Thurza Dunn

Place of birth: Newport

Service: Munitions worker and rugby player

Notes: Thurza Dunn was a worker at one of the munitions factories in Newport. She also played rugby for her factory team. These games were played to raise funds for the war effort. Thanks to Ann Davidson.

Reference: WaW0377

Thurza Dunn

Thurza Dunn and her team mates. Thurza is in the front row, second from the left. Thanks to Ann Davidson.

Newspaper report

Report of a charity rugby match held in Jenner Park, Barry, between two teams of munitions workers. Barry was raising funds for a submarine; their target of £10,000 was exceeded! Barry Dock News 15th March 1918.

Margaret Irene John

Place of birth: Penygraig

Service: Administrator, lady superintendent , Womens League

Notes: Margaret John, a teacher of domestic arts in Monmouthshire, who had trained in Aberystwyth, Cardiff and London, joined the Women’s Legion in 1916 as one of their skilled cooks. After some months as Lady Superintendent in Wiltshire she was sent to France as ‘area administratrix’ in October 1917.

Reference: WaW0380

Newspaper report

Report of local JP’s daughter Margaret John being posted to France. Rhondda Leader 27th October 1917.

Nellie Prosser

Place of birth: Govilon

Service: Forewoman, munitions worker, NFF Rotherwas

Notes: Nellie Prosser was charged in the autumn of 1919 with dishonestly obtaining £15.10s in unemployment pay when she was in fact working as a servant for Mrs Solly-Flood [qv], a leading figure in society locally. She had been laid off from Rotherwas shell filling factory with all the other women workers at the end of the war, but claimed to the Labour Exchange in Abergavenny that she was waiting for the factory to re-open. According to the Rector of Govilon, who knew the family well, Nellie had progressed to forewoman at the factory despite suffering from TNT poisoning and resulting fits. She was also one of the elder sisters of May Prosser [qv]. Nellie Prosser was fined £25, or three months hard labour.

Reference: WaW0382

Newspaper report

Report of the Abergavenny Police Court proceedings against Nellie Prosser. Abergavenny Chronicle 3rd Oct 1919.

May McIndoe

Place of birth: not known

Service: Munitions worker, NEF Pembrey / Pen-bre

Notes: May McIndoe, aged 53, was taken to court in August 1918 for having a sealed tin of tobacco with her, to deliver to a man. The case was dismissed, as she was apprehended taking it to the mess room, where such things were deposited. This was within the rules about inflammatory materials at the munitions works.

Reference: WaW0381

Newspaper report

Report of the failed case against May McIndoe. Cambrian Daily Leader 22nd August 1918

Margaret E Jones

Place of birth: Preswylfa Amlwch Port

Service: Executive Officer, Amlwch Urban District Food Control Committee, 1917 - 1919

Notes: Madge was appointed to the Food Control Committee of Amlwch in 1917. The committee seems to have been wound up in July 1919. She was awarded the MBE in February 1919.

Reference: WaW0365

Margaret E Jones

Photograph of Madge Jones, MBE. Part of the Women’s Work Collections of the Imperial War Museum.

Margaret E Jones (reverse)

Reverse of Photograph of Madge Jones, MBE. Part of the Women’s Work Collections of the Imperial War Museum.

Newspaper report

Report of Margaret Jones’s award of MBE. North Wales Chronicle 7th February 1919.

Agnes Cissy Pugh

Place of birth: Wrexham

Service: Nurse

Death: Croesnewydd Military Hospital, Wrexham, Effects of explosion / Effeithiau ffrwydrad

Notes: Cissy Pugh, born 1895, trained as a nurse in London. She was caught up in a bombing raid on King’s Cross station on 13th June 1917. While attending to a wounded child she herself was badly wounded by a secondary explosion. After treatment in London she was transferred to Croesnewydd Military Hospital in Wrexham where she died of her injuries at the end of October. Thanks to Wrexham Museum.

Reference: WaW0389

Agnes Cissy Pugh

Cissy Pugh in her nurses uniform. Thanks to Wrexham Museum.

Beatrice Elise Solly-Flood (née Hanbury, formerly Martin)

Place of birth: Monmouth ?

Service: Military wife and widow, committee woman

Notes: Elise Solly-Flood was married to zoologist Lieutenant Charles Martin of Abergavenny, a reservist who was killed in May 1915. In June 1916 she remarried, Brigadier-General Arthur Solly-Flood, a professional soldier. Elise supported all the local charities and organisations, including an inspection of the Abergavenny army cadets. She became involved as a reluctant witness in the fraud case against Nellie Prosser [qv] whom she had employed as a servant.

Reference: WaW0385

Marriage announcement

Announcement of the forthcoming marriage between Brigadier-General Arthur Solly-Flood and Mrs Charles Martin. Abergavenny Chronicle 19th May 1916.

Newspaper report

Report of the inspection of the Abergavenny cadets. Abergavenny Chronicle 11th May 1917.

Newspaper letter

Letter from Mrs Solly-Flood about reviving the Abergavenny Company of Girl Guides. Abergavenny Chronicle 22nd February 1918.

Ethel Dora Heins

Place of birth: Brecon

Service: Nurse, VAD, 1915/09/11 - 1918/05/18

Notes: Ethel Heins volunteered for the VAD early in the war, and after ‘special training’ was sent to work in the 19th General Military Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt, where she was for a year. During her time there she kept a diary, now in the National Library of Wales. In it she describes the voyage out, avoiding German ships, and the diseases that affected many of the hospital staff. After her return she worked in English military hospitals.

Reference: WaW0386

Red Cross record card

Red cross card of Ethel Heins. Her father was a well known piano shop owner and musician in Brecon.

Red Cross record card [reverse]

Red cross card of Ethel Heins showing her service in Egypt and England. [reverse]

Newspaper report

Report of Ethel Heins’s deployment to Egypt. Brecon County Times 16th September 1915.

Diary

Page from Ethel Heins’s diary, October 1915. The Miss Smales mentioned was VAD Florence Smales of Whitby, Yorkshire. National Library of Wales.

Gwladys Jones

Place of birth: Carnarthen ?

Service: Nurse, SWH

Notes: Gwladys Jones was a professional nurse who had trained and worked in London, and also worked as a school nurse in Swansea. She volunteered for the Scottish Women’s Hospitals and went to Serbia in September 1915. She was among the group of nurses captured by the Austrians at Krushevatz. She managed to get a letter to her mother through one of the nurses who escaped the Austrian army through the mountains. Her letter arrived on Christmas Day 1915. She was a friend of Nora Tempest [qv].

Reference: WaW0387

Newspaper report

Report of the capture of Gwladys Jones and colleagues in Serbia. Haverfordwest and Milford Haven Telegraph 19th January 1916.

Elizabeth Jane [Batchie] Griffiths

Place of birth: Llandovery

Service: Clerk, VAD, 1918/01/28 – 1919/02/27

Notes: Batchie left school soon after her 18th birthday to join the VAD. She had previously trained as a volunteer with the Carmarthen Reserves. She worked as a clerk in the quartermaster’s stores at Catterick Military Hospital in Yorkshire, where she seems to have had an active social life! Thanks to Alathea Anderssohn.

Reference: WaW0392

Batchie Griffiths

Batchie Griffiths with other members of the Quartermaster’s Stores. Batchie is seated on the right. The photograph was taken on 24th March 1918. Thanks to Alathea Anderssohn.

Red Cross record card

Red Cross card for Batchie Griffiths. Note she was registered using her nickname.

Red Cross record card [reverse]

Record card for Batchie Griffiths giving details of her career.

Batchie Griffiths

Photograph of Batchie between her friends Biggsie [l] and Minnie [r]. Note that non-nursing VADs seem to have worn ties as part of their everyday uniform. Thanks to Alathea Anderssohn.

Discharge certificate

Discharge certificate for Batchie Griffiths, 29th February 1919.