Devotion to Duty – Clara Mavesyn Chadwick (1861 – 1945)

Helen Sharp

Clara Mavesyn Chadwick was born at New Hall, Sutton Coldfield to Henry de Heley Chadwick and Clara Sophia Chadwick (née Goad). She was their eldest daughter, the second eldest of six children.

From their arrival at Mavesyn Ridware in the late 16^th century, generations of the Chadwick family had made advantageous marriages and alliances until they attained the zenith of their fortunes by the mid-18^th century. However, within three generations the family had lost all. Their demise began with Charles Chadwick, continued by his son Hugo Chadwick, then hastened and concluded by his grandson John de Heley Chadwick.

To quote Mark Eades in the Lords of the Manor of Mavesyn Ridware 1797-1897: John de Heley Chadwick was the sole master of his destiny. He saw himself as a man of means and status – having considerable land and property in the counties of Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Lancashire.

At the age of 18 in 1852, John embarked on a moderately successful military career with the 9^th Lancers. He began as a cornet by purchase and was promoted to lieutenant in 1856, serving in India during the Indian Mutiny from 1857 to late 1858. He was present at the relief of Lucknow.

In 1854 his father, Hugo Mavesyn Chadwick, died which meant that as the only son he inherited all the land and property in Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Lancashire, although he was still legally a minor until 1856.

In July 1858 he was permitted to retire from service through the sale of his commission. In November 1858 he married Clara Sophia Goad in Simla. She was the daughter of Major Samuel Boileau Goad, who was the largest landlord in Simla.  John was, thus, enabled to return to England and devote himself to the life of a country squire.

He and his wife Clara began their family life at New Hall, Sutton Coldfield, rather than at their property in Mavesyn Ridware. Their first child, another Hugo, was born early in 1860 and John obviously wanted to maintain a strong connection with his ancestral seat at Mavesyn Ridware as shown by a newspaper article in February 1860: Mr and Mrs Chadwick arrived from their residence at New Hall, Sutton Coldfield…The quiet parish of Mavesyn Ridware has been the scene of unusual gaiety during the past week in consequence of the christening and introduction of the infant son and heir of John de Heley Chadwick Esq.       

A large party was held for friends and the principal tenants at the home of Mrs Chadwick. Presumably this was John’s mother, who at this time was living at the Upper House, now Ridware Hall, in Hill Ridware. The partying continued later in the week, when:  …tea drinking, and an abundant supper were provided at the Chadwick Arms for almost everyone who chose to partake of it.

Just over a year later, their second child, a daughter, Clara Mavesyn Chadwick was born. This time there were no local celebrations and she was christened in the parish of Walmley, Sutton Coldfield.

Whilst living at New Hall, the growing family generally had about 11 or 12 servants, typical of a well- to-do gentleman’s family. It was into this privileged life that Clara had been born. As a young child she would not have been aware of the gathering storm clouds over the family, as her daily life would have continued as normal.

In the 1860s there was no national system of education in Britain and children of both sexes from the middle and upper classes were usually taught at home by a governess or tutor until they were about 10 years old. This was certainly the case for the Chadwick family, as on the 1871 census all the children of school age were recorded at home, even Hugo who was now 11. A governess was employed. As a girl, Clara would expect to continue being taught by a governess until she was about 17 in the basic subjects of reading, writing and arithmetic. She would also be expected to acquire domestic accomplishments such as sewing, embroidery, needlework and drawing as well as social skills including etiquette, piano playing and dancing. She may have learnt some French. In her social class, the main aim of girls’ education was to inculcate strategies for becoming a good spouse to a future husband. She would accompany her mother to parties or on visits to local cottagers to hand out needed items such as food as well as doing charitable works. It was also the role of the wives and daughters of the Lord of the Manor to attend parish events, such as fetes, to hand out prizes to demonstrate their benevolence to the local community. At the age of 18 Clara may have attended a coming out ball, although there is no evidence of this.  Daughters of her social standing did not undertake ‘paid’ work unless in a respectable activity such as a governess, music teacher or nurse.  Clara might well have expected to be married or at least engaged by the age of 20 or 21. After all, her own mother was 17 or 18 when she married John de Heley.  For Clara this was never to happen. Was this the result of her father’s profligate lifestyle and eventual bankruptcy? She remained a spinster all her life and devoted herself to the service of others.

Although the family did not live in Mavesyn Ridware, Clara would probably have been quite familiar with the area. Her paternal grandmother Eliza Chadwick lived at the Upper House in Hill Ridware until her death in 1868, along with Clara’s aunt Elizabeth. Another aunt, Laura, married the Reverend W. Graham Green, who became Rector of Mavesyn Ridware from 1877 until the early 1880s and they lived in Mavesyn Hall rather than the Rectory. It is more than likely that Clara visited and even stayed with them from time to time. It is known that when her father had the stained glass window installed in the east window of the Trinity Aisle at St Nicholas’ Church in 1870, dedicated to his parents, he was accompanied by some of his children. Maybe, as one of the older ones, Clara was one of them.

From quite early on in his stewardship of his estates Clara’s father appeared to be on a downward trajectory.  After leaving his military life he was desperate to be accepted by the local gentry and seemed to think this would be achieved by entering into the horse-racing world. He accrued gambling debts beyond his means, but rather than sell assets to get him out of trouble he borrowed money and bought more property and thus his debt spiralled out of control. By the late 1870s and early 1880s his dire financial difficulties were beyond rectification. The estate was put up for sale lock, stock and barrel. By 1881 the family had moved to Brighton and in 1883 John was declared bankrupt, which in Victorian England carried a terrible stigma.  The Chadwick Estates were mortgaged to a number of people, the Ridware Estate being held in Trust for Lady Francis Cecil. So, Clara’s life, as those of her siblings, was about to be completely upended. The family left New Hall and moved to Brighton to live. She hadn’t been prepared for anything other than as the wife of a country squire.

What was she to do? An article written in December 1899 in The Queen – The Lady’s Newspaper alluded to Clara’s difficult situation as a result of her ‘father’s feckless behaviour’: The father of Miss Chadwick served with credit at the Indian Mutiny and when reverse fortunes made it necessary for the young lady to undertake active work, she naturally chose army nursing in which, after preliminary training in a civil hospital, she became proficient.

An answer came from her uncle William Knight Treves FRCS, her uncle by marriage to Clara’s mother’s sister, Julia Catherine Goad. Nursing had become a more respectable occupation for a young lady since the days of Florence Nightingale. Whether or not she had previously considered nursing will never be known, but she received training at Margate Cottage Hospital, doing surgical work under her uncle’s tutelage. This was followed by two years in charge of the operating theatre at the Evelina Hospital for children in Southwark. She subsequently went through a year’s course of training at Guy’s Hospital and was highly certificated. In 1886 at the completion of her training, she joined the Army Nursing Service (ANS), which had only been established in 1881, and was employed to directly care for military patients.

An army nurse was not forbidden to marry, but trained army nurses were expected to devote all their time and energy to their work; they were required to be available at short notice for transfer within Britain or for service overseas. Whether or not Clara made a conscious decision not to marry, she devoted herself to the service of her country

Her first 15 nursing years were spent in a number of military hospitals, both at home and abroad. Her first post was at the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley, Northamptonshire; from there she went to the military base at Gosport, Hampshire as acting Nurse Superintendent; from there to the Herbert Military Hospital in Woolwich; and from there to the Guards Hospital in Westminster. In 1892 she was sent to the military hospital in Malta, which was housed in an interesting old building where the Knights of St John had lived during the siege of Malta. At the conclusion of her service there, the Governor of Malta, Sir Arthur L. Freemantle wrote: …by my own observation and the universal testimony of others she [Sister Clara Chadwick] did most valuable service.

She returned to England about 1898, going to Colchester Military Hospital. Sarah A. Tooley, writing in The Lady’s Realm, wrote: Sister Chadwick thinks, “Tommy the most fascinating patient in the world,” and her influence and power in dealing with the men are quite wonderful.

November 1899 saw the commencement of the Second Anglo-African war, better known as the Boer War. Having learnt lessons from the lack of effective medical services during the last major war in the Crimea, the military planned for a variety of medical facilities: field hospitals just behind the front line, stationary hospitals further back, hospital trains taking the more severely wounded soldiers to sea ports and hospital ships to transport them back to England for treatment. Initially there were 10 such ships; steamers that had previously been pleasure cruisers, commissioned and fully equipped as hospitals. One of these steamers was the previously named Midnight Sun – well known to Norway tourists. It was re-christened Hospital Ship Princess of Wales in honour of Princess Alexandra, then Princess of Wales. Its medical equipment was almost totally funded by money raised by her, plus £1,000 of her own money for ‘soldiers’ comforts’. It was a state-of-the-art floating hospital. It had three large wards of 40 ‘cots’, some fully adjustable and some swinging for ‘Tommies’, and a smaller ward for officers. On the main deck there was a fully equipped operating theatre with all the most up-to-date equipment available. This included the Roentgen machine, an early X-ray machine, and anæsthetic appliances, plus a fully stocked dispensary. On another deck were the medical staff’s quarters, very luxurious for the time and the whole ship had electricity. One soldier waiting for embarkation to South Africa, on seeing the ship quipped to a nurse that, ‘it would be worth being hit to come home in her’.

With her wealth of experience and expertise, Clara was recalled from Colchester to take charge of the nursing staff as Nursing Superintendent on the H.S. Princess of Wales in November 1899. Before the ship departed Tilbury docks on its first mission bound for Cape Town on 16 December, Princess Alexandra and the royal party came to inspect the facilities and meet the staff. Before she left, she presented all the medical staff with her own Princess of Wales badges, which she pinned on personally. She had also brought with her a large quantity of high quality bedding, such as blankets, bolsters and monogrammed pillows, bandages and clothing items for the soldiers, all of which she entrusted into the care of Clara for use on the ship and for distribution at the military hospitals in South Africa. She bade them all a safe journey and told them to take care of themselves.  

Given that the journey was expected to take between 18 and 35 days each way, weather dependant, despite a couple of initial problems with the boiler on the outward leg, they made very good time. With the first tranche of 174 wounded soldiers on board, they departed Cape Town on 3 February 1900, arriving back at Southampton on 26 February 1900.

A further indication of the high regard Princess Alexandra had for the medical staff, but particularly for Clara, was demonstrated the first Christmas that they were away. She sent a personally hand- written note to Clara, along with a special hymn book for herself, plus other gifts for other staff members.

Between November 1899 and December 1900 Clara went on all three missions to and from Southampton to Cape Town or Durban.  The ship’s final evacuation of the wounded was from Durban. Clara recounted how they had had to: …lay up in the creek outside Durban for a week waiting for the sick to be brought down, and we had to go up to Harrismith to help in bringing them along. At two o’clock in the morning, as we were in the train, we had a collision. An express train ran into us, but fortunately there were no casualties. I went along with brandy in case anyone needed it and it was almost amusing to see how many of the men informed us that they were feeling “very bad indeed”. Tommy is not generally far away when the stimulants are about!

The Princess of Wales came for the final time to Southampton port to greet the invalid soldiers and the nursing staff. As a mark of her appreciation, she presented Clara and her three support sisters with a souvenir brooch. In the Nursing Mirror it was described as ‘a charming decoration consisting of a white enamel cross edged with red enamel surmounted by a gold crown bearing the initial ’A’ in gold. On the reverse was engraved ‘From Alexandra. For Faith, Hope and Charity’.  [As Princess Alexandra became Queen Consort in January 1901 the brooch became known as Queen Alexandra Brooch/Award]. Interestingly, as Clara was subject to military regulations and as the cross was neither a medal nor an order, she was not allowed to wear it whilst in uniform, except by special permission. ‘In the circumstances the necessary authority will no doubt be applied for’.

At the conclusion of her service aboard the H.S. Princess of Wales, Clara was sent ‘up-country’ to take charge of the Stationary Hospital at Harrismith in the Orange Free State in South Africa. It was reported in the Nursing Mirror that before she left England, Alexandra, now Queen Consort, sent ‘Sister Chadwick of the ANS a number of small packages containing articles of clothing and sundry comforts for patients in some hospitals in South Africa which Miss Chadwick will visit’. Clara was stationed at Harrismith from February 1901, remaining there even after the cessation of hostilities in May 1902, until her recall to be Matron of the newly opened Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Hospital in London. 

Part of a letter from Harrismith written by a Sergent T. Lycett dated 26 July 1903, was printed in The Tamworth Herald in September in which he wrote: After the regiments of the line had marched past, we were all formed up for the presentation of medals, I am pleased to say that there was a lady from Tamworth, Miss Chadwick, of Hints Hall, whom no doubt everyone knows, was presented with the “Order of the Red Cross.” This is a medal which is presented to Army Nursing Sisters for their devotion to the hospitals. The General made a very fine speech, and said he was very pleased to present Miss Chadwick with such a medal for the good work she had done in the late war, and for her devotion as a nursing sister to the hospital.

It seems very likely that this was Clara Mavesyn Chadwick, given that a branch her family had owned Hints Hall until c.1877. From c.1882 the owner  was a James Chadwick, quite possibly from another branch of her family, although it’s not certain.

In further recognition of Clara’s service during the war, she was also awarded the Order of St John of Jerusalem for her service at Harrismith, the King’s and Queen’s South Africa medals and the Coronation medal. Clara was also mentioned in despatches for her dedication to duty by Lord Roberts, Field Marshall Frederick Sleigh Roberts.  In his despatch dated 1 March 1902, he submitted names of officers, non-commissioned officers, men, nurses, and civilians, who had rendered meritorious service. These included Clara Mavesyn Chadwick. He wrote:

Nursing Sisters – I find it difficult within the limits of a short paragraph to give expression to the deep feeling of gratitude with which the Nursing Sisterhood has inspired all ranks serving in South Africa.  The devotion, skill, courage, and endurance displayed equally by the Army Nursing Service, has excited my admiration. Princess of Wales Hospital Ship-Major A H Morgan, DSO, retired AMS; Captain A Pearse, RAMC; Superintendent Miss Clara M Chadwick and Nursing-Sister Miss Helen Hogarth, Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve; Staff Sergeant W Higgins and Lance Sergeant J Brown, Royal Army Medical Corps.

A reporter at the time noted that, ‘all the soldiers I have come across, who had been in hospital tell me of her untiring energy and as someone who was always very kind’.

After this war there was a period of relative peace during which time there was a total reorganisation of the Army Nursing Service. This reorganisation was not welcomed by everyone. Until this point Military Hospitals had been staffed entirely by males, so the introduction of female nurses was met with many opponents in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), who thought it was entirely unnecessary and even ’detrimental to the provision of care and good order’. Female nurses had just about been acceptable during the conflict because of the need for additional staff, but not in peacetime. In 1902, by Royal Warrant, the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) was formed, and in 1903, the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Hospital at Millbank was opened with Clara as Matron-in-Chief. The hours were long but duties less onerous as most patients only needed treatment for minor illnesses, fevers or from the result of accidents; few being bed-bound or needing round the clock care. Clara worked there for eight years. At the age of 50, having served with the British Army for a quarter of a century, she hung up her uniform and retired in 1911. In 1912 Miss Clara M. Chadwick, RRC, was granted permission to retain the badge of Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service in recognition of her long and devoted service.

From an interview for The Morning Leader in December 1911: Miss Chadwick has vivid recollections of travels in an armoured train, of guns and sentries guarding the sleeping nurses, of incidents on the journey from Cape Town to Pretoria, and of days and nights of exacting duties.

When asked what she was going to do with her time she replied that ‘it would probably be expended writing an account of the more striking events of my life’. One memory she recounted was of the time that she met Lord Kitchener. He had come to visit her at the hospital and asked how many men were sick. She remarked that, ‘You had to know your business with Lord Kitchener, if one said that there were 450 men sick and there were 451 one might hear about it later on’.

Upon retirement she settled in a flat in Feltham in the borough of Hounslow, where she ‘started home’ with a brother whom a newspaper article noted, ‘had retired from naval service’ in 1908. This was probably her younger brother Commander Charles Chadwick RN.

Whether she ever got round to writing her memoirs is not known, but just two and a half years later, in 1914, Britain was once again at war, this time with Germany, completely upending her plans for a quiet retirement. She would not have been expected to be called upon at the age of 53, but the depth of Clara’s dedication to duty and unstinting service to her country can be gauged by the following: On Saturday August 2^nd 1914, I went to the War Office to see the Matron-in-Chief to volunteer for active service and asked to be sent to the front. I received a telegram from her, ordering me to join the Military Hospital at Hounslow, for duty, on August 7^th 1914.

Her wish was never realised as she was not sent to the front, but served throughout the war as Matron at Hounslow Military Hospital. Other retired nursing staff also returned to duty on the home front, thus releasing younger women for duties overseas. For her unfaltering service she was awarded the Bar to the Royal Red Cross Medal in 1919. She finally retired for a second time in September 1920. She had continued to receive retired pay from the previous war, plus usual rates throughout her First World War service and was now in receipt of a second retirement pension, so she would have had quite a comfortable retirement. She was to live through yet another world war, no doubt wishing she could serve her country again. She died in Hounslow, 27 May 1945, at the age of 84.

There is no doubt that Clara became a role model for all military nurses who came into contact with her and for those who followed in her footsteps.

Sources

Mark Eades, Lords of the Manor 1797 – 1897 (Ridware History Society)

Sarah A. Tooley, ‘Under the Red Cross Flag’, The Lady’s Realm, c.1901

www.fairestforce.co.uk

www.samilitaryhistory.org

www.angloboerwar.com

www.findmypast.co.uk  [British Newspaper Archive]