Agnes Warner and the Nursing Sisters of the Great War Read Online Free PDF Page B

enjoying the country they had come so far to see. Sister Clare Gass from Nova Scotia and her Miramichi friend Ruth Loggie purchased bicycles and raced around exploring the countryside of Boulogne and Étaples and seabathing on the French coast. To the vexation of British nursing authorities, Canadian nurses were even permitted to dance, provided it was with fellow officers at military events. With such a variety of edifying entertainments available to them, it was hoped Canadian nurses would not be tempted to break the rules and seek less legitimate forms of amusement, such as fraternization or intemperance, that might defame their service.
    On the home front, family and citizens gobbled up nurses’ letters and stories and tracked the comings and goings of local nurses. Saint John residents followed with special interest the vicissitudes of No. 1 Canadian General Hospital at Étaples, which was under the charge of Lieutenant-Colonel (Dr.) Murray MacLaren, who hailed from Saint John as did several of the nursing team. No. 2 Stationary Hospital at Le Touquet delighted newspaper readers in Canada by naming its wards after the provinces that had sponsored them.
    The continued smooth operation of these hospitals was due at least in part to unflagging moral and material support from home. Women oversaw much of the fundraising through their local and provincial branches of the Red Cross, which organized the collection and sending not only of money, but also of supplies such as bandages, pillow slips, comfort bags (containing pencils, soap, candy, tobacco, and other useful items for soldiers), and bales of socks. Indeed, the emphasis on socks was quite remarkable, with periodic “sock drives” or “sock appeals” spurring knitters to new heights of production. Other philanthropic organizations participated, too, among them the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (I.O.D.E.), which collected socks as admission to its social events. Evidently, the sock drives succeeded, because thousands of warm pairs reached soldiers in time for winter, many with equally warm notes from New Brunswick ladies tucked into the toes. (Woe to the man who failed to remove the note before wearing!)
    The Red Cross’s policy was to supply the war zones as equitably as possible, rather than to deliver specific packages to particular hospitals on demand. Other philanthropic organizations, however, were free to post supply boxes directly to nurses who requested them, particularly those who worked for more loosely supported organizations such as the F.F.N.C. Individual chapters of the I.O.D.E., for instance, took charge of furnishing hospital supplies for individual nurses, as the De Monts chapter of the Saint John I.O.D.E. did for Sister Agnes Warner.

    Surgical team, including a nurse, perform surgery within an hour of the patient’s being wounded. CWM 19920085-102

    No. 7 Canadian General Hospital. Queen’s University Picture Collection V28 Mil-Hosp-10

    Unloading a stretcher carrying a wounded soldier from a truck to a reception tent at a Canadian casualty clearing station. CWM 19920044-811

    Canada Food Board poster targeting housewives. McGill University WP1.F12.F2

    C.A.M.C. nurse’s dress uniform. CWM 19590034-002

    C.A.M.C. nurse’s working uniform. LAC 1970-163

    British recruitment poster for V.A.D.s. CWM 19920143-009

    Convalescent ward at the New Brunswick Military Hospital in Fredericton. NBM 1990.11.4

    Nursing sisters from the McGill Unit on leave overseas. NBM NANB-Military-7

    Red Cross poster appealing for financial support. CWM 19900076-809

Chapter Three

    Nursing Sister Agnes Warner
    To say that Agnes Louise Warner was a New Brunswicker is only part of the truth. Born in 1872 to American parents living in Saint John, she maintained US citizenship and for several years trained and worked in New York City. But Saint John residents claimed the accomplishments of “the distinguished Saint John