Mary was born on 1/3/1897 in Oswestry to Solicitor Philip H (b. 1850) and Annie (b. 1861). She had four siblings: the oldest was Captain Thomas Charles Wynne Minshall (b. 1889, died in 1918); followed by Mabel (b. 1890), another VAD in the war and later became Mrs Jones; Philip Austin (b. 1892) and Dorothy (b. 1902).
The family also had four servants; Ada Mary Owen (b. 1870), Gladys Bebbington (b. 1889), Eleanor Hunt (b. 1889) and Annie Jones (b. 1873).
War Years
Mary joined the Shropshire 40 VAD in November 1917 and worked at Pentre Pant as an Assistant Quartermaster and Secretary. She worked 3 days a week for 14 months.
Mabel, her sister, served as a VAD at 2nd Western Military Hospital in Manchester from 26/5/15 to 25/12/17. She earned two Scarlet Stripes on 11/7/17 for her service.
Post War
In 1925 Mary married Donald Nicholson, and by 1939 she was living on Mount Rd. with her sister Dorothy who had joined the Women’s Auxiliary Taskforce. Mary was then working as a Quartermaster for the British Red Cross.
Mary passed away in 1978 on the Isle of Wight.
Sources
www.Ancestry.co.uk
www.vad.redcross.org.uk