Hi all,

I am trying to find more information and if possible a photograph of Nurse Gertrude Lucinda Roskell,VAD, who died on the 31/10/15 att'd 17th General Hospital and is buried in Chatby Military Cemetery, Egypt.

Would she have served in Gallipoli to obtain a 1914/15 star trio or would service in Egypt have been sufficient? Are service papers available for VAD nurses? I assume that she died of disease or some natural cause, rather than as a result of enemy action?

Any help that anyone can give would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Robert

I have a photograph of her and her grave. Her Medal Information Card will show which theatre of war she first entered to receive the 1914/5 star. She died of appendicitis.

According to the Register, her theatre was Egypt. The British Red Cross should have some record of her. You can the archives address on google.

NGG

Hi Jim,

Thank you very much indeed for your reply to my enquiry re Gertrude Roskell, and you also have a photo of her!! fantastic!! I have been looking for one for quite some time without success, infact I have been unable to find out much at all, apart from the CWGC and various census entries.

Would there be any chance of obtaining a copy of the photo? or can you give me the source so that I can pursue it myself?
A copy of the picture of her grave would be good also. Please let me have your thoughts.

Many thanks once again, what a wonderful tool this forum is!!

Regards,

Robert

Hi RRC,

Many thanks for the pointer, I'll give it a go later.

Cheers,

Robert

Totally unrelated but here is an entry to some ex-VAD men found in my local Newspaper

Hi Wulsten,

Thanks for the input.

Robert

Robert, the photograph came from the the Imperial War Museum exhibition of Women at War a couple of years back. In collaboration with Thomson Gale the images of many WW1 female casualties were available to view on the web free of charge for the period of the exhibition. The IWM website now suggests that the images can still be viewed either commercially through Thomson Gale for a fee or at the IWM reading room free of charge. Information is on Imperial War Museum Information Sheet No. 40. Jim

Hi Jim,

Thanks very much for the information, I'll follow this up straight away.

Many thanks,

Robert

PS I have just checked and I shall contact the IWM to see if it is possible to obtain a copy without visiting. Can I ask, is the image a portrait or from a group and secondly is it a good image? Many thanks, Robert.

The photograph is of reasonable quality but not pleasing to see. The lady is stern faced in a tall wide-brimmed hat.

Thanks Jim for your description of the photo, sounds quite scary, rather like a witch!! However, I think that there may be a simple explanation for the headgear, as Gertrude Roskell was born at Penarth near Cardiff and her mother was also born in Cardiff, although of English stock, it would seem to most likely be part of the Welsh national dress? Her mother was also a Professor of Music, so the family may have been involved in an Eisteddfod or two, who knows? I suppose these involved the wearing of national dress?

Anyhow thanks for your input, very useful, Robert

A very good-looking woman to me - strong and determined. Are women supposed to meet different standards to men when being photographed?

Sue

Sue, I am disappointed that you should want to make some sort of sexist point. I wasn't. To me she is stern faced. If it was a male photograph I would have used the same description. I do not intend continuing a slanging match on the subject -just stress my disappointment. Incidently I didn't post the photograph as I was concerned about copyright rules. If Gales are charging for access to their digital site I don't think that they would be too keen on seeing their photographs posted on here for free. Jim

I wasn't making a sexist point, but I did feel I was responding to one. This is a woman in 'uniform', and I found it hard to accept your description of 'not pleasing to see.' And I really don't understand that you can describe the making of one single point as a 'slanging match'. I don't do slanging matches.

With reference to the last point, these photos, from the same source, have been posted constantly on the forum for a number of years by several contributors, and I have never known you comment on this before. Because of your unwillingness to post the photo for reasons which I accepted, I contacted Robert by PM yesterday to offer the image off-list assuming you had not already done so, but had no reply, and his continuance of the thread indicated that he was not receiving my messages, hence my eventual posting of the image. I don't see any reason why he should be denied the opportunity of seeing an image where so many people have benefited before. If he contacts me I will send another copy off-list and remove this one.

Sue

Hi Sue,
Thank you very much indeed for the photo of Gertrude Roskell. Yes, you're correct she is good looking and I think I would feel quite confident in her ability as a nurse if she were treating me.
I assume that her hat is associated with nursing? or is it just a standard off the peg hat of the period? Sorry, I am not well informed in these matters. It's certainly not Welsh national dress and not half as scary as I imagined.
Our email is: jenowlcotes@hotmail.com
Many thanks, Robert
P.S. I have just now belatedly read your short 'duel' with Jim and am sorry if I have caused, inadvertently, any conflict of interest/opinion
between you. As far as copyright is concerned, and without taking sides, I do feel that this must have flown the nest once the pictures were posted on the IWM site for all to see, copy etc.
I have now rightly or wrongly copied the picture and am very grateful for your input. Regards, Robert