Gwendoline was born to William (1837) a Retired Insurance Agent and Elizabeth (1854) in 1887, the family lived in Whalley Grange, Formby, Lancashire, she had three sisters Elizabeth (1878), Ethel (1879) and Ella (1887) and three brothers Edmund (1850) an Insurance agent, Cyril (1890) and Reginald (1892). The family had two servants Mary Hannon (1874) and Margaret Storey (1874).
War Years
Gwendoline was enrolled as a Nurse in the West Lancashire VAD on 29 September 1916 and worked at the Southport Auxiliary Hospital for two years. She was then transferred to Park Hall Camp, Oswestry on 9 October 1918 where she stayed until 20 February 1919. From there she was posted to the Royal Military Hospital at Shorncliffe Camp in Folkstone, Kent. Photo below. The camp was initially used by the Canadian Forces but became The General Hospital No. 11 in September 1917. This hospital admitted patients shipped directly from France. Nearby is the Military cemetery which has 471 graves of soldiers in WW1, more than 300 of them are Canadians.
Sources
www.images.oakville.halinet.on.ca
British Red Cross Archives and Museum, 44 Moorfields, London EC2Y 9AL
