Miss Beatrice Dormer
Maunder - sketch by Jamie. View Original image at
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/beatrice-maunder
Across France
spread the needy
Growth of
hospitals, for treatments
Of injured armies
- many buildings
In various towns
were taken
Over - as in
Boulogne and Dunkirk,
That offered
large palaces or hotels
Ripe for
temporary conversions.
The situation of
Rouen behind
The lines, proved
usefully placed
To treat Belgium
and French
Wounded - but did
not possess
Very grand
residences - this
Led to a use of school
buildings
And even a
monastery for 250
Patients of the
British Red Cross.
Many English
women already
Had undertaken own
voluntary
Tasks to set up hospitals
- as in
The central Rouen
situation -
Of the Albert Ier
Hospital backed
By the Belgium Government
And solely secured
by a woman.
Some kind of
confusion came
From the claim
that this was an
English woman - a
compatriot -
But a national of
New Zealand -
Her name Miss
Beatrice Dormer
Maunder, formerly
of Rangitikei.
The task had
started with a group
Organised by Lady
Paget -
To arrange a
hostel for Belgian
Refugees - then came
necessity
With the
receiving of wounded
Belgian soldiers
- against odds
The unexpected
hospital met
Demands - with
Miss Maunder
Gaining help of
Canadian Medics.
Finally an approaching
German
Army made for an
evacuation.
Miss Maunder's
endeavours
Involved her in
administering
Hospital of the
Hotel Continental -
With her success,
on a return
To England, came
a request
For her to create
a Hospital
In Rouen - for
Belgium soldiers.
Negotiations led
to Miss Maunder
Acquiring the
central site in Rouen
Of a boys school
- once prepared
And ready, the
wards opened
Their doors on
boxing day, 1914 -
By the Belgium
Minister of war
M. de Brocqueville
and others.
A large building
with an enclosed
Courtyard for
patients to exercise,
And a perfect
wide gated entrance,
For the
ambulances to arrive.
Miss Maunder was soon
praised
For her devoted
work in the plan
Of expansion, for
a hospital that
Would hold up to
500 patients.
With Dr Damm, a
Belgian surgeon,
In charge of
Staff, Miss Maunder
Was their organiser
and director -
Having aid of a London solicitor
As a secretary -
in such a position
Miss Maunder did not make requests
For funds, as all their subscriptions
Came from private
British sources.
Although not
making any open
Appeals for donations her story,
That had been
reported in country
Of her home, described how gifts
Would be
gratefully received -
Aid arranged by New
Zealand's own
Miss Maunder was
a worthy aim.
Miss Beatrice Dormer
Maunder,
On Tuesday 16
March 1915,
Met King Albert of
Belgium -
To be honoured
and presented a
Cross of the
Order of Leopold I -
For her work in
helping wounded
Soldiers of this
King's armies.
That country's
highest order,
Produced by Royal
Decree,
For services to a Belgium nation.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. Honour
for English Nurse. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 17 Mar. P.11. Col.3. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11475658/Daily-Telegraph-March-17-1915.html
[Accessed: 17 March 2015].
Anon.,1915. Miss
Dormer Maunder's Work - Ostend and Rouen. Evening Post, Wellington, New Zealand, Volume LXXXIX,
Issue 60, 12 March 1915, [online]
17
Mar. P.4. Col.5-6. Available
at:
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP19150312.2.37
[Accessed: 17 March 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 1 March 2015).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11475658/Daily-Telegraph-March-17-1915.html
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Rouen #WW1New
Zealand
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