The autograph book, identified as the property of Nurse Kathleen Moor, appears to be that of Maud Kathleen Moor; there is only one Maud Kathleen Moor on Free BMD.¹ Identifying Kathleen was made simple with the aid of the British Red Cross Society Cards, which are in the process of being transcribed by volunteers and placed on their website; so far at the time of writing A-E are now online and searchable for free: http://www.redcross.org.uk/About-us/Who-we-are/History-and-origin/First-World-War/Search.  More volunteers would speed up the project process!²

Kathleen was born in Clapham in 1888, the third of four daughters born to her parents; her mother Elizabeth and her father Arthur who was a commercial jeweller.³

The BRCS cards give much valuable information, which can be cross corroborated with other primary sources such as BMD’s and censuses. They can help fill in between censuses exactly what an individual was doing as part of the war effort.
 

 Front sides of both of Kathleen’s BCRS cards
 

Reverse sides of Kathleen’s BCRS cards.

Kathleen had signed on with BRCS as a cook aged 26 in 1915 and served in London at 27 Berkley Square Hospital.⁴ The 1911 census records Kathleen living and working in Wandsworth, London as a cook to a Mr Riley who was employed as the Assistant Principal Clerk in the War Office.⁵ In 1916 she was deployed to Bristol, where she worked as nursing member/ VAD for 18 months.⁶ Contracts for VAD work, and other roles such as nurses in the QAIMNSR were initially for six months, with the option to extend every six months; some choose not to do so. Whilst at the 2^nd Southern general Hospital: Southmead Hospital Bristol Kathleen worked on at least two different wards.
 

Her autograph book is typical of the period; it includes sketches, prose and poetry. Many examples thank Nurse Kathleen Moor. Tragically beneath one, Kathleen has poignantly written that the soldier was subsequently killed in action. What a waste of medical and nursing care, which saw the soldier injured sufficiently gravelly at the front to have got a ticket back to ‘Blighty’, and then for him then to get killed at a later date.
 

   
Others reflect common concerns of soldiers in battle- defeating the Germans, the state of the trenches; rats and lack of meat, the kindness of nurses, and the tempers of others!
 

 Two photographic postcards were found inside the front of the book;

 It is thought likely that these photographic postcards are of the soldiers that she cared for, and may include Kathleen and her colleagues; they are taken by a Bristol photographer.

It is not known what Kathleen did after 1917. Kathleen may have subsequently trained as a nurse; the General Nursing Council Registers for England and Wales will be consulted at some point.  Kathleen appears to have settled in Bristol as she died nearby in Western-super-Mare in 1976; her mother died in Bristol in 1930, leaving the administration of her will to Kathleen.⁷

References.

1. www.freebmd.co.uk, accessed 24th January 2015.

2. http://www.redcross.org.uk/About-us/Who-we-are/Museum-and-archives/Resources-for-researchers/Volunteers-and-personnel-
    records, accessed 24th January 2015.

3. The National Archives of the UK (TNA), 1911 Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911, RG14, 2292, accessed via
     www.ancestry.co.uk on 24th January 2015.

4. BCRS V.A.D. cards for Kathleen Moor.

5. TNA, 1911 Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911, RG14, 2292, accessed via www.ancestry.co.uk on 24th January 2015.

6. BCRS V.A.D. cards for Kathleen Moor.

7. www.freebmd.co.uk, death registers for England and Wales.

Illustrations.

BRCS Cards reproduced with grateful thanks to the BRCS, copyright BRCS.

All other illustrations, copyright; the author.

© Sarah Rogers 24^th January 2015.

©   Sarah Rogers 11^th January 2015.