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Why Do QA Army Nurses Wear Grey Dresses and Berets QARANC UniformsAnswer to the question why do QA army nurses have a grey uniform and wear grey ward dresses and a grey beret as part of the QARANC Uniform: 
Members of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) wear grey as part of their uniform. Female non commissioned officers and junior ranks wear grey ward
dresses. Female Nursing Officers wear a grey ward dress with a scarlet cape and white starched veil with the QARANC insignia in red at the base. Male and female QA's wear a grey beret.
The grey ward dress with red cape for nursing officers was first introduced by the second civilian Superintendent of Female Nurses for the Royal Victoria Military Hospital Netley Jane Deeble in 1869. But why grey? We at Qaranc.co.uk are often asked this question and have a few working theories and are researching the origins of the grey colour for members of the QARANC. Can you help us? If you are able to answer this question and help other members of the QARANC with such answers then please Contact Us. We would also love an up to date photograph of a QA nurse in a grey beret and also a photo of a QARANC nurse in a ward dress. Officers of the QARANC wear scarlet and we will also research the history and origins of this. If you are able to help then please do Contact Us. It is possible to buy Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) uniforms, ward dresses, No. 2 dress and berets from online auction website Ebay where some private sellers and shops have many such QA items for sale. A QARANC wall plaque and shield is available to buy through Amazon. The QA shield is hand made and ready to hang on the wall. . Buy Now. 
Findextrawork 
Since leaving the QA's we have done an assortment of self employed work and jobs, some which only take an hour a week, others have been full time. We
have written about these at our other website Findextrawork at
www.findextrawork.co.uk
where we share the information for free to help others with information and resources about earning more money.
Visit Findextrawork for more information.
Army Nursing Service Uniform The Army Nursing Service uniform was introduced in 1888. The female only nurses wore a muslin cap, bonnet and veil. The nurses dress was a grey serge colour and had white linen cuffs and a white linen collar. Winter dresses were much heavier to give more warmth whilst the summer nursing dress was lighter so the members of the ANS could cope in the heat of countries like India. Princess Christian Army Nursing Reserve Sister Uniform By the time of the Boer War in 1899 to 1902 uniform had to change to adapt to extreme heat so that nurses to cope with tending to the wounded. For example the Princess Christian Army Nursing Reserve Sister uniform was a long white starched dress which reached down the nurses shoes. The dress had long sleeves with starched cuffs and a starched collar. The white dress soon got dirty with the blood of the wounded and the dust blown off the ground, but the skin of each nurse was protected by the sun and the white helped to reflect the heat. Rather than wearing traditional nurses hats or caps the nurses of the Boer war wore straw boater type hats. A nurse in a clean uniform and hat could be mistaken for a typical English lady on a day out at the river and must have bought added comfort and happy memories to the troops a long way from home Starched Aprons Lice had been rife in battlefields of the Boer War and World War One and nurses continued to wear starched aprons or pinafores because it was thought that the starch would stop the lice crawling from the patient to the nurse. QAIMNS Uniform The Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) ward dress uniform was much like that of modern day QARANC nursing sisters. They wore the long hat starched veil, the red cape with the QAIMNS cape badge on the right side with any ribbon awards on the left and a much longer grey dress with long sleeves. Scarlett cuffs with a white bottom were worn at the wrists. Scarlet Cape The short QA scarlet cape had an embroidered Alexandra rose on the back and this fell between the shoulder blades of the Sister. It was stiff to the touch and rumour had it that this was so that it would be uncomfortable should the Sister fall asleep whilst on night duty and the pink Alexandra rose would wake her up! cited in the book The Roses of No Man's Land  by Lyn MacDonald.
Second World War QA Vi Cox has another explanation for why she and fellow Nursing Sisters wore the short red cape with their ward dresses. It was thought that it would be less distracting for the soldiers and patients as their bosoms would then be covered up! QAIMNS Walking Out Uniform When off duty and out on social occasions members of the QAIMNS wore a beautiful walking out dress with tight scarlet collar. The QA cape medal was worn on the right side with ribbons on the left. The walking out uniform outfit was completed with a boater type scarlet hat with scarlet, grey and white ribbon tied neatly at the front in a bow. There is a photo of the QAIMNS walking out uniform in the book Sub Cruce Candida: A Celebration of One Hundred Years of Army Nursing  .
Original QAIMNS uniforms were supplied by Shoolbreds in Tottenham Court Road until they went into liquidation in 1931. Thereafter the QA officers purchased their uniforms from Harrods cited in the book Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (Famous Regts. S)  by Juliet Piggott.
The QA waking out uniform of scarlet and grey was in short supply by the end of 1942 because of clothes rationing in Britain. The Board of Trade recommended that Khaki uniform be worn by QAs to overcome rationing problems. Queen Mary and The Nursing Board disliked the idea though agreed because of the necessity for change. Scarlet and Grey Lanyard The introduction of khaki uniform saw the introduction of the scarlet and grey lanyard to help preserve the special identity of the QAs (cited in the book Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (Famous Regts. S) by Juliet Piggott).
The 50th anniversary ceremonial parade of the QAs saw the introduction of the QA grey uniform rather than the WRAC uniform with scarlet and grey lanyard (cited in the book Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (Famous Regts. S) by Juliet Piggott).
The Jubilee Souvenir Programme can be read on the QA Nurses Training Centre page. QARANC Lanyard The QARANC lanyard is made up of two cords, one of scarlet and one of grey. It is a mandatory item of dress. Junior ranks will have their QA lanyard supplied from the Quarter Master (QM) department. QA Officers are required to purchase the QARANC lanyard. It is also available from the AMS Museum. The QARANC lanyard is worn on the right shoulder, under the epaulette. The scarlet cord must be outermost, nearest to the arm with no loops hanging. Male members of the QARANC should fasten the loose end into the right breast pocket. The QARANC lanyard should be worn so that the upper end passes down through the lower loop. Female members of the QA's should wear a loop pattern lanyard around the right shoulder. This can then be modified under local arrangements. The QARANC lanyard should be worn with No 2, 4, 6 or 14 dress. When the QA lanyard is worn in shirt sleeve order with a shirt that has a breast pocket then male pattern standard is to be worn. More information can be found in the Dress Regulations. Grey Peaked Cap The introduction of the QA grey peaked cap in January 1943 replaced the brimmed hats (cited in the book Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (Famous Regts. S) by Juliet Piggott).
The makers of the Officers uniform hats, caps, the No. 1 dress hat and the service dress hat for the QARANC are Herbert Johnson whose website can be viewed at www.herbert-johnson.co.uk If you sell QARANC uniforms and berets and have a shop or online store and would like it listed here for free then please contact me with information, your website and a photo. Return To The QARANC Merchandise Index Page. The Real Tenko The latest book about British Army nurses and nursing describes a dark chapter in the history of the QAs. The Real Tenko: Extraordinary True Stories of Women Prisoners of the Japanese  by Mark Felton is an account of the fall of the Far East to Japan. It comprehensively covers war atrocities performed by the Japanese troops to women stationed in places such as Singapore and Hong Kong. This included Sisters of the QAs who were stationed in hospitals such as
BMH Bowen Road Hong Kong and
BMH Singapore. Read the Qaranc.co.uk review or
Buy Now
with free delivery available.
View more British Army Nursing Books - with free delivery available. 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. The photos and pictures on this page have been kindly sent to us for inclusion on this page. If you would like to contribute photographs then please contact us. For the official Army QARANC webpage please go to www.army.mod.uk/home.aspx For the QARANC Association website please go to www.army.mod.uk/army-medical-services/qaranc/9884.aspx *********************************************** Help Needed A reader of Qaranc.co.uk is researching the exhumation of Heinrich Himmler in Luneberg, Germany circa 1945-46. He thinks that two nurses from the QAIMNS attended the exhumation due to the poor state of health of Walter Schellenberg. He would like to learn if any of the nurses kept a diary of the events leading up to the exhumation or sent any personal letters home to friends or family that may have provided an insight into Walter Schellenberg and the exhumation. Please contact Qaranc.co.uk if you have any information. Qaranc.co.uk have recently learnt about two former Military Hospitals that we would like to write about. These are the British Military Hospital at Wuppertal in Germany and BMH Benghazi. If you know any information, would like to share your memories or have photographs that we can use on the site then please contact Qaranc.co.uk A reader is writing an article about the demise of the Military Hospital for the RAMC Magazine and seeks some help. There was, in Kuala Lumpur, a hospital called BMH Kinrara. He would like to know when it opened and closed, what happened to the buildings and the staff. He thinks that Kinrara closed as Terendak opened and that the staff were transferred across to 34 Company RAMC? He would also like any information about the Military Maternity Hospital, Penang. If you can help then please contact Qaranc.co.uk There is a lovely photo of three QA Midwives from the 1960s about half way down on the Royal Herbert Hospital page. If you can help with information about the Maternity Unit in Woolwich or identify the QA Officers then please contact Qaranc.co.uk The BMH Dhekelia has new photos which includes a stunning picture of the demolition of the original building and some staff photos. The contributor would like some help with the date it was demolished and would love to hear from anyone who worked with her relative. |
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