War Graves

The war graves and memorials to nurses of the Great War and Second World War and other armed conflicts including Sisters of the QAIMNS


This War Graves Memorials to Nurses page is dedicated to those brave nurses, nursing sisters and assistants who gave their lives in the line of duty whilst caring for sick, wounded and injured soldiers.

Below are pictures of their graves and QARANC.co.uk would like to further honour their sacrifice by requesting any additional information about any nurse on this page and those who should be added. For example any info about their nursing skills, examples of dedication, photograph, etc would be gratefully received for inclusion onto this page. Please contact us if you can help. Thank you.

Nurses Memorial

Wimereux War Grave Cemetery in France was located near military hospitals during the Great War. There are several members of the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service and Royal Army Medical Corps buried there. The Commonwealth War Graves are located in a separate area of the civilian graves.

Unlike other war grave memorials the headstones lies flat against the ground because of the soil in the graveyard is sandy and does not support the weight of the uprights headstone. There are 2845 war graves from the First World War and 14 war graves from the Second World War. Wimereux War Grave Cemetery is now called the Wimereux Communal Cemetery.




As you can see from the postcard photos below of Wimereux cemetery, taken soon after burials, there were originally crosses above each grave until the earth mounds settled. The left hand side of the photograph shows the first grave with a dark cross as reading Sister but sadly the surname is not readable.

Commonwealth War Graves

Sister Wilson

One war grave of a nurse buried at Wimereux Cemetery is Sister Myrtle Wilson of the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS). Sister Wilson died on the 23 December 1915 aged 38 years. She was the daughter of Andrew Wilson and Catherine Wilson of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Sister Wilson left Queensland to join the service in April 1915. Her headstone reads Sister M.E. Wilson Q.A Imp. Nursing Sce. 23 Dec 1915 Queensland Australia Behold I Come Quickly



Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae Grave



The grave of Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae can be found at Wimereux Cemetery.

Lt Col McCrae wrote the war poem In Flanders Fields. In the cemetery is also a memorial stone seat with lines from In Flanders Fields poem which reads:






We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae served in the Canadian Army Medical Corps as a physician. His health deteriorated during the war, especially after a gas attack in Flanders. He suffered from asthma and after a bad bout of flu he developed a lung infection and then a brain haemorrhage from which he died on the 28 January 1918 aged 45 years.


There are some of the artefacts of Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae on display at Eilean Donan Castle in the Highlands of Scotland. In the grounds is a replica memorial of that erected in his memory at Wimereux Cemetery at Flanders. There is more written about this with photographs at our other website Aboutaberdeen.com on the Eilean Donan Castle Ghosts page.




In Flanders Fields Music

Canadian composer, singer and songwriter Anthony Hutchcroft has written a moving tribute to Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae called In Flanders Fields Music. His song is a musical interpretation of Lt Col John McCrae's poem from the Great War. For more information or to hear and see a performance of In Flanders Fields Music please visit www.flandersfieldsmusic.com





Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.






My PTSD assistance dog, Lynne, and I have written a book about how she helps me with my military Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, and depression. I talk about my time in the QAs and the coping strategies I now use to be in my best health.

Along the way, I have had help from various military charities, such as Help for Heroes and The Not Forgotten Association and royalties from this book will go to them and other charities like Bravehound, who paired me with my four-legged best friend.

I talk openly about the death of my son by suicide and the help I got from psychotherapy and counselling and grief charities like The Compassionate Friends.

The author, Damien Lewis, said of Lynne:

"A powerful account of what one dog means to one man on his road to recovery. Both heart-warming and life-affirming. Bravo Chris and Lynne. Bravo Bravehound."

Download.

Buy the Paperback.



This beautiful QARANC Poppy Pin Badge is available from the Royal British Legion Poppy Shop.




For those searching military records, for information on a former nurse of the QAIMNS, QARANC, Royal Red Cross, VAD and other nursing organisations or other military Corps and Regiments, please try Genes Reunited where you can search for ancestors from military records, census, birth, marriages and death certificates as well as over 673 million family trees. At GenesReunited it is free to build your family tree online and is one of the quickest and easiest ways to discover your family history and accessing army service records.

More Information.




Another genealogy website which gives you access to military records and allows you to build a family tree is Find My Past which has a free trial.

Photographs Of War Graves

The Nursing Sister Grave below is of Sister Lucy Duncan. Her headstone reads Q.A. Imp. Nursing Sce. 1 March 1917




QAIMNS War Grave

The QAIMNS War Grave below is of Sister Jessie Olive Hockey. Her headstone reads Q.A. Imp Mil. Nursing. Sce. 14 August 1917. Youngest Daughter of J.T. Hockey Cape Colony South Africa.




Territorial Army Nurse Grave

The Territorial Force Nursing Service Nurse Grave below is of Nurse Alice Hilda Lancaster of the Territorial Nursing Service (TFNS) who died on the 3 June 1918. Her headstone reads Many Waters Cannot Quench Love.





Canadian Nursing Services Grave

The photograph of a Canadian Nursing Services Grave below is of the gravestone of Sister A.E Whitely of the Canadian Nursing Service who died on the 21 April 1918.




Headstone War Grave

The Headstone War Grave is of Sister C.M. Wilson. It reads Q.A.Imp. Mil. Nursing Sce. 1 March 1916 Eldest Daughter of the Late Thomas Wilson Glasgow




Nelly Spindler

Staff Nurse Nelly Spindler was a member of the QAIMNS during the Great War. Nelly Spindler nursed with the British Expeditionary Forces (BEF) in the 44th Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) Brandhoek. This area was shelled on the 21 August 1917 and despite this the QAs and doctors of the RAMC continued to care for their patients. Sadly one shell landed on the tented hospital and wounded Nelly Spindler. Her colleagues tried in vain to treat her abdominal wound but she died within minutes.

The 44th CCS moved that day to Lijssenthoek where Nelly Spindler was buried the next day. The British Commonwealth Grave Lijssenthoek in Belgium contains 10750 burials which includes 9901 Commonwealth graves. More can be read about Nelly Spindler at www.wakefieldfhs.org.uk/Nelly Spindler.htm



















www.qaranc.co.uk would like to thank Mr Ron Teague for the photographs of the war graves and memorials of the nurses used on this page.

Brookwood Memorial

Sadly many QA's were lost at sea during the two World Wars and though they have no war grave maintained by the CWGC they are remembered in a variety of ways. For example the name of Sister Winnie Harrison is on the Brookwood Memorial. She died on the Hospital Carrier
St David during World War Two. There is more written about the sinking of the Hospital Carrier St David on the Hospital Ships page.

Below is a photo of the Brookwood Memorial (with thanks to Terry Hissey)

Aldershot Garrison Church

The following photos are of the Aldershot Garrison Church memorial plaques to the QAs of the Great War and Second World War. The building is more formally named the Royal Garrison Church of All Saints Aldershot or the Royal Garrison Church. For more information visit www.royalgarrisonchurch.co.uk








































With thanks to Paul White, WO2 Williams at Deepcut and the Padre of Aldershot Garrison Church for the photography and information about the plaques.

There is more written about the history of the plaques on the Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital Millbank page.


The altar cloth in the Aldershot QARANC Chapel was donated by Director Army Nursing Services (DANS) upon her retirement in 1995. The front has the badge os the QARANC whilst the sides of the cloth have those of the QAIMNS, QAIMNS(R), TFNS and TANS.

The altar cloth in the Aldershot QARANC Chapel was donated by Director Army Nursing Services (DANS) Brigadier Hilary Dixon-Nuttall upon her retirement in 1995. The front has the badge os the QARANC whilst the sides of the cloth have those of the QAIMNS, QAIMNS(R), TFNS and TANS.

There is also a plaque dedicated to Dame Margot Turner which was funded by the QA Association and dedicated in 2006.


Ramleh War Cemetery Israel

There are three QA graves at Ramleh War Cemetery in Israel:



Sister Frances Alexander Millar




P/208771 Sister Frances Alexander Millar Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Died 24 May 1943.



Sister Norah Kathleen Pigott




209642 Sister Norah Kathleen Pigott Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Died 9 September 1947.



Sister Winifred Vera Wooderson




309557 Sister Winifred Vera Wooderson Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Died 27 May 1947

The photographs of the graves of Sisters Millar, Pigott and Wooderson were taken by Andrew Laidlaw in Israel and are displayed here with kind permission. Read more about the Ramleh War Cemetery in Israel at www.forthefallen.co.uk



Five Sisters Window

Below are photos and the names of the QAIMNS Sisters who lost their lives in the two world wars. The glass screens can be found in the North Transept of York Minster, England and are known as the Five Sisters Window.











ANDREWS Ellen
ARMSTRONG Ellen
ASTELL Ethel F
BATES Frances M
BEAUFOY Kate
BENNETT Helena S
BERESFORD Rebecca R
BERRIE Charlotte
BLACKLOCK Alice M
BLAKE Edith
BLENCOWE Mabel E
BOLGER Kathleen
BOND Ella Maude
BRACE Frances E
BRETT Norah V
BRINTON Gertrude
BROWN Euphemia L
BUCKLER Elinor
BUTLER Sarah E
CALLIER Ethel F M
CAMMACK Edith M
CHALLINOR E Annie
CHANDLER Dorothy M
CLIMIE Agnes M
CLOUGH Mary
COLE Dorothy H
COLE Emily Helena
COMPTON F D'Oyley
CONSTERDINE V C
COOKE Ella Kate
COX Annie
CROYSDALE Marjorie
CRUICKSHANK I
DALTON Joan Glassford
DANAHER Mary
DAWES Emily
DAWSON Eveline M
DEWAR Margaret S
DOHERTY Mary A
DONOVAN Bridget
DUCKERS M E
DUNCAN I L M
EDGAR Elizabeth
ELIFFE Margaret
ELLIOTT E
EVANS Jane
FARLEY Martha
FEARNLEY Ethel
FERGUSON Rachel
FLINTOFF Alice
FORBES B G F
FOYSTER Ellen L
GARLICK Hilda
GARNER A E C
GASKELL Lily
GLADSTONE E M
GLEDHILL Annie
GOLDSMITH A A V
GRANT May
GORBUTT Martha
GRAY Emily
GREENWOOD HOPPER J E
GREATOREX Janet
GRIFFIN Lillian
GRIFFITHS Janet L
GROVER Alice Jane
GURNEY Elizabeth
HALL Frances Mary
HAMILTON Margaret
HANNAFORD Ida D
HARKNESS Bessie
HASTINGS Helen M
HAWLEY Florence
HAWLEY Nellie
HENRY Charlotte E
HILLING Sophie
HILLS Maud Ellen
HOBBES Narrelle
HODGSON Eveline M
HOOK Florence M L
HOWARD Florence G
HUGHES Gladys C
IRWIN Winifred H
JACK Christina
JAMIESON Jessie S
JOHNSTON M Hessie
JONES Gertrude E
JONES Hilda Lilian
KEMP Christina M F
KEMP Elise Margaret
KENDALL Rose E
KYNOCK Alison G
LANCASTER Alice H
LEA Hilda
MANN Agnes Grieg
MANNELL Dorothy W
MACBETH M Ann
MACGILL Mary
MACKENZIE I
MACKINNON M
MCALLISTER C
MCCOMBIE C
MCDONALD E
MCGIBBON Rose
MCROBBIE J E
MARK Hannah D
MARLEY Grace M
MARMION M
MARNOCH M B
MARSHALL M B
MASON Fanny M
MELDRUM Isabel
MILLER CATHERINE
MILLER Frances
MILNE Helen
MILNE Mabel
MORETON Ada
MURRAY Mabel
NICOL Christina
O'BRIEN Moyra
ROBERTS Eleanor
O'GORMAN Eileen M
PARKER Elsie K D
PATTERSON Jessie J
PEARSE Phyllis Ada
PEPPER Edith D
PHILIPS Jessie J
PILLING Doris
RADCLIFFE Ethel B
REID Annie C
RITCHIE Jessie
ROBERTS Anne L
ROBERTS Jane
ROBERTS Margaret D
ROBINETTE Caroline
ROBINSON Elizabeth
RODWELL Mary
ROWLANDS Helena M
RUSSELL Alice M
SAXON Ethel
SEYMOUR C Mary
SIMPSON Edith
SIMPSON Elizabeth
SMITH Frances F
SMITH Jeanie B
SMITHIES Ettie L
SPINDLER Nellie
STACEY Dorothy L
STANLEY Ada
STEPHENSON G Annie
STEVENS Lottie M
STEWART E Grace
STEWART Wilma B
STURT Kate Rosina
SWAIN Lucy Melton
TEGGIN Eugenie
THOMAS Lilian
THOMAS M E
THOMSON E R
THOMSON Kerr M
TINDALL Fanny
TOWNSEND M
TREVITHAN Rita
TULLOCH Edith
TURTON Alice M
VINTER Bertha
WAKEFIELD J
WALLACE E
WALSHE Mary A
WATSON D M
WATSON E H
WATSON Mary
WELFORD Alice
WHEATLEY Annie
WILLS Mary E
WILLISON Nellie
WILSON C M
WILSON Myrtle E
WOODLEY Ada
WRIGHT Hannah E





With thanks to David at For The Fallen.


To Read about Sister Wort who is buried in Digboi War Cemetery please visit the QAIMNS for India page.



Woolwich Cemetery



The grave of Sister Maud M (Gladys) Richards-Lockwood who died on 30 August 1955 aged 60 years can be found at Woolwich Cemetery. Gladys Maud M. Lockwood was born in Woolwich, London in 1894. Her father, Charles, was a dockyard labourer from Nottinghamshire and her mother, Mary, came from Devon. Her headstone has a beautiful artwork of a QAIMNS sister.



If you can add more details about Sister Richards-Lockwood please contact Qaranc.co.uk


Matron Martha S. Farley

Below are two photos of the grave of Matron Martha S. Farley, RRC, QAIMNS at Mount Jerome Cemetery, Harold's Cross, Dublin. Her grave is located in Section 411, plot 281. Matron Farley is listed in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website as an official WW1 death but seems to have been buried privately and does not have a CWGC headstone.









Sister Sarah Alice Fisher Ingram

Sister Sarah Alice Fisher Ingram is interred at Mount Jerome Cemetery, Harold's Cross, Dublin. She is not listed in the CWGC website. Sister Sarah Alice Fisher Ingram served in Royal Victoria Military Hospital Netley in WW1, and died on 26 December 1915. Her death is not recorded in the Irish Registers, so it is thought that she died in Netley or nearby.



Her headstone reads:

In Loving Memory of
THOMAS JONES FISHER
who fell asleep in Jesus
23rd June 1896
also his wife
SARAH KEPPEL FISHER
entered into rest 24th May 1904
in her 82nd year

erected by their children

also
SARAH ALICE INGRAM
eldest daughter of the above
Sister R.A.N.S. Netley Hospital
died St. Stephen's day, 1915

also
JOHN EDWARD ALMENT FISHER
their only son
died 25th November 1935
and their daughter
FLORENCE KATE FISHER
died Christmas Eve, 1939






Cairo Egypt War Memorial Cemetery



Below are the gravestones of members of the QAIMNS and VAD who died during the Great War and are buried at the Cairo Egypt War Memorial Cemetery. Photos: Mike Booker.




This headstone is inscribed:
STAFF NURSE M.H. JOHNSTON Q.A. IMP. MIL. NURSING SCE. 5th SEPTEMBER 1915




NURSING MEMBER L. LIDDELL VOLUNTARY AID DETACHMENT 29th SEPTEMBER 1918




NURSING MEMBER S.J. ARMSTRONG V.A.D. MEMBER 12th DECEMBER 1918




NURSING MEMBER M.S.STEPHENSON VOLUNTARY AID DETACHMENT 9th NOVEMBER 1918





NURSING MEMBER M.J. MAUNSELL VOLUNTARY AID DETACHMENT 7th JANUARY 1919



Hadra Cemetery Alexandria Egypt





Below are the QA graves at Hadra Cemetery Alexandria Egypt. Photos: Mike Booker.

This first grave is inscribed:

Catherine Ball Nursing Member Voluntary Aid Detachment 31st December 1917 Though many miles from home in memory ever dear.





This grave is inscribed:

Una Marguerite Duncanson Nursing Member Voluntary Aid Detachment 31st December 1917 She hath done what she could.






Also interred here is Staff Nurse Ella Kate Cooke.



Heliopolis War Cemetery Cairo





These nursing graves are at Heliopolis War Cemetery Cairo. Photos: Mike Booker.

The grave below is inscribed:

The British Red Cross Society Inter Arma Caritas W/808537 Private Nancy Edith Bailey Voluntary Aid Detachment 14th March 1943 Age 30








Chatby Military Cemetery Alexandria





Photos: Mike Booker.

Sister Sarah Elizabeth Dixon

The Northumberland church of South Charlton, just off the A1 north of Alnwick, has a memorial tablet to Sarah Elizabeth Dixon, Sister QAIMNS-R who was lost at sea on 24 January 1942 by enemy action. There is a photo at northernvicar.wordpress.com

Sister Dixon was serving in the Mediterranean on the Hospital Ship St David. While transporting wounded soldiers from the Anzio beachhead at night, in company with two other hospital ships, the St David was deliberately attacked and sunk by a German bomber. The captain, 12 crew, 22 Royal Army Medical Corps personnel (including 2 reserve QAIMNS nursing sisters, Sarah Dixon and Winnie Harrison) and 22 of the wounded patients lost their lives. When the attack took place, all three ships were fully illuminated as per the Geneva Convention which, in this instance at least, just seems to have served to make them an easy target.

Their main focus was getting the wounded safely off the ship, rather than their own safety, which seems to by why equal numbers of medical staff and patients died.

There is more info on the St David sinking, as well as the names and circumstances of 108 more QAIMNS deaths at sea, at www.briancrabbmaritimebooks.co.uk/beyond-the-call-of-duty, and in the book, Beyond the Call of Duty (The Loss of British Commonwealth Mercantile and Service Women At Sea During the Second World War) by Brian James Crabb.

With thanks to Art Vine.


See also:

Sister Jane Margaret Houston QAIMNSR

Lieutenant F. Walton QARANC

Sister Audrey Mary Blackman QAIMNSR Schoonselhof Cemetery Wilrijk Antwerp Belgium

Barbara Esmee St John Member Voluntary Aid Detachment

Brookwood Military Cemetery Surrey

Elizabeth Petrie Voluntary Aid Detachment Nurse Grave

First nurse to die in World War One.

Greenwich Cemetery London WWI QAIMNS War Graves.

Gun Hill Aldershot RAMC Memorial.

Herne Bay Cemetery - Sister Eileen M Spellen.

Imtarfa Military Cemetery Malta Lieutenant Eileen Bramwell QARANC Grave.

Kranji War Cemetery and Memorial - Sister Mavis Joy Jones.

Mary Tattersall Crimea War Nurse Veteran.

Nurse Constance Muriel Steell Headstone Colinton Cemetery Edinburgh

Nurse Dorothy Sugden Grave Voluntary Aid Detachment World War Two

Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps Graves.

Sai Wan War Cemetery.

Sarah Campbell Grave Marker Riddrie Park Cemetery Glasgow.

St Giles Cathedral Edinburgh Scottish War Memorial to Nurses Great War.

St Mary's Anglican Parish Church.

St Mary Churchyard West Malling - Sister Agnes Christine Mills.

Sister Annie Winifred Munro.

Sister Jessie Darnell St Herbert's Church Darlington.

Sister Margaret McCluskey QAIMNS.

Stanley Military Cemetery.

Ste Marie Cemetery Le Havre Normandy France.

Ventnor Cemetery Isle of Wight.

Vera Judkins Cape Town

Mrs Rubie Pickard British Red Cross.

Doctor Elsie Maud Inglis Grave Dean Cemetery Edinburgh

Elizabeth Patience Stanger Junior Commander First Aid Nursing Yeomanry FANY ATS

Ellen Graham Thomson QMAAC.

Edith Frances Barker Voluntary Aid Detachment.

Nursing Member Daisy Kathleen Mary Coles Voluntary Aid Detachment.

Nursing Member Elizabeth Thomson VAD

Mary Kennedy Stevenson VAD Ayr Cemetery

Sister Isabel Meldrum Territorial Force Nursing Service







Former Royal Air Force Regiment Gunner Jason Harper witnesses a foreign jet fly over his Aberdeenshire home. It is spilling a strange yellow smoke. Minutes later, his wife, Pippa, telephones him, shouting that she needs him. They then get cut off. He sets straight out, unprepared for the nightmare that unfolds during his journey. Everyone seems to want to kill him.

Along the way, he pairs up with fellow survivor Imogen. But she enjoys killing the living dead far too much. Will she kill Jason in her blood thirst? Or will she hinder his journey through this zombie filled dystopian landscape to find his pregnant wife?

The Fence is the first in this series of post-apocalyptic military survival thrillers from the torturous mind of former British army nurse, now horror and science fiction novel writer, C.G. Buswell.

Download Now.

Buy the Paperback.


If you would like to contribute to this page, suggest changes or inclusions to this website or would like to send me a photograph then please e-mail me.










Free Book.
The death of the Brotherhood will be avenged.
RAF gunner Jason Harper and a team of Special Air Service operators are enraged after the death of their brothers by a terrorist drone strike. They fly into south-eastern Yemen on a Black-op mission to gather intelligence and avenge the death of their comrades.
Can they infiltrate the Al-Queda insurgents' camp, stay undetected, and call down their own drone missile strike and get home safely?
Will they all survive to fight another day?
Operation Wrath is a free, fast-paced adventure prequel to the non-stop action The Fence series by military veteran author C.G. Buswell.
Download for free on any device and read today.





This website is not affiliated or endorsed by The Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) or the Ministry of Defence.