Women Commissioners gen. correspondence; reports. May - July
1917. Departure of women volunteers for war.
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Catalogue reference: NATS1/1307
The Crimean War (1854-1856) changed
the face of military nursing for men and especially women forever.
When Florence Nightingale
was appointed as “Superintendent
of the Female Nurses in the Hospitals in the East” nursing
was not thought of as a suitable profession for women.
Despite the success of Florence Nightingale's nursing
staff in the Crimea, there were mixed reactions to the continuing
employment
of women as military nurses. However, the draft Regulations
for Inspector General of Hospitals, 1857, contained a section
for
women nurses to be employed in General Hospitals.
It
took six years for the first woman to appear in the British
Army list,
when Jane Shaw Stewart was appointed Superintendent General
of Female Nurses at the General Hospital at the Army Training
School
for military nurses at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley in
1863. Stewart resigned in 1868 and was replaced by Mrs Deeble, who
along with six nurses from Netley was sent to South Africa during
the
Zulu War (1879-80). Female military nurses again saw action in
Egypt and Sudan between 1882 and 1885 when 35 women were sent
to the region.
 Women
Commissioners gen. correspondence; reports. May - July 1917.
Departure of women volunteers for war
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Catalogue reference: NATS1/1307
In 1883 the Army Services Committee recommended that every military
hospital with over 100 beds have a staff of female nurses. Several
proposals to form nursing corps were tabled (National Archives'
Catalogue reference: WO
33/53),
from both military and civilian organisations, but each with
a different
set of
criteria for qualifications and in 1896 the War Office decided
that an army
nursing reserve could not be the responsibility of a civilian
organisation. In March 1897 the Army Nursing Reserve was formed.
In the same year the War Office met for discussion with
voluntary medical organisations and agreed to establish a Central
British Red Cross Committee as the sole channel for offers
of
medical
help in wartime.
The experiences of high death rates due to poor standards of
care in the South African War (1899-1902), similar to those
in the Crimean
and Boer
Wars,
led to
more
reorganisation
of the Army Nursing Service. In March 1902 the Queen Alexandra’s
Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) was formed, replacing
the Army Nursing Service. The 1907 Territorial and Reserve Forces
Act led to the formation of the Territorial Force Nursing Service
in the following year.
Detail from Regulations for Admission To The Queen Alexandra's
Imperial Military Nursing Service. Imperial War Museum, Department
of Printed Books: Women's Work Collection - Ref: BRCS 25.1/3
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Following a report on the Japanese voluntary aid system the British
Red Cross was reorganised in 1905. The links formed in that reorganisation
led to the War Office developing a scheme of voluntary aid organisation
based on mixed Voluntary Aid detachments (VADs) organised for
their local Territorial Forces Associations by the Red Cross in 1909.
In 1907 the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) was formed and
throughout the First World War ran field hospitals, drove ambulances
and set up soup kitchens and canteens for troops. The organisation,
based in Westminster, is still in existence today.
After World War I there were further changes and valuable additions
were made to QAIMNS by adding the Military Families Nursing Service
and the Queen Alexandra’s
Military Nursing Service India.
Throughout World War II the Army Nurses served in every
campaign and in 1949 QAIMNS became Queen Alexandra’s Royal
Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) and was integrated into the British
Army. QARANC still forms part of the Army Medical Services to
this day.
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