The term QA’s is something we learned so much about during our first meeting of 2023.
The Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) became very active during the First World War. The origins of the Women’s Army Medical Corps was the work of Florence Nightingale, who was born in 1820. Florence became a manager and trainer during the Crimean War. She instituted the reorganisation of nurses and encouraged the employment of nurses for the British Army.
In 1902, QAIMNS was established by Royal Warrant under the control of Her Majesty Queen Alexandra who remained the President until her death in 1925. In 1914 the formation of the QAIMNS Reserve and Territorial Force Nursing Service became active. During the first week of the First World War these new nursing services were mobilised for duty, serving through the war years on every front and in every campaign.
Originally there was a strict criteria for joining the QAIMNS. Women of good social standing between 25-35 years of age. These women were born into the later years of the Victorian era and were gently brought up as Edwardian ladies. The initial training would have been somewhat easier being in large hospitals. When was broke out and mobilisation started, the excitement amongst the nurses must have been tangible. Thoughts of boarding hospital ships and seeing the world must have been almost overwhelming to many. This is reflected in diary entries, one or two of which we were privy to as Hannah read them to us. Their initial excitement soon turned to despair and sorrow as they carried out their nursing tasks on young men who were horribly injured. Over time this took its toll on the mental and physical state of many of the nurses, which was not always recognised by the authorities.
The ranks of nursing included sisters, equivalent to a Lieutenant through to a matron-in-chief equivalent to a Brigadier. A measure of tactful and careful nursing was essential for successful promotion. This was a new career for women, not as respectable as teaching, but opening up new horizons for women at this time.
Emma Pearson lived in Great Yarmouth. Emma was born in 1828 and was one of the first British women to serve as a nurse for the Red Cross. There were over 90,000 Red Cross volunteers during the First World War. They became known as VAD’s, Voluntary Aid Detachment, working alongside the QAIMNS. They were sent all over Europe during the war years.
It was a moving but also an uplifting evening – stories of heroines saving countless lives with scant regard to their own wellbeing. Thank you for nursing our boys at the front.