The Bombing of No. 1 General Hospital

While surfing (I think that is what it’s called) I came across the lyrics to a song titled: No.1 Canadian General Hospital Nursing Sisters’ Theme Song”.


“In my sweet little Alice Blue gown,
When I first came to Birmingham town.
I had had a bad trip, in a nasty old ship
And the cold in my billet, just gave me the pip.
We came out to nurse our own troops,
But were greeted with measles and whoops.
Now I'll be a granny, and sit on my fanny,
And keep warm with turpentine stupes.

In my sweet little Alice Blue gown,
When I return to my home town
They will bring out the band, give the girls a big hand,
Being a nurse in the force, I'll be quite renowned.
And I'll never forget all the fun,
That I had, since I joined Number One
I was happy and gay, to have served with MacRae
In my sweet little Alice Blue gown.”

I have no idea what tune they used to sing this ditty. One thing leads to another, and a story emerges.

I won’t go into a long dissertation on the differences between general hospitals, stationary hospitals, casualty clearing stations, etc. Suffice it to say that the general hospitals (there were 16 by 1918) went from 520 beds to anywhere up to 2,300 beds. In May 1918 the No. 1 Canadian General Hospital was located at Etaples, France. On May 19, 1918 it was bombed, and included in the dead were 4 nursing sisters. One was a girl from Southwestern Ontario.


Gladys Maude Mary Wake was born on December 13, 1883 in Esquimault, British Columbia. She died of her wounds on May 21, 1918.

Gladys Wake, Library and Archives Canada

`Funeral of Gladys Wake. Library and Archives Canada

Dorothy Mary Yarwood Baldwin was born October 11, 1891 in Toronto, Ontario. She died of her wounds on May 30. 1918. She was a graduate of the Victoria Hospital School of Nursing, London, Ontario.

Dorothy Baldwin, "The London Advertiser", June 3, 1918.



Dorothy Baldwin, Library and Archives Canada

Katherine Maude Macdonald was born January 18, 1898 in Brantford, Ontario. She was killed in the bombing raid on May 19, 1918. Her tragic story was told in a letter by Dr. Edwin Seaborn:
“As it happened we had two N/S Macdonald [sic], and when we were ordered to send a sister to another hospital I gave the name McDonald, thinking that the last one sent to us here would be sent. By mistake in the first name the wrong one was sent. She came to me with tears in her eyes. I telephoned the Assistant Director of Medical Services that I wished the other one substituted. He would not allow this but said that he would recall her as soon as possible. She was to be sent to us on a certain date, but was killed in the raid. She had crept under the bed, as I was told. Was wounded in the thigh but had bled to death before she was discovered”. (1)

Katherine Macdonald, Library and Archives Canada

Margaret Lowe was born on January 26, 1888 in Morayshire, Scotland. She joined the nursing staff of the Canadian Expeditionary Corps in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She died of her wounds May 28, 1918.

Margaret Lowe, Library and Archives Canada

Funeral of Margaret Lowe. Library and Archives Canada.

Service records for Margaret Lowe and Gladys Wake are on online in PDF form from Library and Archives Canada.





(1) A.M. Jack Hyatt and Nancy Geddes Poole, “Battle for Life: The History of No. 10 Canadian Stationary Hospital and No. 10 General Hospital in Two World Wars”. The Laurier Center for Militay Stragegic and Disarmament Studies, Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo. 2004. p. 35.

More Bluebirds

Bessie Maud Hanna second from the left. "The London Advertiser, July 20, 1916". Others are not identified.

This photo was sent to the “London Advertiser” by Bessie Maude Hanna, a nursing sister who served at the Ontario Hospital, Orpington, Kent, England.

Library and Archives Canada

In 1915 the Ontario Government donated $2 million dollars to build a treatment center for soldiers wounded on the Western Front. Fully staffed, it treated over 15,000 soldiers from 1915 to 1919. There were 182 who died. Most are buried in the “Canadian Corner” of the All Saints churchyard . Not only Canadian soldiers but all soldiers in the British Expeditionary Force were treated. Advances in plastic surgery, and occupational therapy for shell shock victims, were pioneered here. Renamed the 16^th. Canadian General Hospital during the war the building was torn down in the 1980’s. It has been replaced by a modern hospital.

C.B.C Archives, prefab unit 16th. General Hospital

Nursing Sister Agnes Davies

"The London Advertiser, June 16, 1916"

Although the majority of the casualties of the First World War were suffered by the infantry other services suffered as well. The nursing sisters did not go unscathed. In this article in the “London Advertiser, June 16, 1916” outlines some of the pressures on the nursing sisters.


Agnes Balfour Davis was born on February 9, 1875 in Milton, Ontario. “The London Advertiser” considered her a London girl.

Library and Archives Canada.

“ That it is almost beyond human conception to appreciate the wonderful fortitude and patience with which wounded soldiers bear up under the strain while in the hospitals near the front, was the idea conveyed by Miss Agnes Davis of 472 English street, a nursing sister who returned to this city yesterday.

Miss Davis went with the first contingent, and spent the first winter at Bulford, Salisbury Plain in England, where her work was principally with convalescent soldiers.

In February, 1915, she was transferred to Taplow, Buckinghamshire, to the Canadian Red Cross Hospital, the matron in charge being Miss Edith Campbell of Ottawa.

Miss Davis was one of five who organized the Duchess of Connaught Canadian Red Cross Hospital.

Remaining at Taplow until May, 1915, their own unit, No.2 Canadian General Hospital, in charge of Col. Brydes was ordered to France, the hospital being located at La Traporte, on the French coast, near Dieppe.

This town Miss Davis described as being a beautiful situation for a hospital, situated on the white chalk cliffs 300 feet above the sea level.

The hospital had a capacity of 1,060 beds, all of which were constantly in use.

During her stay at La Traporte, to which hospital the soldiers are taken direct from the trenches, Miss Davis witnessed many heartrending scenes, in addition to the wonderful exhibitions of bravery of the wounded men under such trying circumstances.

Owing to the excessive strain connected with her work, Miss Davis suffered a complete nervous breakdown, and in December, 1915, she was invalided to England, where she had since remained prior to leaving for Canada a week ago.

Miss Davis was accompanied by Nursing Sister F. M. Nichols (1) of Paris, Ontario, who has returned to her home on sick leave of absence.

Miss Davis will remain at the home of her brother, Mr. James Davis, of 472 English street for a time.”



(1)Florence Nichols born 1875 in Paris, Ontario.

Library and Archives Canada.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Lest We Forget

"The London Advertiser, May 4, 1917"

From left to right:

Annie Henderson Henry, b. July 6, 1889 (Whitechurch, Bruce County).
Vera Edith Sotheran, b. Oct. 2, 1893 (Fordwich, Ontario).
Annie Isabel Elliot, b. Aug.15, 1888 (Wingham, Ontario).
Annie May Ferguson, b. April 15, 1890 (Wingham, Ontario).
Mary Evelyn Wood, b. Jan. 29, 1891 (Iderton, Ontario).
Helen Abel, b. Jan. 27, 1882 (Fergus, Ontario).

All of the above nursing sisters in the photo survived the war.

At the beginning of the Great War Canada had five Permanent Force nursing sisters, and  fifty-seven listed in reserve. By the end of the war  3,141  nurses had volunteered . Because of their blue dresses and white veils they were nicknamed the “bluebirds”. Approximately 45 gave their lives. The most famous tragedy was the sinking of the hospital ship “Llandovery Castle” on  June 27, 1918. All 14 nursing sisters aboard the ship lost their lives. There is a Nursing Sister’s Memorial in the Hall Of Honour in the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa.

Mabel B. Clint wrote an account of  her experiences as a nursing sister titled, “Our Bit: Memories of War Service By a Canadian Nursing Sister” (Barwick Ltd. 1934).