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Auction: 22002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 252

The superb Balkan War and Great War 1914, Royal Red Cross group of seven miniature dress medals awarded to Sister M. D. Allen, Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve, late British Red Cross Society, 1st Belgian Unit, who served as a nurse during the Balkan War 1912-13 and later as part of the 1st Belgian Unit, making her one of the first nurses to enter the Great War

Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class, (A.R.R.C.), silver and enamel; 1914 Star, with clasp; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves; Defence Medal 1939-45; Montenegro, Kingdom, Medal for Zeal; Bulgaria, Kingdom, Commemorative Cross of Queen Elizabeth, mounted as worn, in H. T. Lamb & Co. fitted case, very fine (7)

A.R.R.C. London Gazette 3 June 1919

Mary Dorothy Allen was born at Middlesex, London in 1885, the daughter of Vernon and Charlotte Allen of 99 Belgrave Road, St. George's Square, Pimlico, London. Certified on 29 October 1911 she worked first as an Assistant Night Sister at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton. Later taking up the roll of a Staff Nurse in April 1912 and Sister at the East London Hospital, Shadwell in September 1912.

With the outbreak of the Balkan Wars Allen travelled out to take up a nursing role. She saw service in Sofia - hints of which can be seen in a letter written by a Bulgarian associate in December 1913 which states:

'After a few weeks without definite work, he was appointed to take charge of a hospital which was placed in the seminarium [sic]. (The priests college on the hill where some Russians worked when you were here) He got it clean with some trouble, and had a collection of the heaviest cases there; after a short time however he was told to move the whole establishment to the Military School, and he had the floor where Dr Denk used to be, beside the lower floor.'

The Military School in Sofia hosted a hospital during the Balkan Wars and the language used by the author suggests that Allen had worked there at the time. Accounts differ on the exact date but all suggest that she left the Balkans between April-May 1913, later taking up the role of a Sister aboard the Hospital Ship H.M.S. Dreadnought in January 1914. In August 1914 Allen was one of the nurses selected to join the British Red Cross Society's 1st Belgian Unit as a Nursing Sister, arriving in Belgium on 16 August 1914,.

Escaping the fall of Belgium on 25 October Allen returned to England before joining the Allied Forces Base Hospital, Jeanne d'Arc, Calais on 1 November 1915. Leaving the British Red Cross Society she joined Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Reserve on 8 April 1915 as a Sister. A Staff Nurse at No. 3 General Hospital on 1 April 1917 and No. 24 General Hospital on 16 August 1918. She was presented the A.R.R.C. by the King at Buckingham Palace while still serving, being demobilised from the Army of the Rhine on 18 July 1919.

Travelling to India she sought Private work here from November 1920-March 1922, likely as a guest of her brother Guy who was a member of the Indian Civil Service living in Bombay. After a stint in Canada, Allen began to work in Pre-Natal medicine starting with the Royal College of St. Katherine in April 1925 and going on to the Royal Hampstead Heath Babies Club. She emigrated to New York on 9 September 1959 and it is here that the record stops; sold together with copied research including M.I.C., V.A.D. record and census data as well as an extract from The British Journal of Nursing as well as handwritten notes and an archive of original documentation comprising:

i)
Two riband bars.

ii)
Two Red Cross armbands.

iii)
A Red Cross Identification card for the Place De Calais.

iv)
A notebook entitled 'Our First Trip Abroad'.

v)
An Application for Membership for The College of Nursing which details the recipient's career up to May 1931.

vi)
Handwritten notes of her career.

vii)
Slips of issue for the 1914 Star and British War Medal.

viii)
A note from the Joint War Committee confirming the recipient's role in Belgium prior to her deployment with British forces.

ix)
A congratulatory note from the Matron-in-Chief relating to the award of the R.R.C. with an addressed envelope.

x)
Routine Orders and other documentation relating to her role after with Q.A.M.I.N.S.R.

xi)
A silhouette of the recipient.

xii)
A letter from the Hospital ship H.M.S. Dreadnought to the recipient.

xiii)
References relating to the recipient's service.

xiv)
A certificate from the College of Nursing.

xv)
Letters relating to the recipient's post-war career.

xvi)
Four photographs.

xvii)
An autograph notebook.

xviii)
Letter relating to the recipients career including one from Sofia, Bulgaria relating to her Balkan Service.

xix)
A British Red Cross Society certificate recognising the recipient's war service.

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Sold for
£800

Starting price
£160