub-committee continues to be busy and productive under the leadership of its Chair, Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Keiron Spires. We meet formally every three months, and make use of technology by using Skype to enable the participation of members who live away from the immediate area. This year we have welcomed two new committee members; Sergeant Catherine Pounder, a reserve nurse from 205 Field Hospital based in Glasgow, who has a long-standing interest in military nursing history; and Graham Bandy, a retired member who has a particular interest in historical artefacts.
Our focus for much of this year has been on the chattels owned by the Association. Ownership of the chattels passed to the Association a few years ago, and the inclusion of the chattels remit into the terms of reference of the Heritage Committee has ensured that they can be accounted for and managed in the long term. Our first action a year ago in July 2017 was to do a preliminary stock check – listing and describing all the items at Robertson House, and making sure that they were stored correctly and securely if they were not in everyday use. Many of the larger items are used every day – for example, the table in the entrance hall and the sideboards in the anterooms, as well as many smaller items such as chairs and occasional tables. In addition, a large number of photographs and paintings are on display. Some of the items are showing signs of wear and tear, which is not surprising since they are over 100 years old! This July (2018) we invited two companies (Richard Rogers Conservation Ltd, and Tankerdale) to Robertson House to value the items and produce condition reports, so that the trustees will be able to make
Harriet Sylvester and Kathryn Oliver from Richard Rogers Conservation Ltd at work in Robertson House checking the chattels
Lieutenant Colonel Keiron Spires, Chair of the sub-committee, ‘counting the silver’ in the strong room, Robertson House
a decision about the future of all our chattels, including the conservation or restoration requirements. We will keep you updated on future developments. Our next task is to track down all the chattels out on loan to various units and carry out a similar exercise.
The trustees of the Association are keen to secure the material heritage of the Corps and its antecedents and to this end, a purchasing fund has been established. When relevant items come up for sale, the sub-committee agree if a bid up to a certain figure can be made. In this way, the Association has been able to acquire a number of items. Some of these were exhibited at the Annual Reunion at the Victory Services Club earlier this year. I always
The brooch presented to Gertrude Veysey as a gift by the Sultan of Turkey in appreciation of her service as a nurse in the Crimean War
find it very sad when a set of medals awarded to an army nurse comes up for sale, as I would far rather these remain in a family, but the next best thing is that they ‘come home’ to the Corps through the Association. We have acquired a number of medals and other items, and we hope to donate these items to the Museum of Military Medicine in the fullness of time. Recent purchases have included a gold brooch, enamelled in red with a diamond crescent moon and star presented in 1856 to a nurse, Gertrude Veysey, by the Sultan of Turkey as a gift for her service in the Crimean War. A similar brooch was presented to Florence Nightingale and can be seen in the Florence Nightingale Museum at St Thomas’s Hospital in London.
Committee member, Olivia Barnes has kindly agreed to manage our oral history project. We hope to run another oral history day in 2019, and further details will be published in the Spring Gazette. Further information can be found at:
https://britisharmynurses.com/ qaranc-association-oral-history-project/
Alison Spires Heritage and Chattels Sub-committee