Nursing Sister Clara Evans

[murton]

Well, looking at that list Clara was certainly not lonely!

I did wonder when I read the St. John’s review whether ‘raised’ was her address when Clara was born but it appears not, However, I note that Clara, Louisa (Laura?), Agnes, and Arthur all appear to have been born in Whiston – not sure how that relates with Prescot where the others were born - is it therefore probable that the Evans moved?

I was also intrigued about the term shop and wonder if it is another name for, what we call today, an off-licence where he sold some of his brew along with other produce? I did check Google to see if I could locate his brewery with no luck but I did discover that many breweries of their time were built behind the Inns or Public houses so is it possible that his brewery had living accommodation and was located in Whiston?

I hope that makes sense but with my physical condition my concentration is affected and has to be disciplined.

Tony

[heywood]

Hi Tony,

It is Louisa and not Laura. 1881 is not that clear but when looked at closely, it is clearly Louisa.

Heywood

[murton]

Hi Tony,

It is Louisa and not Laura. 1881 is not that clear but when looked at closely, it is clearly Louisa.

Heywood

Cheers Heywood
That clears one problem
Tony

[H29]

Hi Tony (Murton), hopefully I can fill a few gaps for you. I researched Clara's life for a chapter in St John's, Ravenhead's history book a couple of years ago. It looks like you've done a great job and there's some details of Clara here that I wasn't aware of.

anything of interest about Clara...

She was born in Whiston and later lived in the corner shop opposite St John's Church, Ravenhead. Her parents are buried at the parish church of Prescot St Mary.

Another of Clara's residences is Woodlands, Prescot Road, St Helens [St Helens Reporter, 8 June 1900].

In the reports of her death, she is listed as the 'youngest daughter of the late Mr W Evans of Prescot' and the 'sister of Mrs Joseph Massey' [St. H. Rep., 8 June 1900]

Clara was a sister-in-law of St Helens' Alderman Massey [St. H. Rep. 8 June 1900]

Would also be grateful for a clear photograph of the stained glass memorial window in St. John’s Church; not a copy from the web page as this does not produce a good photo

I'll get you a photo. Some pictures of the various memorials are online at www.stjohnsravenhead.org.uk/church/aboutus/history/boerwarmemorials.shtml but are obviously compressed for the web. This page has been redesigned in the past week as a new website is being constructed, so some of the content will be different to that which you saw in April.

Clara Evans was born in 1871 at the corner shop

I have read an account that says Clara lived above the shop, but she wasn't born there.

she was a former Sunday school teacher at St. John’s Ravenhead. On 30th April 1896 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.

Received 1st Grade in 'Sick Room Cookery'. Results said to be 'satisfactory', likely meaning she fulfilled the requirements, rather than meaning 'average'. Her training was as a non-fee paying probationer before she was appointed staff nurse on the Mellish Ward under Miss Beecher at the age of 28.

With the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899 Clara enrolled in the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service Reserve on 18th December 1899, Roll number 132 and on Saturday, 21st December 1899, with a group of Nurses selected by Princess Alexandra...

Clara was recommended for duty by Miss Beecher, and the indication is that Clara was keen to serve. The Royal London Hospital's archives show her employment officially ended there on Christmas Day 1899, by which time she had sailed. The correct date of the voyage was Saturday 23 December 1899, not the 21st. The ship sailed at 6:15pm. The Royal London Hospital inform me that Clara's successor as 'Nurse Mellish' was Edith Cavell.

...she sailed from Southampton, at 18.15, on the S.S. Dunotter Castle to South Africa. On arrival in South Africa Clara was posted to 1st General Hospital, Wynberg and later, in May 1900, transferred to; probably a field hospital, in Bloemfontein where, on 31st May 1900 she unfortunately died from Enteric Fever.

Local newspaper reports tend to vary between Enteric Fever and Dysentery as the cause of death.

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.

This is as a result of an amendment to the motion to install a memorial in the Town Hall, proposed by Alderman J. Forster.

Her former colleagues at the Mellish Ward, London Hospital (Named after the ‘Elephant Man’ who 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

The clock is lost, but the London Hospital archives hold a similar piece in memory of another nurse.

Memorials
1) Stained Glass Window of three lights at St John's Church, Ravenhead, given by her sisters
2) Wooden font cover at St John's Church, Ravenhead, given by the teachers and students of the church Sunday School
3) Clock on the Mellish Ward at the London Hosptial (thought lost)
4) Boer War Memorial tablet at St Helens Town Hall

Sources
St Helens Reporter, 8 June 1900
angloboerwar.com
South Africa Tours & Travel
Boer War Nurses (http://britisharmynurses.com/wiki/index.php?title=EVANS,_Clara)
Royal London Hospital Archives & Museum
London Hospital Register of Probationer Nurses (RLHLH/N/1/5)
London Hospital Register of Sisters and Nurses (RLHLH/N/4/1)

My book, should you be interested, is detailed at www.stjohnsravenhead.org.uk/church/aboutus/history/inthisplace.shtml and on sale at www.lulu.com/shop/paul-henry/in-this-place-a-history-of-st-john-the-evangelists-church-ravenhead-with-emmanuel-1869-2012/paperback/product-21113666.html

[H29]

William's burial

Burial: 10 Oct 1888 St Mary the Virgin, Prescot, Lancashire, England
William Evans -
    Age: 62
    Abode: Scholes Eccleston
    Buried by: H.S.Bolton

The H.S. Bolton mentioned here is Rev. Harry Sandford Bolton, vicar of St John's, Ravenhead 1884-1923.

[H29]

Well, looking at that list Clara was certainly not lonely!
I note that Clara, Louisa (Laura?), Agnes, and Arthur all appear to have been born in Whiston – not sure how that relates with Prescot where the others were born - is it therefore probable that the Evans moved?

Births in Whiston are registered in the district of Prescot.

[H29]

Double post, sorry

[murton]

H29

Thanks for the additional info. it's now in my pending file. Mpst grateful

Tony