Helen was born about 1886 to Leonard and Sarah Clough Dobbin at ‘Knockrea’, Blackrock Road, Cork, Ireland and was recorded as still living there in the 1901 Ireland census.
According to VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) records Helen enrolled on 22/3/1917 D498 CORK A.H. and was selected as a nurse (paid) on 7/6/1917. Helen served in the Auxiliary Hospital in Brockenhurst, New Forest from 14/9/1917 to 7/7/1918 and in the Oswestry Military Hospital from 22/10/1918 to 30/9/1919.
[The temporary military hospital established in Brockenhurst in 1914 to treat Indian service personnel injured while serving in France was taken over by the New Zealand authorities and became No.1 New Zealand General Hospital, one of three general hospitals in the UK staffed and operated by the New Zealand Medical Corps to care for wounded members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. More information can be found at https://nfknowledge.org/contributions/brockenhurst-a-first-world-war-hospital-village-1916/#map=10/-1.57/50.81/0/22:0:0.6|37:1:1|38:1:1 ]
VAD records show that on 10/3/1920 Helen was 33 years old and married (Mrs Helen Carr Davies) and her address was PO Box 140, Nakuru Kenya Colony, British East Africa.
It is possible that she worked at the Nakuru Memorial Hospital which employed nurses from England through the Overseas Nursing Association on 2 year contracts. However, as she was then a married woman, this may not be the case (ref: Red Strangers: The White Tribe of Kenya by Christine Nicholls).