Thursday 25 September 2014

Another nurse at Glenroy Military Hospital - Alice Prichard


Just when I thought I'd found as much material as I was likely to find, I decided to broaden my TROVE search and use the search term 'Glenroy Hospital' and hey presto a few more references were staring me in the face! Not only that, but since the last time I looked, more newspapers have come online, so I found more material that way, too.

It just goes to show that history is a dynamic thing and with new resources coming online all the time, I will probably revisit the Glenroy Hospital at a later date.


Alice Prichard


Portrait of Miss A. M. Prichard RRC, matron of 42nd British General Hospital which was one of the four hospitals at Salonika staffed by the AIF. Image Courtesy AWM. Image A01891. 


Alice Prichard hailed from the north of Victoria and had been the Matron of Mildura Hospital prior to enlistment. Her sister Florence also served as a nurse and had previously been head nurse at Albury Hospital. Four brothers (Frederick, Leslie, Charles and Richard) also served in the war, so  their mother, Mary, of 'Greenvale', Glenrowan must have had a very anxious time. 

During a brief return to Australia after the Gallipoli campaign, Alice Prichard served as Matron of the Glenroy Hospital. (She was a trained infectious diseases nurse.) She then returned to the war front. After discharge, she moved to Sydney to work.


Benalla Standard, 26 June 1917






3 comments:

  1. Your point about History being dynamic is so important and one many people don't seem to appreciate. Blogging is a perfect medium for telling stories asn one can add and edit so easily when new material or treasures on Trove become available.

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  2. It is amazing how broadening or changing your search terms opens up a whole new vista yes? The same thing happened to me a couple of days ago...I had been trying endless derivations of names e.g. "Isabella Ellis" "Mrs Ellis" "Mrs George Ellis" and then I put Ellis AND Ararat together and came up with a fantastic estate notice. Of course I should be recording all these searches/search terms but I get too carried away with the "Hunt" !

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  3. Thank you Jill and Alex for your comments. It's amazing how many new resources are becoming available to us every day. Almost impossible to keep up at times. It's very exciting and I have used the internet as a major research tool for many research projects: academic, family-related, local and social history. Like Alex, I'm constantly amazed at how a simple tweaking of search terms can unearth new material. I just love the hunt!
    Thank you for supporting this blog. I'm glad you are finding it of interest.

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