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Matron At War


Review of the book Matron At War which tells the story of Sister Katy Beaufoy Second Boer War Nurse and QAIMNS WWI Sister and Matron lost at sea on HMHS Glenart Castle


Sister Katy Beaufoy has the distinction of serving in two wars and serving in the Princess Christian's Army Nursing Service and then the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve. She was one of six nurses to be sent to the Second Boer War along with Dame Maud McCarthy. Years later she then volunteered for the QAIMNS(R) and was a Nursing Sister and then Matron in His Majesty's Hospital Ships. Matron At War by Erica Nadin-Snelling tells her remarkable story through family and official records, letters home and her war diaries.

matron at war

Katy was trained for three years as a nurse at Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in 1893. After qualifying she quickly rose to the position of Sister in charge of the Operating Theatre in 1896 and soon attained the position of Matron to the 80 bed Exeter Fever Hospital in 1899.

She volunteered for the Second Boer War and a copy of her letters home from the 18 General Hospital, Charlestown, Natal are included in the book. When the Princess Christian's Army Nursing Service was formed into the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service in 1902 she applied to the Reserve several years later in 1908. In the meantime she had an active nursing career as theatre sister to a private surgeon then as a nurse tutor in Italy training local nurses.

On the 17 August 1914 she volunteered for war service and was sent to Devonport Military Hospital and then to No 15 General Hospital in the former Abbasieh School at Alexandria. She then nursed aboard the Hospital Ship Dover Castle as Sister and the 29th General Hospital in Malta before being promoted to Matron. Her diaries from this period are transcribed into the book, as is her time approaching her appointment as Matron to the Hospital Ship Glenart Castle.

During reading of her war diaries we learn snippets of valuable information, such as her salary being £75 per annum, though she queried this with the Matron In Chief as it should have been £85. This extract demonstrates the dangers they faced on a daily basis:

While an ambulance bringing the Sisters from the schools (attached to 19 G. Hosp) to lunch, it was dashed into by an express. One Sister (Griffiths, Res.) was killed, the driver and 2 Sisters unconscious, one of the latter, Cavanagh, having her arm broken and head cut, also eye injured, several were badly shaken. The one who was killed saw the express coming, jumped out, called to the others and helped them out, then ran round to help those on the front with the driver. They seem stupefied, however she got Hollows down and was pulling Cavanagh down when she met her death.

Readers also learn about the culture, customs and everyday living of the places she visited off and on duty. She and her colleagues certainly made the most of her career as the delightful photo of five QA Sisters mounted on camels and a donkey in front of the Sphinx in Egypt shows.

Other entries describe the patients and numbers taken aboard for transfer and the dangers of life at sea, giving a rare insight to this aspect of military nursing during the Great War.

Sadly Sister Beaufoy was lost at sea, believed drowned when HMHS Glenart Castle, despite showing the lit Red Crosses and painted white with green stripe on the sides, was torpedoed by German submarine UC56 on the 26 February 1918. She was making her way down the Bristol Channel on her way without passengers bound for France.

Matron At War has been compiled by cousins telling the story of their Great Aunt and is a moving tribute to her service life. They were instrumental in having a memorial erected at Hartland Point on the anniversary of the sinking in 2002. Photographs and details of the dedication are included along with first-hand accounts of survivors and witnesses given at the Admiralty Court of Inquiry held on 27 February 1918. The most poignant group of photos for me is her collection of medals, such as the South African War Medal and her Princess Christian's Army Nursing Service badge. Like Matron Beaufoy and her last days of her diary after a spell of home leave her QAIMNS(R) medal is missing, lost at sea.

This moving family book concludes with a trench report from family members of Katy making this of great interest to readers with an interest in frontline war as well as those who care for the injured and sick from immediate conflict. It is a must for anyone with an interest in military nursing and a rare and valuable insight of a Matron aboard a hospital ship.

Buy for £10; plus P&P from

Erica Beaufoy (Nadin-Snelling)
63 Hollyfield Rd
Sutton Coldfield
B75 7SE
0121 378 3452

d.sullivan@ucb.ac.uk

Or on ebay.

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PTSD assistance dog Lynne book


My PTSD assistance dog, Lynne, and I have written a book about how she helps me with my military Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, and depression. I talk about my time in the QAs and the coping strategies I now use to be in my best health.

Along the way, I have had help from various military charities, such as Help for Heroes and The Not Forgotten Association and royalties from this book will go to them and other charities like Bravehound, who paired me with my four-legged best friend.

I talk openly about the death of my son by suicide and the help I got from psychotherapy and counselling and grief charities like The Compassionate Friends.

The author, Damien Lewis, said of Lynne:

"A powerful account of what one dog means to one man on his road to recovery. Both heart-warming and life-affirming. Bravo Chris and Lynne. Bravo Bravehound."

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QARANC Poppy Pin Badge Royal British Legion RBL
This beautiful QARANC Poppy Pin Badge is available from the Royal British Legion Poppy Shop.




For those searching military records, for information on a former nurse of the QAIMNS, QARANC, Royal Red Cross, VAD and other nursing organisations or other military Corps and Regiments, please try Genes Reunited where you can search for ancestors from military records, census, birth, marriages and death certificates as well as over 673 million family trees. At GenesReunited it is free to build your family tree online and is one of the quickest and easiest ways to discover your family history and accessing army service records.

More Information.




Another genealogy website which gives you access to military records and allows you to build a family tree is Find My Past which has a free trial.






This Nursing Board Minutes (WO243/21) with their reasons for rejection was kindly sent by Sue Light of Scarlet Finders which shows that her April 1903 application to the regulars was rejected because “Social status not what is required”. However as the Great War progressed and there was a need for more military nurses she was accepted to the Reserves.

appointments rejection qaimns world war one




New post apocalyptic military survival thriller

Former Royal Air Force Regiment Gunner Jason Harper witnesses a foreign jet fly over his Aberdeenshire home. It is spilling a strange yellow smoke. Minutes later, his wife, Pippa, telephones him, shouting that she needs him. They then get cut off. He sets straight out, unprepared for the nightmare that unfolds during his journey. Everyone seems to want to kill him.

Along the way, he pairs up with fellow survivor Imogen. But she enjoys killing the living dead far too much. Will she kill Jason in her blood thirst? Or will she hinder his journey through this zombie filled dystopian landscape to find his pregnant wife?

The Fence is the first in this series of post-apocalyptic military survival thrillers from the torturous mind of former British army nurse, now horror and science fiction novel writer, C.G. Buswell.

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Buy the Paperback.


If you would like to contribute to this page, suggest changes or inclusions to this website or would like to send me a photograph then please e-mail me.








Free Book Operation wrath

Free Book.
The death of the Brotherhood will be avenged.
RAF gunner Jason Harper and a team of Special Air Service operators are enraged after the death of their brothers by a terrorist drone strike. They fly into south-eastern Yemen on a Black-op mission to gather intelligence and avenge the death of their comrades.
Can they infiltrate the Al-Queda insurgents' camp, stay undetected, and call down their own drone missile strike and get home safely?
Will they all survive to fight another day?
Operation Wrath is a free, fast-paced adventure prequel to the non-stop action The Fence series by military veteran author C.G. Buswell.
Download for free on any device and read today.





This website is not affiliated or endorsed by The Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) or the Ministry of Defence.


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