KG an Heywood
From the info that you provided I did a bit more research and added a bit more life to Clara's profile
would welcome your comments, Tony :-
Clara Evans was born in the June Quarter of 1870 at the corner shop, opposite St. John’s, Ravenhead, St. Helen’s, to William and Elizabeth Evans and had a 10 year old sister Mary Elizabeth. Her father was a Brewer employing 5 staff suggesting that the family were financially comfortable. In 1881, when Clara was 10 years old she was a scholar and boarding at 17 Everton Grove owned by Thomas Jones a Non-Conformist Minister, whether she was studying religious matters is not recorded but could suggest why she was later a Sunday school teacher at St. John’s, Ravenhead.
In 1891 she is recorded as 21 and “living on her own means”, she was a visitor in the household of Joseph and Mary Elizabeth Massey in Eccleston. It is interesting to note that on 18th September 1889 Christ Church, Eccleston records the marriage of Joseph Massey and Mary Elizabeth Evans aged 28; so Clara was obviously staying with her Sister and Brother in Law.
I have no record of Clara’s activities between 1891 and 1896 until. On 30th April 1896 when aged 26 she joined the London Hospital, Whitechapel training at Tredegar House; said to be the first Nurse training school in England; and appointed Staff Nurse 0n 13th June 1898.
With the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899 Clara enrolled in the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service Reserve on 18th December, Roll number 132 and on Saturday, 21st December 1899, with a group of Nurses selected by Princess Alexandra, she sailed from Southampton, at 18.15, on the S.S. Dunotter Castle to South Africa arriving early January 1900. On arrival Clara was posted to 1st General Hospital, Wynberg, no details of her experiences there but later, in May 1900, Clara was transferred to, probably a field hospital, in Bloemfontein where, on 31st May 1900 she unfortunately contracted and died from Enteric Fever.
In 1920 St. Helens Council commissioned a memorial for the Town Hall on which Clara was included. She is said to have been the first woman in Britain to be included on a war memorial.
Later St. John’s Church, Ravenhead, St. Helen’s installed a stained glass window, in three sections, to commemorate the death of Sister Clara Evans.
Her former colleagues at the Mellish Ward, London Hospital (Named after the ‘Elephant Man’ who lived and died there) paid for and placed a clock on the ward in her memory. Inscribed on the clock were the words, 'IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF CLARA EVANS (NURSE MELLISH FROM 1898 TO 1899) FROM HER FELLOW NURSES. SHE DIED WHILST SERVING OUR SICK SOLDIERS AT BLOEMFONTEIN, MAY 31ST 1900’.
Adapted from St. John’s website, members of Rootschat Forum and other sources by Tony Murphy April 2015
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Topic: Nursing Sister Clara Evans (Read 7268 times)