Page 46 - QARANC Vol 15 No 1 2017

44 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Did you know that Florence Nightingale’s goddaughter was an Army nurse?
Florence Nightingale Shore was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire on 10 January 1865.1,2,3 Florence Nightingale was one of her Godparents.4 She was brought up in Mickleover, Derbyshire.2 In 1891 she travelled to China to work as a nursery nurse. In 1893 she returned to the UK and started her nurse training at The Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, Scotland (aged 28).2,5 In 1897 she completed her midwifery training at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin.6 Towards the end of 1897 she enrolled at the Queen Victoria Jubilee Institute for Nurses in London and became a Queen’s Nurse7. She completed district nurse training later working in Reading and Sunderland.
She joined the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve)
1 General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office
2 The National Archives: England Census 1871 RG10; Piece: 2898; Folio: 57; Page: 13; GSU roll: 836397
3 The National Archives: England Census 1881 RG11; Piece: 4721; Folio: 120; Page: 19; GSU roll: 1342141
4 Cook, R. (2011) The Nightingale Shore Murder: Life and Death of a Queen’s Nurse. Salt Spring Island, Canada: Spire Publishing
5 The National Archives: WO 399/ 7549
6 The Wellcome Trust; London, England; The Midwives Roll; Reference: b24389596_
i13779497
7 The Wellcome Trust; London, England; Roll of
Queen’s Nurses; Volume: 5; Reference: SA/ QNI/J.3/5
on 18 May 1900,8 and served with the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital at Deelfontein, South Africa during the Boer War,9,10 then returned to district nursing in Sunderland.
In 1914 she started war nursing service with the French Red Cross in France.11 In 1915 she joined the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (Reserve) and nursed in various hospitals, Casualty Clearing Stations and Ambulance Trains in France. She was awarded the ARRC in 19195. After returning to England from nursing duties in France, Florence stayed with her former nursing colleague, Miss Mabel Rogers, at Carnforth Lodge on Queen Street in Hammersmith, London.12
Florence was struck three sharp blows to the left side of her head while seated in her carriage on a train between London, Victoria and Lewes, Sussex on 12 January, 1920. She was found comatose and rushed to East Sussex Hospital in Hastings, where
8 War Office (1900) Nominal Roll of Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service (Reserve) as at 30th September
9 WO 100/130 QSA Medal Roll p216 created at The Imperial Yeomanry Hospital, Deelfontein; dated 12 July 1901
10 Nursing Record & Hospital World, 16 June 1900, p477
11 The National Archives: WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls; Class: WO 329; Piece Number: 2323
12 The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 15 January 1920
she died. Her obituary in the Daily Telegraph read:
“Miss Shore is a daughter of Mr Offley Bohun Shore, formerly of Norton Hall, near Sheffield, and a sister of Brigadier-General Offley Bohun Stovin Shore, C.B. D.S.O., of the Indian Army. Her father is a cousin of Florence Nightingale. Miss Shore, who is 55 years of age, served during the war with the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve, and, according to the records of that organisation, of which Miss Beardsmore Smith C.B.E. R.R.C. is the matron-in-chief, rendered most valuable service. Miss Shore “joined up” in October 1915, and served continuously for four subsequent years in France. She was demobilised as recently as November last year. Her final station in France was at Boulogne, but she volunteered for service at an advanced dressing station, where she served for some time. After periods of service at other hospitals in France Miss Shore was transferred to Etaples, where she was one of the heroic band of nurses who declined to leave the wounded and sick men and seek shelter in prepared dug-outs during the appalling bombing attacks of April, 1918.”12
Lt Col (Retd) Kieron Spires – Chair Heritage & Chattels
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