Page 68 - The Gazette Autumn 2023

68 The Gazette QARANC Association
OBITUARY
Remembering Jill Machray: ‘A force of nature’
Major (Retd) Dorothy ‘Jill’ Machray (nee Simpson) died peacefully on 23 May 2022 in Hill House Nursing Home, Farnham surrounded by her family.
Jill was born into a Huddersfield/Harrogate family in 1931 and retained her strong links with Yorkshire throughout her life. The family was large and full of doctors, lawyers and social activists with a smattering of OBEs and MBEs amongst them.
She was the middle one of three sisters – Angela and Jennifer – to whom she was very close.
Jill always wanted to be a nurse and started working at a day nursery when she was 15. She did her general training at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, becoming a top student. She subsequently trained as a midwife in Queen Charlotte’s in London and as district midwife in Leeds – an experience which brought her into contact with poor and struggling families.
After qualifying she got a job as a district midwife in Knaresborough. She then decided, to the surprise of her family, to join the Queen Alexandra Royal Nursing Corps initially on a short service commission in 1956.
Her first overseas posting was to the British Military Hospital (BMH) in Malta; a posting marked by hard work, fun and the accumulation of lifelong
friends – themes she repeated throughout her life. Other overseas postings included Singapore, which gave her the opportunity to travel extensively across South East Asia, and Hannover.
In the UK Jill served in several military hospitals including the BMH in Woolwich, the Louise Margaret in Aldershot, and – her final nursing post – at Millbank Military Hospital in London.
Jill’s nursing career was interspersed with other roles, including, much to her surprise, a posting to the Royal Pavilion in Aldershot to teach accounts and military law. Despite acknowledging these were not her area of expertise, Jill successfully rose to the challenge. One of her students, who of course became a lifelong friend, commented that ‘she didn’t really fit the stereotype of a senior army officer’ and recalls her “leading us in the Congo around the training centre mess”.
It was during this time that Jill attended a ball at the RAF Officers mess in Farnborough and met her future husband, John. They married in 1972 and enjoyed 43 years of happy marriage before he passed in 2015. The devotion given to him as he battled with dementia was typical of Jill.
After completing her posting at the Royal Pavilion, she became the Women’s Services Liaison Officer in Salisbury: a role that took her to schools all over Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset accompanied by her beloved golden retriever Patsy. She was noted for her enthusiasm in speaking to young students about the opportunities in the Corps and there is no doubt she inspired a few to join up!
She was noted for her enthusiasm in speaking to young students about the opportunities in the Corps and there
is no doubt she inspired a few to join up!
It was not easy for both Jill and John being serving