Jeanne DAVIDDI née ROUQUET WW1 nurse??

[jayaygee]

I am trying to help someone who contacted me via Généanet to find more about a relation of her husband’s.  Jeanne ROUQUET, born 1/9/1897 Toulouse, went to London with some cousins (names unknown) at the end of 1914 or beginning of 1915.  In the 2nd quarter of 1915 St Martin RD she married Guido DAVIDDI and a son, Felix, was born in the 3rd quarter of 1915 St Giles RD.  Although we have been unable to find a record of his death or burial, Felix died before 14 June 1916.

The rest of the life of Guido and that of Jeanne, who divorced her first husband and was remarried to Giuseppe CORTICELLI in 1921 Brighton RD, is fairly well recorded and is not what we are looking for. We are seeking to know what else happened to Jeanne between her arrival in England and her remarriage.

My contact says that Jeanne nursed war-wounded during WW1 and was a nurse afterwards, so she thinks she was trained in London.  I have searched the Red Cross archive, VAD records at TNA and the relevant record sets on the main commercial websites to no avail.  Any further suggestions would be very welcome.

Other facts know about Jeanne are that she was photographed at Bayley’s Studio modelling hats (no dates).  This leads my contact to think she had trained, in France or in England, and worked as a milliner.

I have tried to give you all the information we have so that you don’t waste time going over the same ground.  I have also found the Daviddi family that had a restaurant in St Martin’s Lane in directories, electoral rolls and GRO records. 

Thank you in advance for any new leads you can suggest.

[louisa maud]

Can I ask you how you have  estimated Felix G Daviddi's death date

Could Jeanne have returned to her place of birth with her son who might have died abroad

Louisa Maud

[jayaygee]

The information was given to me by my contact who says her father-in-law who was born on 14 June 1916 was given the same first name in memory of his deceased cousin.  I'm afraid I have no other information.

Judith

[louisa maud]

I may  be  wrong  but  I am leaning  towards  a death  abroad , shame  there  is  no further  information

LM

[jayaygee]

Yes, it's certainly a possibility.  The entry could also have been missed when copied to be sent to the GRO.

However, my contact is particularly anxious to find out more about possible nursing training Jeanne may have had while in London or anything else she did before her second marriage.  So far I have drawn a blank.

Judith

[Gibel]

Perhaps she was a V A D (Voluntary Aid Detachment) nurse. These were untrained volunteers.

[jayaygee]

That's what I wondered, but I have been unable to find any trace of her in the VAD records I've seen on line.