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Auction: 20001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - conducted behind closed doors
Lot: 699

A Great War A.R.R.C. group of four awarded to Sister A. H. Moore, Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (Reserve)

Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (Sister A. H. Moore. Q.A.I.M.N.S.R.); British War and Victory Medals (Sister A. H. Moore.), mounted as worn, light contact marks and polishing, nearly very fine (4)

A.R.R.C. 2nd Class London Gazette 6 June 1916.

Aileen Henrietta Moore was born on 23 March 1875 at Tully (An Tulaigh), Co. Longford, Ireland, the daughter of clergyman William Moore and Elizabeth Blanche Wale. Educated at Victoria College, Belfast, she trained as a nurse at the Northern Hospital for Women and Children, Manchester, followed by the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital from 1901-1905. At the latter she served as Staff Nurse in her third year and on the private nursing staff in her fourth year, before taking a post at the North West London Hospital in 1905 and passing a course in massage 'with distinction'. She also gained experience of typhus and opthalmics before taking employment to an individual in Barcelona from 1907-09, returning shortly thereafter to take appointment as Matron at Ottery St Mary Cottage Hospital.

Following the outbreak of the Great War, Moore served as a Sister with the South African Defence Force in German West Africa. A reservist with the Q.A.I.M.N.S., she was recalled home from Wynberg to London in August 1915 and was sent to the King George Hospital, Stamford Street, London. Transferred to Salonika from 22 May 1917, Moore served at the 49th General Hospital at Hortiach and was likely heavily engaged in nursing some 600,000 French, British and Serbian troops who were fighting in areas infested with mosquitoes:

'They [the nursing staff] lived in small tents, water was in short supply, and the winters were harsh and very cold, often with fierce winds blowing across the vast empty plains. In the summer, the horrors and discomforts were much worse. At night all sorts of unwelcome visitors would get into the tents - mice, lizards, scorpions, the occasional snake - whilst the sweltering heat would make life very uncomfortable. But the most dangerous enemy was the dreaded female Anopheles mosquitos. Once infected, the familiar symptoms of malaria gradually took hold - weakness, fever, vomiting, headache, diarrhoea, aching limbs and trembling - and even death in some cases. What is worse, it would re-occur.' (Away from the Western Front, refers)

Everyone was encouraged to use netting at night and take quinine, but the effects on manpower were devastating. In total the British suffered 162,517 cases of malarial disease and 505,024 non-battle casualties; to put this into perspective, non-battle casualties were up to twenty times the level of battle casualties, hence the work conducted by nursing staff such as Sister Moore was crucial.

In April 1919 Moore was transferred to No. 82 General Hospital, Constantinople, before being demobilised and returning home to England via Folkestone. Sent to Birmingham Orthopaedic Hospital on 30 May 1919, she later took employment as an X-Ray Sister at University College Hospital in 1926, followed by a series of similar postings in and around London. A Lady Superintendent of Nurses and anti-gas officer in 1938, Moore earned an income by giving lectures on health and running a house letting out rooms. She spent her final years living at 24 Draycott Place, Chelsea, and died at the University College Hospital, London, on 5 April 1955; sold with her Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve Cape Badge, 22mm, silver, unnamed as issued, together with copied service record, MIC and research.

For further details of the hardships faced by the nursing staff in Salonika, please see:

https://awayfromthewesternfront.org/research/women-away-western-front/battling-disease-in-salonika/


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Sold for
£650

Starting price
£280