Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Poem ~ Nurse Dies On Duty - Thursday, 25 February 1915


Elizabeth Ellen Daly coming from
Farebrother Street, Grimsby.
Already an experienced nurse,
She had first worked as a maid -
At the Grimsby and District
Hospital  - when in July 1913,
She travelled to Southend, Essex
As probation lead nurse until
1915 Aged 26 to be Nurse Daly.

In Southend Sanatorium
Nurse, Elizabeth Daly,
Had undertaken Night Duty
On the Scarlet Fever Ward.
As was her habit she took
Food with her to eat
At the end of the shift.

After the usual long night
Shift Nurse Daly went
To the kitchen - to prepare
Her breakfast of scrambled
Eggs - during this she slipped
Next to the fireside - when
Her clothing caught alight

Rushing into a bathroom,
She jumped into the bath -
Where with taps turned full on,
She rolled herself over until
The flames had gone out.

With a Nurse's sense of duty,
Led her to simply change
Her clothing and return
To finish the shifts final four
Hours - it was not until around
8 a.m. when she informed
The day nurse of her accident.

It was after this that shock
Caught her and Nurse Daly
Collapsed and suddenly died.
An Inquest recognised
The nurse’s sense of duty
And her courage - but raised
The question, that another
Nurse could have been
On that shift, to have relieved
Elizabeth Daly, allowing
Her to make a recovery.

Possibly the family had
Little or no money,
To mark her grave - to lay
At Grimsby cemetery
Where a patch of grass
Marks her small place.
A hundred years on
Was raised a local call
To give a fitting memorial
For an unsung heroine.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Nurse's Tragic Death. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 25 Feb. P.6. Col.5. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11432613/Daily-Telegraph-February-25-1915.html [Accessed: 25 February 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 25 February  2015). 



#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered  #WW1Southend

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