WW1 Pair to Staff Nurse Doyle QAIMR Served Hospital Ship Gallipoli
Mary E. Doyle from Dublin Ireland was a trained nurse working in the private sector when the war broke out, she joined the Queen Alexanders Imperial Nursing Service in January 1915 and was invalided out in January 1916, during that time she served on the hospital ship Letitia which was recorded as, 'serving with distinction in the Mediterranean and even coming under fire while evacuating wounded troops near the Dardanelles', the Gallipoli campaign ran from April 1915 to January 1916 so Mary would have been in the thick of the action.
To accompany her medals are a bundle of National Archives paperwork which helps to piece together a time line for Mary. She returned to Britain in January 1916 and went before a medical board, she was described as having 'valvular disease of the heart' and was awarded a silver war badge, almost immediately she was released from service and the paperwork covers a series of handwritten letters from Mary, the authorities and even the parish priest in Ireland trying to get her back into service, Mary herself declares she is fit for service but is turned down and recommended back to private nursing. The letter from the parish priest is addressed to the Lord lieutenant of Dublin castle appealing for help from the ladyship on Mary's behalf and even suggests that had Mary been an English nurse she would not have been treated so poorly.
I would love to know what happened to Mary, did she get back into nursing perhaps with the Red Cross or in a private capacity, she would have seen heavy action and in one of the papers is described as serving 'under fire'.
The medals come in good condition, there is a small edge knock on the BWM, complete with ribbons and have been worn with pride.
Code: 22075