University Health Network - Academy of Medicine Collection
Category
Archival
Military Medicine
Nursing
Classification
Archival, Images
Military Medicine
Nursing
Accession Number
1984.6.123
Description
Black and white print depicting men officers and nurses in a formal photo, there are six rows of people with the men sitting on the bottom row and on the ends of the rows and women in the middle, they are posing in front of an ivy-covered wall.
Black and white print depicting men officers and nurses in a formal photo, there are six rows of people with the men sitting on the bottom row and on the ends of the rows and women in the middle, they are posing in front of an ivy-covered wall.
Number Of Parts
1
Provenance
Acquired from the Academy of Medicine.
Dates
1916
circa 1916
Date Remarks
Date printed on object.
Material
paper: ivory
ink: black
Inscriptions
Printed on the front: "THE OFFICERS AND THE NURSING SISTERS // of the // Ontario Military Hospital, Orpington, Kent, // on a visit to Parke, Davis & Co.'s Laboratories, Houslow; 24th May, 1916."; printed on back ;"Parke, Davis & Co.'s Status as British Manufacturers // Thyroid in Psoriasis // A Valuable Dry Dressing for Chancre, Chancroid, etc."
Permanent Location
Storage Room 0010
0010-G Drawings and Prints Binder A, pg. 1b
Length
22.8 cm
Width
14.8 cm
Unit Of Measure
centimeters
Dimension Notes
Length 22.8 cm x Width 14.8 cm
Condition Remarks
#1: Stable: Two creases running vertically through the print, the top left crease has torn 1.5cm down from the edge, the bottom right crease has torn 4.5cm up from the edge, there is a 1.0cm tear in the lower right corner.
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Museum
Website
Reference Comments
“Nursing Sister’s apron, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC),” Museum of Health Care. http://artefact.museumofhealthcare.ca/?p=79
Veronica Loh, "The Canadian Military Hospital, Orpington," Bromley First World War, accessed August 12, 2020. https://www.bromleyfirstworldwar.org.uk/content/places/ontario-military-hospital-orpington
Research Facts
More than 4000 women served as military nurses during the Second World War playing a vital role in the care and comfort of wounded soldiers, sailors, and airmen. As commissioned officers known by rank and title as Nursing Sisters, they served as fully-integrated members of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, the Royal Canadian Navy, and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Most of them worked overseas in military hospitals and casualty clearing stations. After the lean years of the 1930s when there were few available positions for graduate nurses, even with the dangers of warfare, military nursing offered a job with a good salary, benefits, status, and a chance to travel.
Due to the high number of casualties during the First World War, the Ontario Provincial Government opened a hospital overseas in Orpington, England, which was then a village with a railway line and water. It was opened as the No. 16 Ontario Military Hospital in February 1916 with over 1000 beds, and later renamed the No. 16 Canadian General Hospital and expanded to accomodate another 1000 beds. By May 1919, over 30,000 men had been treated, and only 201 deaths. Thomas McCrae, brother of Major John McCrae (author of the poem "In Flanders Fields"), was a pioneering plastic surgeon at this hospital.