How Angel of Mercy Combines Fact and Fiction
Nursing During WW1
I took some artistic license when writing Angel of Mercy? Why? It was necessary to tell the story I wanted to tell. From the home front to the front lines, Angel of Mercy paints an unforgettable portrait of love tested by distance, war and duty. Torn between her devotion to her husband and her desire to serve, Hettie’s journey reveals the untold courage of the women who risked everything to bring compassion to a world consumed by destruction.
The Canadian Army Nursing Corps and the Canadian Army Medical Corps were real, but I made three changes to help the plot along:
Hettie and Charlotte would not have qualified for service. Hettie because she was married and Charlotte because she was trained by a doctor and did not attend a nursing college.
Hettie, Bessie, Charlotte and Olive stay together for the entire duration of the war, and Hettie and Freddie also are stationed near one another for the duration. In reality, medical personnel were moved from post to post, serving in casualty clearing stations and stationary hospitals in various locations throughout the Western Front and the Mediterranean.
The nurses would have been assigned to a permanent hospital during the first years of the war. Casualty clearing stations became common place later.
Nursing School in the 1910s
Hettie is a 1912 graduate of the School of Nursing Toronto General Hospital. By the time of her graduation, it was the largest, and among the most prestigious, nursing schools in Canada. Competition to be accepted into the program was stiff and had been since 1894.
In the 19th century, hospitals were considered the place where the poor went to die. Prior to modern sterilization methods, death rates were considerably higher for those nursed in hospitals as opposed to at home. By 1900, public hospitals were becoming more common and began to serve the middle class. There were multiple beds per ward, although a patient could pay for a semi-private or single room. There also were separate wards for the insane and those with contagious diseases. The Graduate Nurses Association of Ontario was founded in 1904 and both the Canada National Association of Trained Nurses and the International Council of Nurses formed in 1908.
The Alumnae Association of the Toronto General Hospital Training School of Nurses formed in 1901. At the time, the school had 347 graduates. Alumnae were given a pin with the image of a pomegranate plant that bore the words UT Prosem, Latin for “that I may be of service.” During World War One, 180 alumnae served in the war. They trained in Niagara-on-the-Lake and nicknamed their hospital Niagara-on-the-Lake General Hospital.
Prior to 1913, Toronto General Hospital was located at the corner of Gerrard Street and Sumach Street.. The nursing school’s year ran from October to July when graduation was held. Students received diplomas. The average class size was 56, and photos of the graduates were taken.
The school was run by a superintendent, and medical staff taught by the students. The best known superintendent is Mary Agnes Snively who was replaced by Robina Stewart in 1910.
Students lived in residences with bedrooms, a dining room and a sitting room. They had strict rules and there were mandatory morning prayers.
In 1881, the nursing program was a two-year course, expanding to three years in 1896. During the third year, students worked in the hospital.
Students studied:
Practical nursing
Anatomy
Physiology
Surgery and obstetrical nursing
Communicable diseases
Eye, ear, throat
Dietetics
The Canadian Army Nursing Service
The Canadian Army Nursing Service (CANS) was founded in 1901. The first women enrolled in the service served in the South African (Boer) War. Three years later, the CANS consisted of 25 women.
In 1904, CANS was renamed the Canadian Army Nursing Corps (CANC). Georgina Fane Pope served as its first matron. She was responsible for establishing the corps’ uniform, rules and regulations, and recruitment techniques. When WW1 broke out, there were only five permanent members and 30 reservists. The corps launched a recruitment campaign and when the first contingent of Canadian soldiers sailed for Europe in autumn 1914, 105 nurses left with them.
In order to qualify for membership in the CANC, nurses had to complete a training course and take a written exam. This requirement was later waived.
Members of the medical corps were noncombatants but that didn’t mean they were not in danger. A German submarine torpedoed and sank the hospital ship HMHS Llandovery Castle in June 1917, killing all 14 nurses onboard. In May 1918, No. 1 Canadian General Hospital was bombed and five nurses were killed.
Facts about the service:
During the war, CANC became part of the Canadian Army Medical Corps.
Of the 3,141 who served, 2,504 did so overseas.
There were more volunteers than there were openings.
Requirements for acceptance were graduation from a recognized nursing college, single, good health, and between the ages of 21 and 38.
Women joined out a sense of duty, to expand their job skills, to seek adventure or to escape unemployment.
The average age of a nurse was 24.
Most were born in Canada or Britain.
he nurses were high school graduates as well as graduates of hospital nursing programs, making them highly educated compared to most women at the time.
Nurses were mostly from urban areas, middle class and had fathers who were professionals.
Nurses’ proper title was “nursing sister.” This is because traditionally nursing had been carried out by those in religious orders. None of the WW1 nursing sisters, however, were nuns.
Nurses were paid $2 daily, a good wage for a woman in the 1910s.
Nurses had the rank of lieutenant, although they had no power to issue orders outside of the medical corps.
Nurses’ uniforms were blue with white veils and aprons. This earned them the nickname “bluebirds.”
Army nurses also were nicknamed “angels of mercy.”
The first medical units were permanent hospitals. Later, casualty clearing stations were introduced closer to the front line to allow for triage.
Nurses served overseas in Belgium, France, Great Britain, Russia, and around the Mediterranean in 30 hospitals and clearing stations. They also served on hospital ships.
The medical staff at clearing stations had to contend with not just the enemy. They also had to work in primitive conditions, fight their own exhaustion and deal with insects, especially fleas, and rats.
Hospitals in the field were equipped to handle 250 patients and were staffed with 16 nurses. Hospitals in England handled 500 patients with a nursing staff of 72.
It was very common for staff to be moved from one post to another throughout the course of the war.
Duties included changing bandages, disinfecting wounds, serving patients food, disinfecting instruments, changing bedding, emptying bedpans, bathing patients and triage.
Nurses usually lived in tents or wood huts.
Nurses often left the service because of mental exhaustion.
Nurses occupied themselves during their free time by playing sports, dancing, enjoying afternoon tea and traveling while on leave.
Nurses were given the right to vote with the passage of the Military Voters Act in 1917. Because overseas military personnel voted earlier than the populous back home, nurses were the first Canadian women ever to a cast a vote in a federal election.
The official death toll for nurses was 47. However, some historians believe the real number was 76.
Nine nurses received medals for gallantry under fire.
Most returned home and eventually married, but some remained in the service.
***The information regarding Hettie’s school comes from research I conducted nearly a decade ago when I began developing Angel of Mercy. The information came from the Alumnae Association School of Nursing Toronto General Hospital’s website. The website contained helpful information as well as photographs. However, I can no longer find it. If you have the link, I would appreciate it if you would leave it in the comment section. Thank you.