167: Dr Sybil Lonie Lewis (diaries)
Dr Sybil Lonie Lewis was an early female doctor who studied medicine in Edinburgh and Dublin, qualifying in 1905. She practised in Hull where she was a school medical officer. In the spring of 1915 Dr Lewis volunteered for work in Serbia and went out there in June under the Scottish Women's Hospitals. She was in Serbia when the country was overrun by the enemy and the hospital staffs taken prisoner later in 1915. Although a Red Cross party, they were detained in Hungary for four months under the roughest conditions. In February 1916 they were released and sent home.
Dr Lewis went out again in August 1916 and worked with the Serbian army and the civilian population in Macedonia until December 1917 when she returned home. She was in poor health and became ill in March 1918. Her illness lasted only three days and in the opinion of the doctor attending her death was directly attributable to conditions contracted during her service abroad. She received the Serbian decoration of the Order of St Sava in recognition of her devoted work among the Serbs. Her ashes are buried in Old St Paul's Episcopal Church in Central Edinburgh, marked by a brass plaque. Categorised as "war dead" hers is the only female name on the war memorial in Old St Paul's.
Dr Lewis kept a detailed diary during her time in the Balkans. Due to her early and sudden death the diaries were not published but are copied here along with related papers and medal photos. Dr Lewis was my great-aunt.
