Priscilla Wardle
History
Priscilla Isabel ‘Pearl’ Wardle was born at Ballarat on 09 December 1884, the daughter of Henry Thomas ‘Harry’ Wardle, (1857-1927) Isabella ‘Belle’ Allan (1859-1916). Isabella was the youngest daughter of Robert Allan, Wheelwright and Janet Sim.[1]
Educated at Clarendon Presbyterian Ladies College Priscilla Wardle was President of the College Old Collegians Association in 1934 and 1935. In 1909 with close friends Edith “Poppy’ Popplewell RRC5, Lily ‘Mack’ McKenzie RRC and Florence ‘Toby’ Vines she qualified as a General Nurse and worked briefly at the Ballarat Hospital. Nursing positions were hard to find and together with Lily and her stepsister nurse Mary Young they were principals in the Mount Stuart Private Hospital in Daylesford.[2]
Priscilla Isabel Wardle was a member of the World War One Australian Army Nursing Service attached to the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Corp (QAIMNC),[3] a nursing branch of the British Army and part of the Army Medical Services.[4]In April 1915, at the request of the British Government, the military authorities called for applications from 30 nurses to serve with the QAIMNC. Priscilla Wardle was selected as one of the 30 nurses who were specially chosen and lent by the Australian Government under proper military authority to the Imperial Government.[5] She was trained in the United Kingdom during World War One to administer anaesthesia. She worked in terrible conditions in casualty clearing stations near Boulogne-sur-Mer.[6]
During four years of service Priscilla worked at 20 different hospitals and towns. She was promoted to acting Sister, qualified as a nurse anaesthetist and was awarded three medals for her service. During the evacuation of Amiens near Flixecourt she met her husband British Soldier Cyril Terence Charles Kirby.[7]
Priscilla Wardle embarked from Australia on 14 April 1915, and sailed for Melbourne, Australia on the H.T. Roda four years later embarking on 8 May 1919.[8]
Priscilla Wardle married Cyril Kirby in Ballarat in 1919. She died on 26 July 1967 at Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
Legacy
When Priscilla Wardle returned to Australia after the war Department of Veterans Affairs refused her a war pension. Her war diaries and medals are held by the State Libary of Victoria.[9]
See also
Notes
- Ballarat Nurse Returns
- After four years' military service in France, Sister Priscilla Wardle, of Ballarat, returned by the Roda last week. As theatre sister, Miss Wardle did three years' duty at casualty clearing stations and field hospitals in France. In February, 1918, she was at a clearing station hospital near Amiens, when the wounded had to be evacuated under heavy shell fire. Soon after this she was chosen by the British Medical Association in France to take a course in anaesthetics, with a view to relieving a medical officer for more important work. She acted in this capacity, for 12 months, and has the record of not having had a day off for illness. Sister Wardle was attached to the Queen Alexandra Nursing Reserve.[10]
- KIRBY (nee Priscilla Wardle).-'On the 2nd July,to Mr. and Mrs. T. C. Kirby, "Tara," Tyntynder West-a son (Terence Patrick).[11]
References
- ↑ Research by Bob Sleeman, accessed 01 June 2020.
- ↑ Research by Bob Sleeman, accessed 01 June 2020.
- ↑ Email from Wardle descendant Anthea Lowe to Clare Gervasoni, 12 February 2013.
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Alexandra's_Royal_Army_Nursing_Corps, accessed 11 August 2014.
- ↑ Request for advice on entitlements - Miss P. Wardle, 1919. National Archives of Australia: A248, 1919/7682)
- ↑ Jenny Ibrahim to Facebook page WW1 Australian and New Zealand Nurses, https://www.facebook.com/groups/231152183701926/?fref=nf, accessed 01/09/2014
- ↑ Research by Bob Sleeman, accessed 01 June 2020.
- ↑ National Archives of Australia: MT1487/1, Wardle PI.
- ↑ http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?vid=MAIN&docid=SLV_VOYAGER1637307&context=L&search_scope=Everything, accessed 15 December 2020.
- ↑ Weekly Times, 19 July 1919.
- ↑ The Argus, 15 August 1921.
Further Reading
External links
Mount Stuart, Camp Street, Daylesford - https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/59a9535521ea680c20397c93
--C.K.Gervasoni 13:49, 13 February 2013 (EST); --C.K.Gervasoni 17:42, 1 September 2014 (EST)