French Red Cross Casualties

Thousands of women served with the French Red Cross during the Great War as doctors, nurses, orderlies, drivers, canteen workers, laundry maids and in many other roles.  Because their work didn't involve the care of British service personnel they rarely qualify for commemoration by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and curious to see if any of them were named on the CWGC database, I recently sent asked them for details of all members of the French Red Cross that they commemorate.  The list they sent contains just seven names and has only one woman included, but out of general interest I've included all the names here. There were, of course, many more who died during war service, and it seems sad that they may pass by unremembered by their families and unrecognised by the nation.

FRENCH RED CROSS SOCIETY CASUALTIES COMMEMORATED BY THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION

MAZARGUES WAR CEMETERY, MARSEILLES, Bouches-du-Rhone, France
DAVIS, Driver, MILDRED CONSTANCE. French Red Cross Society. Died from pneumonia, while working with the French Croix Rouge as Ambulance Driver, 8 October 1918. Age 25. Daughter of the Rev. Edward Smith, Rector of Hazelbury-Bryan, Sturminster Newton, Dorset; wife of the late Capt. R. N. Davis. Grave Reference: III. A. 58.

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LA CHEPPE (MONT-FRENET) FRENCH NATIONAL CEMETERY, Marne, France
GREEN, Driver, B V. No.20 Section Sanitaire Anglaise, French Red Cross Society. 6 March 1917. Grave Reference: 424.

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MARFAUX BRITISH CEMETERY, Marne, France
LEE, Commander, WILLIAM, 10349. French Red Cross Society, attd. British Committee. 29 May 1918. Age 31. Croix de Guerre with Palm (France). Son of William and Marion Lee, of Uddingston, Glasgow. Grave Reference: V. E. 9.

ROOPER, Conductor, RALPH BONFOY. French Red Cross Society, attd. British Committee. 29 May 1918. Age 23. Croix de Guerre with Palm (France). Son of Mr. P. L. and Mrs. A. N. Rooper, of Little Court, Speldhurst, Kent. Born at Chester. Grave Reference: VI. E. 6.

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NANCY SOUTHERN CEMETERY, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France
STUBLEY, Worker, JOHN REGINALD. Section Sanitaire Anglaise No. 1, French Red Cross Society. Died of pneumonia, 27 December 1915. Age 30. Son of John and Adeline Stubley, of Batley, Yorks. Grave Reference: J. 226.

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PERREUSE CHATEAU FRANCO BRITISH NATIONAL CEMETERY, Seine-et-Marne, France
MALCOLMSON, Driver, H F. Section Sanitaire, British Ambulance Committee., French Red Cross Society. 14 April 1918. Grave Reference: 1. C. 33.

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CARLISLE (DALSTON ROAD) CEMETERY, Cumberland, United Kingdom
BUCK, Conductor, GEORGE HERBERT. Section Sanitaire Anglais, 2nd British Amb. Convoy, French Red Cross Society. 25 February 1919. Age 44. Croix de Guerre with Star (France).  Son of Robert Robinson Buck and Mary Buck, of Carlisle; husband of Clara Buck, of 8, Melcombe Court, Dorset Square, London. Grave Reference: 11. O1. 59.

Star Struck

In an effort to make a list of women who served in some capacity during the Great War, but whose work might be unknown by later generations, I've been browsing through medal rolls for French Red Cross workers, and some of those who worked for a multitude of other miscellaneous medical and 'caring' units overseas. The majority, but not all, were women, and I feel sure that in most cases their descendants will be totally unaware that they crossed the Channel to 'do their bit.'  They ranged from Directors and Administrators of large units, to the most humble of drivers, orderlies, cooks and canteen assistants.  But what orderlies and canteen assistants! In places the lists read like Who's Who, and the members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry alone could have kept 'Country Life' in photos and copy for decades. Countesses, Duchesses, Honourables and Lady's; writers, actresses, poets and singers; politicians and businessmen - their names litter the lists.

Included among them, John Masefield and Laurence Binyon; Herbert J. Gladstone and his wife Dorothy (Paget); Lady Louise Mountbatten, Sir Herbert Grotrian, later MP for Hull East, and his brother Frederick. Also included, from vastly opposing spheres, Percy Dearmer, Decima Moore and Enid Bagnold, the latter dismissed from one job by the War Office only to find her way to France as a driver with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. Some of them only stayed a short time, and looking at how many returned after just a month or two I wonder if a few had only medals in mind when they volunteered.  Others stayed for years, working with true devotion in humble occupations. I've enjoyed my wander through the upper classes both at work and at war, and would suggest that if you come from a middle-class sort of background, check the medal index cards, held at The National Archives, just to see if your great-aunt or great-grandmother was there.