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52386: Nurse's autograph book

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posted on 2024-02-23, 10:27 authored by Great War Archive Project Team

My Great Aunt, Hannah Allan (known as Nan) was born in 1886 and died in 1974. She never married and was a nurse for much of her life - I believe she was a Queen Alexandra nurse for at least part of her career. During the First World War, she was a nurse at the Military Hosptital in Leaf Square, Pendleton, Manchester. I believe this was located in a building taken over temporarily from the Salford Grammar School. In common with many other nurses, she collected material from her patients, which they wrote in an album in the ward. This included poems, tributes to the nurses, drawings and many accounts - some of them quite chilling - of the battles the soldiers had fought in. The entire contents of this album, which has remained in my family since the Great War, are included in the attachment. (Please ignore blank pages). Unfortunately, some of the contributions, especially those written in pencil, are somewhat faint but others are very clear. My Great Aunt occasionally used to talk about her experiences in the Military Hospital but, like many a Great Nephew, I didn't pay sufficient attention. However, I do recall her saying that, on one occasion, the medical staff had to evacuate the building during a German Zeppelin raid in the area. I also remember her saying, with some emphasis that the soldiers 'did swear' and this must have made a deep impression on a young, single woman in the early years of the last century. Great Aunt Nan was a character who had the knack of arousing much amusement, often unintentionally!

History

Identifier

2230.doc| GWA_0156_WW1_album.doc|

Creator

Allan, Hannah

Date

1917

Date Created

01/01/1917

Temporal Coverage

31/12/1917

Source

Notebook

Medium

Paper

Type

Autograph book

Contributor

Kate Lindsay | Paul Allan

Rights

The Great War Archive, University of Oxford / Primary Contributor

Publisher

The Great War Archive, University of Oxford

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