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Dorothea Crewdson, from Nottingham, was one of thousands of women to offer her services as a voluntary aid detachment (VAD) nurse in the World War One.

Unexpectedly she was sent to help in a Military Hospital in France, caring for wounded soldiers before they were shipped back to Britain.

Although she survived the war, she died a few months later in France, just a few weeks before she was due to return home.

Dorothea enrolled in the British Red Cross in 1911, for training as a VAD nurse. The detachment had been set up a couple of years earlier because of concerns that there would be a shortage of nurses should war breakout. Their role was to support the work of the professionals by doing the menial jobs like cleaning, washing and sometimes cooking at the hospitals.

Dorothea kept a diary of her experiences including how she became one of only a small number of women (128) to earn a military medal, during a bombing raid at the hospital.

In Nottingham she is the only woman to be remembered on the Lenton War Memorial on the corner of Sherwin Street, alongside more than 250 men.

Location: Lenton, Nottingham NG7 2FF
Image of Dorothea Crewsdon in uniform, courtesy of Richard Crewsdon (Dorothea鈥檚 nephew)

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