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Edith Townsend
Place of birth: Cardiff
Service: Waitress, QMAAC, 1918 -
Notes: Edith Townsend and her sister Gladys were associated with Roath Road Wesleyan Methodist Church, Cardiff. They described their early experiences in the Roath Roamer (Vol.44, p.6). After training they spent time near Woolwich (and experienced three air raids), before being sent north to Newcastle - 'very much like Cardiff'. Image and information courtesy of Glamorgan Archives (DWESA6).
Sources: https://archifaumorgannwg.wordpress.com/
Reference: WaW0120
Gladys Townsend
Place of birth: Cardiff
Service: Waitress, QMAAC, 1918 -
Notes: Gladys Townsend and her sister Edith were associated with Roath Road Wesleyan Methodist Church, Cardiff. They described their early experiences in the Roath Roamer (Vol.44, p.6). After training they spent time near Woolwich (and experienced three air raids), before being sent north to Newcastle - 'very much like Cardiff'. Image and information courtesy of Glamorgan Archives (DWESA6).
Sources: https://archifaumorgannwg.wordpress.com/
Reference: WaW0121
Amy Laura Whitcombe
Place of birth: Hengoed
Service: Worker, QMAAC
Death: 1918-11-03, S C Convalescent Hospital, Plymouth, Influenza / Y Ffliw
Memorial: War memorial, Ystrad Mynach and Hengoed, Glamorgan
Notes: aged 24.
Reference: WaW0063
Ada Doris Maud Lesser (Radcliffe)
Place of birth: Nova Scotia
Service: Worker, QMAAC
Death: 1918/12/04, Tidsworth Military Hospital, Wiltshire, Influenza / y ffliw
Memorial: Danygraig, Swansea, Glamorgan
Notes: Born c.1879, Ada moved with her parents to Swansea. She married Arthur Charles Lesser in December 1899. The inscription on her grave says she was 36 when she died, but she was probably older. Thanks to Diana Morgan
Reference: WaW0190
Mary Ann Evans
Place of birth: Ebbw Vale
Service: Assistant cook, QMAAC
Death: 1919/03/23, Percy House Auxiliary Military Hospital, Isleworth, Middlesex, Influenza ? / Fliw ?
Notes: According to the 1911 census, Mary Ann probably came from a Welsh speaking family. Her father was a colliery foreman. She was working in Middlesex when she died, probably of influenza. Her name has recently been recorded on a commemorative headstone at Risca cemetery.
Sources: http://firstworldwar.gwentheritage.org.uk/content/catalogue_item/mary-ann-evans
Reference: WaW0283
Daisy Morris
Place of birth: St Dogmaels
Service: Munitions ? then Clerk-Telephonist, QMAAC, 1918/06/06 – 1919/05/06
Notes: Born in St Dogmael’s in 1895, her father was a coastguard, Daisy may have worked in munitions in Barry Docks. When she joined QMAAC in 1918 she was living in Barrow, near her sister at Flookburgh, north Lancashire.
Sources: National Archives WO-398-159-25
Reference: WaW0309
Maud Jarman (Larnder)
Place of birth: Glangwryne, Mongomeryshire
Service: Waitress, QMAAC, 1918/07/25 - 1919/05/13
Notes: Maud Jarman had been working as a housemaid for three years, currently at the Wynnstay Arms Hotel in Machynlleth, when she responded to an advertisement for QMAACs in the Cambrian News. She joined at Cardiff in July 1918 to serve as a waitress at various army bases. After her discharge from the Corps in May 1919 there seems to have been considerable confusion about her back pay and sick pay. There seems to have been considerable confusion as to who should pay her. A good section of her file in the National Archives is devoted to sorting this problem, which was finally resolved in September 1919.
Sources: National Archives WO-398-117-26
Reference: WaW0318
Newspaper advertisement
Advertisement for QMAACS. Possibly this is the one Maud referred to in her letter. Cambrian News 31st May 1918.
Margaret Davies
Place of birth: Pontymister ?
Service: Cook, QMAAC
Death: 1919/02/18, Not known , Not known / Anhysbys
Memorial: Rica Old Cemetary, Risca, Monmouthshire
Notes: Almost nothing is known of Madge Davies who was a cook in QMAAC.
Reference: WaW0350
Editha Elma (Bailey), Lady Glanusk (Sergison)
Place of birth: Haywards Heath, Sussex
Service: ‘Active war worker’, Red Cross
Notes: Lady Glanusk was born in 1871 and married the 2nd Baron Glanusk in 1890. From the outbreak of war she became very involved in wartime activities, and was an indefatigable writer to the newspapers, calling for young women to encourage their men to join up, and demanding the internment of enemy aliens. She was the President of the Red Cross in Breconshire, (for which she was awarded a CBE in 1920), and was heavily involved in the Penoyre Red Cross Hospital in Brecon. Two of her three sons were killed in the war, one a 17-year-old midshipman.
Reference: WaW0228
Newspaper letter
Letter to ‘The Women of Breconshire’ published in the Brecon County Times 5th November 1914.
Newspaper letter
Letter ‘The Alien Enemy Danger’ published in the Brecon County Times 25th March 1915
Red Cross record card (reverse)
Red Cross record card detailing the service of Lady Glanusk (reverse)
London Gazette
Citation for award of CBE to Lady Glanusk, London Gazette (Supplement) 30th March 1920
Mabel Dearmer
Place of birth: Llanbleblig, 1872
Service: Volunteer, Red Cross/Y Groes Goch
Death: 1915-07-11, Serbia, Typhus/Pneumonia Teiffws/ Niwmonia
Notes: Mabel Dearmer, born 1872, was a successful writer, dramatist and illustrator of adult and children’s books. She and her husband the Rev Percy Dearmer were both pacifists and supporters of the Church League for Women’s Suffrage. When her husband accepted a post as chaplain to the British Red Cross in Serbia, she volunteered to go too, and died in July 1915. Her letters home were published posthumously as ‘Letters from a Field Hospital’.
Sources: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/2014/08/mabel-dearmer-in-serbia.html https://www.amazon.com/Letters-field-hospital-Mabel-Dearmer/dp/117677140X#reader_117677140X
Reference: WaW0092
Mabel Dearmer's grave, left.
Grave, on the left, of Mabel Dearmer, Kragujevac Central Cemetery, Serbia
Mabel Dearmer
Mabel’s photograph was collected by the Women’s Subcommittee of the Imperial War Museum as part of its collection of women who died during the War
Stobart Hospital Staff List
List of the staff of the Stobart Hospital, Kragujevac, Serbia. ‘Dearmer, Mrs Percy’ is listed under ‘Women Orderlies’ and her husband The Rev Dr P Dearmer is the Hon Chaplain. Emily Hill [qv] is listed under ‘Nursing Sisters.