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Queenie Parry
Place of birth: Ebbw Vale ?
Service: Nurse, Munitions worker, VAD, March 1915 – May 1918 Mawrth
Notes: Queenie was originally a member of Ebbw Vale VAD, but transferred to Maindiff Court Hospital Abergavenny. She worked there as a night nurse on £20 p.a. She then moved to work in munitions at Rotherwas, Hereford. She offered to come back to Maindiff Court if needed.rn
Reference: WaW0424
Red Cross record card [reverse]
Reverse of Queenie Parry’s card with details of her move to munitions.
R Ellis
Place of birth: Aberystwyth ?
Service: Masseuse, VAD, 1919 -
Notes: Miss R Ellis was working as a masseuse at Red Cross Hospital Aberystwyth, which was closed down in 1919. Temporary arrangements were made to enable her to continue working with disabled ex-servicemen in the Infirmary.
Reference: WaW0420
Newspaper report
Report of the working arrangements made for Miss Ellis. Cambrian News 25 April 1919.
Elizabeth Phillips Hughes
Place of birth: Carmarthen
Service: Educationalist, traveller, commandant, VAD, 1814 - 1919
Death: 1925/12/19, Barry, Cause not known
Notes: Elizabeth Phillips Hughes was 63 when WWI broke out. She had a distinguished record of work. An early student at Newnham College Cambridge, she set up the first teacher training college in Cambridge in1885. In later years. She travelled across the US to study prison reform, and then to Japan as a visiting lecturer in English at the University of Tokyo (1901 -02). She was a keen mountaineer, climbing the Matterhorn at the age of 48. On her return to Wales, she was the only women on the committee drafting the university of Wales’s first charter. She was a member and organiser of the British Red Cross before the War, and became Commandant of the Dock View Red Cross Hospital in Barry. In 1917 Elizabeth Hughes was the first ‘lady recipient’ of the new MBE in Wales. Hughes Hall Cambridge is named after her.
Reference: WaW0439
Red Cross record card [reverse]
Red Cross record for Elizabeth Hughes Phillips, with typed details of her Red Cross service.
Newspaper report
First part of a long report recording Elizabeth Phillips Hughes’s award of the MBE, with a long account of her achievements. Barry Dock News 31st August 1917 [1]
Newspaper report
Part of a long report recording Elizabeth Phillips Hughes’s award of the MBE, with a long account of her achievements. Barry Dock News 31st August 1917 [2]
Newspaper report
Part of a long report recording Elizabeth Phillips Hughes’s award of the MBE, with a long account of her achievements. Barry Dock News 31st August 1917 [3]
Newspaper report
Part of a long report recording Elizabeth Phillips Hughes’s award of the MBE, with a long account of her achievements. Barry Dock News 31st August 1917 [4]
Newspaper report
Final part of a long report recording Elizabeth Phillips Hughes’s award of the MBE, with a long account of her achievements. Barry Dock News 31st August 1917 [5]
Hilda Morgan
Place of birth: Newport
Service: Nurse, VAD
Notes: A trained nurse, Hilda served at Baldwin’s Auxiliary Hospital, Griffithstown . Her name appears on the Roll of Honour of Griffithstown Ebenezer Baptist Church.rn
Reference: WaW0428
Roll of Honour
Name of Hilda Morgan on Roll of Honour, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Griffisthtown. Thanks to Gethin Matthews.
Alice A White
Place of birth: Pontardulais
Service: Teacher, Commandant, VAD, 1916/09/01 – 1919/05/10
Notes: Alice White was the head teacher of Wood Green Infants School Cardiff. She was also the Commandant of Samuel House Auxiliary Hospital in Cardiff, and received the Royal Red Cross for her service in April 1919.rnRoedd Alice White yn brifathrawes Ysgol y Babanod Wood Green, Caerdydd. Roedd hi’n Benswyddog Ysbyty Atodol Samuel House Caerdydd hefyd a derbyniodd y Groes Goch Frenhinol am ei gwasanaeth ym mis Awst 1919. rn
Reference: WaW0469
Newspaper report
Report of Alice White’s award of the Royal Red Cross. Cambria Daily Leader 7th April 1919.
Wood Street Infants
Photograph of children at Wood Street Infants School, 1925. Wood Street, also known as Temperance Town, was a densely packed area adjacent to Cardiff Station.
Caroline Emily Booker (née Lindsay)
Place of birth: Glanafon, Glamorgan
Service: Vice president, VAD, 1909-1919
Notes: Mrs Booker was widowed in 1887. She became the founder of the local Glamorgan detachment of the VAD (22) in 1909. She seems to have instigated the use of Tuscar House, Southerndown, as a Red Cross Hospital in May 1915, and most of her 7 daughters played a greater or lesser role in the running of the hospital. [qv Etta,Ellen, Mabel, Ethel and Dulcie Booker]. Mrs Booker provided a car and the petrol to ferry patients to and from the station in Bridgend 5 miles away.
Reference: WaW0470
Record of Caroline Booker
Mrs Booker’s entry in The County Families of the United Kingdom, Edward Walford (this edition c 1920)
Tuscar House
Tuscar House Red Cross Hospital, Southerndown. The house was used as a hospital in WW2 as well.
Dulcie Booker
Place of birth: Southerndown ?
Service: Nurse, Sister-in-charge, Treasurer, Financial Secretary, VAD, 1914/10/01 – 1919/04/30
Notes: Dulcie Booker managed the finances involved in setting up Tuscar House Hospital as well as its day-to-day running costs. From 1917 she also acted as Sister in Charge of the hospital. She took a main part, together with her sister Mabel [qv] in arranging entertainments for the patients, including leading the Tuscar Red Cross Hospital Band. She was a sought-after local accompanist.
Reference: WaW0475
Red Cross record card (reverse)
Reverse of Red Cross record for Dulcie Booker, showing her service at Tuscar Hospital.
Newspaper report
Report of a ‘welcome home’ reception which included a performance by the Tuscar Hospital Band. Glamorgan Gazette 19th July 1918
Newspaper report
Report of a Grand Matinée given at Bridgend Cinema by the soldiers of Tuscar House (and others). Glamorgan Gazette 29th November 1918
Newspaper report
Report of a presentation to Dulcie and Ethel Booker when Tuscar House hospital closed in April 1919. Glamorgan Gazette 4th April 1919
Ethel Anna Booker
Place of birth: Southerndown ?
Service: Nurse, Quartermaster, Commandant, VAD, 1915/04/01 – 1919/04/30
Notes: Ethel Booker began her service at Tuscar House as a voluntary kitchen-maid, but became an efficient quartermaster in August 1915. She became Commandant of the hospital following the death of her sister Nellie [qv] in 1917. Her record of service (filled out by her mother Caroline [qv]) says she lived at the hospital and took no leave for the last 18 months of her time there. Ethel and her sister Dulcie [qv] were the prime organisers of events both for fundraising and for amusing the patients at the hospital.rn
Reference: WaW0474
Red Cross record card (reverse)
Reverse of Ethel Booker’s Card, detailing her service, and written by her mother. Caroline Booker.
Tuscar House
Tuscar House Red Cross Hospital, Southerndown. The house was used as a hospital in WW2 as well.
Newspaper report
Report of a Grand Matinée given at Bridgend Cinema by the soldiers of Tuscar House (and others). Glamorgan Gazette 29th November 1918
Newspaper report
Report of a presentation to Ethel and Dulcie Booker when Tuscar House hospital closed in April 1919. Glamorgan Gazette 4th April 1919
Mabel Booker
Place of birth: Southerndown ?
Service: VAD, VAD, May 1915 – May 1917
Notes: Mabel Booker was not so involved with Tuscar House Hospital as her sisters [Etta, Nellie, Ethel and Dulcie qv], though she was ‘ready to help when required’, and clocked up 500 hours service.
Reference: WaW0473
Ellen ‘Nellie’ Mariana Booker
Place of birth: Southerndown ?
Service: Secretary then Commandant, VAD, 1909 - 1917
Death: February/Chwefror 19, Southerndown, Not known / anhuybys
Notes: Nellie Booker was the sixth daughter of Caroline Booker [qv]. With her mother and sister Etta [qv] she established the Southerndown branch of the Red Cross Society. At the outbreak of war she was the Secretary of the Tuscar House Hospital, and later became its Commandant. Unusually she was given a military funeral: ‘a unique honour for a lady’ (Glamorgan Gazette). Her Red Cross record card does not survive.
Reference: WaW0472
Newspaper report
Report of the opening of Tuscar House Red Cross hospital. Glamorgan Gazette 28th May 1915
Newspaper report
Part of the report of Nellie Booker’s military funeral. Glamorgan Gazette 2nd March 1917