Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Daughter of William GIDDINGS and Mary Ann nee COTTINGHAM

Trained at North Adelaide Private Hospital

Did not marry

RETURN OF A GLENELG ARMY
SISTER.
By the Anchises, which reached the Outer Harbour on Sunday week. Sister Gertrude Giddings, A.A.N.S., returned to Glenelg. Sister Giddings has
been absent from Australia for something like two years and a half. The greater portion of that time she spent in Salonika, where, with other Australian nurses, she was attached to the British forces. She also spent a short time in Cairo, and was nursing at the military hospital at Dartford, England, prior to her return to Australia. During her furlough in England she found time to visit Scotland and Ireland, and obtained permission to go to France, where she paid a visit to the battlefields of that country and Belgium, and also ran down to Cologne, where she called on several friends who were serving with the army of occupation. Needless to say, she is delighted to be once more in her Glenelg home.

Glenelg Guardian Thursday 16 October 1919 page 1

REST HOME AT THE SEASIDE.
For a long time medical men have the want of an up-to-date. Nursing and Rest Home at the seaside. Outside hotels and boarding houses it has been practically impossible to find accommodation for patients convalescing after operations, etc., but no trouble in this direction should be experienced in the future, as Sisters Giddings and Solly have just established such a home at Glenelg. It is located at Farrell Street, New Glenelg, and the situation is an ideal one, being within a couple of hundred yards of the beach. The Sisters, both of whom served long periods with the A.I.F., recently purchased the fine residence that formerly belonged to Mrs. R. J. Matheson, and converted it to its present use. It contains some 15 rooms, is picturesquely set amidst a wealth of shade trees, and trim, well-kept lawns, and possesses all conveniences in the way of hot-water service, gas, electric light, etc. A perfectly lighted operating theatre has been fitted up, and the appointments generally leave nothing to be desired. Being just off the Mall, where the traffic at times is somewhat considerable, absolute quiet is assured, a great desideratum where nerve
patients are concerned, and the close proximity to the sea makes the home an ideal one for convalescents for whom either sea air or sea bathing is essential. "The Critic" wishes the Sisters every success in their venture.

Critic Wednesday 11 January 1922 page 19

Gertrude was the daughter of William GIDDINGS & Mary Ann COTTINGHAM and was born in October 1878 at 5 Clark Street, Norwood, SA.

Her parents were married on the 7th of February 1848 in St Michaels Church, Chester Square, Middlesex, England.

Her father was the son of John & Susanna GIDDINGS and was baptised on the 5th of September 1823 in St Andrew’s Church, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, England.
Her mother was the daughter of Richard CUTTINGHAM and was born in 1825 Cambridgeshire, England.

Gertrude was the youngest child born into this family of 3 children.

Gertrude’s father was a bricklayer and 5 years after her parents married they arrived in South Australia on the 14th of November 1853 on board the Olivia.

They had made their first home in North Adelaide where Gertrude’s sister and brother were born before the family moved to Clark Street, Norwood, where Gertrude was born.

Gertrude’s uncle was Major John Langran GIDDINGS, of the famous Lucknow Garrison in India. He had joined the 32nd Regiment of Foot in 1835 and served in Canada and then in Punjab, India.

Her brother William married Aurora KILLICOAT on the 8th of March 1897 at the residence of Aurora’s mother, St Peters, SA.

Her father died of paralysis 4 months later on the 9th of July 1897 at their home in Clark Street.
Then 2 years later Gertrude became an aunty when little Marjorie Mary was born to William and Aurora.

He mother died 4 years later on the 31st of July 1903 and her brother had moved to 4 Moseley Street, Glenelg and was very involved in the District Trained Nursing Society.

After completing his schooling Gertrude decided to become a nurse and she trained in the North Adelaide Hospital from December 1910 to December 1914 and made friend with nurse Adelaide Laua SOLLY.
On gaining her qualifications Gertrude nursed at a private hospital from June 1915 to August 1915 and became a member of the Royal British Nurses Association (Reg No. 4753) & the Australian Trained Nursing Association.

Gertrude then moved to Moseley Street, Glenelg and in June 1916 she went for a 2 month holiday to Honolulu.

In April 1917 an urgent request from the British Director General of Medical Services called for four contingents of AANS nurses to be dispatched to Salonika to increase the hospital services there. Although there were no Australian soldiers fighting on this front, Australian nurses were sent to relieve the British, French and Canadian nurses and to provide nursing care to British soldiers and Bulgarian Prisoners of War.

At the age of 38, Gertrude enlisted into the Australian Army Nursing Service on the 7th of June 1917 in Keswick, SA.

Gertrude embarked from Adelaide, 7 days later, on the 14th of June on board RMS Mooltan as a staff nurse with 21 other nurses under the charge of Matron Ethelda Runnalls UREN as part of the 3rd Contingent.

She disembarked in Suez on the 19th of July and then embarked for Salonika on the 8th of August 1917 on board SS Huntsgreen.
She served with the 60th British General Military Hospital in Hortiach and whilst she was there her friend, Nurse Adelaide Laua SOLLY enlisted into the AANS on the 5th of September 1917 and she served on the Hospital Ship Karoola.

After spend her last Christmas in Salonika in 1918, she embarked for leave to England on the 24th of January 1919.

When her leave ended she reported for duty on the 5th of February and was attached to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Dartford.
After 6 weeks here she was granted extended leave on the 24th of March to attend the National School of Cookery at Battersea Polytechnic Institute.

Gertrude passed her exams on the 15th of July and was then granted further leave and found time to visit Scotland and Ireland before obtaining permission to go to France, where she paid a visit to the battlefields of that country and Belgium. She also ran down to Cologne, where she called on several friends who were serving with the army of occupation.

She embarked for Australia on the 22nd of August 1919 on board HT Anchises and disembarked in Adelaide on the 5th of October.

Gertrude was then posted to the 7th Australian General Hospital at Keswick for 6 weeks before she was discharged from the AANS on the 30th of December 1919.

Sister SOLLY had been discharged from the AANS in April 1919 and Gertrude and Adelaide reacquainted.

Outside of hotels and boarding houses it was been practically impossible to find accommodation for patients convalescing after operations, etc…
Realising that there was not an up to date Nursing and Rest Home in Adelaide they purchased a 15 room residence from Mr. H. W. Payne at 5 Farrell Street, New Glenelg and converted it into a private hospital, which they named Warringa.

The site was an ideal one, being within a couple of hundred yards of the beach. It was picturesquely set amidst a wealth of shade trees, well-kept lawns and trims and possessed all conveniences in the way of hot-water service, gas, electric light, etc…
They built a perfectly lighted operating theatre and the appointments generally left nothing to be desired.
Being just off the Mall, where the traffic at times was somewhat considerable, absolute quiet was assured and it was a great desideratum where nerve patients were concerned.

Close proximity to the sea made the home an ideal one for convalescents for whom either sea air or sea bathing was essential.

Their hospital is now the location of the Glenelg Community Hospital.

They retired and sold their hospital in 1938 and purchased a home at 54 Cross Roads, Myrtle Bank.

Gertrude died on the 30th of September 1941 at Glenelg and was privately buried in the St Jude’s Cemetery, Brighton with her father, sister and brother.

Adelaide died on the 10th of July 1958 and was buried in Centennial Park.

Gertrude’s brother William was editor of 'Faulding's Journal' from 1899 to 1913 and of the 'Standard,' Adelaide, from 1913 to 1918.
He was chairman of the South Australian Corps of Veterans and was founder of the veteran movement in Australia.
Always keenly interested in the work of the District Trained Nursing Society, William was a life member of the council of the society in South Australia and of the Royal British Nurses Association.

He suggested and arranged the Lucknow Relief Jubilee Celebrations in Australia in 1907 and induced the Commonwealth Government to give an annual dinner to active service veterans and the right of military funerals to all Crimean and Mutiny veterans dying in Australia.
William represented South Australia at the jubilee of District Trained Nursing at Liverpool in 1909, the international Congress on Alcohol and the International Nursing Congress in London, in the same year.

He was one of the original members of the Royal Aero Club of S.A. and president of the Glenelg branch of the District Trained Nursing Society for some years, and was at one time chairman of the Glenelg Oval Association.

Military

At the age of 38, Gertrude enlisted into the Australian Army Nursing Service on the 7th of June 1917 in Keswick, SA.
She listed her brother, William, of Moseley Street, Glenelg, SA as her next of kin.

Gertrude embarked from Adelaide, 7 days later, on the 14th of June on board RMS Mooltan as a staff nurse with 21 other nurses under the charge of Matron Ethelda Runnalls UREN as part of the 3rd Contingent.

German submarines presented a constant threat in the Mediterranean and it was deemed safer to send Australian nurses via Egypt than from England, as the route was more dangerous.

They disembarked in Suez on the 19th of July and then embarked for Salonika on the 8th of August 1917 on board SS Huntsgreen.
Five days later they disembarked in Salonika and were posted to the 60th British General Military Hospital in Hortiach.

This was a Tent Hospital and the winter was exceedingly severe; the wind was known as the Vardar wind and it was almost a blizzard with heavy falls of snow and very low temperatures at night.
The extreme temperatures caused drugs, ink and hot water bottles to regularly freeze in the morning. Wintry conditions were a danger to the nurses as some fainted, while others were affected with carbon monoxide poisoning as fuel was almost impossible to obtain and the only means of heating came from charcoal burnt in braziers.

In October the water raced through their tented wards and reached halfway up the bedsteads with haversacks, boots, socks and pants floating down the road.
The lanterns would continually blow out and leave the nurses in the dark.

The nurses had arrived with summer clothing only and during the winter they had to wear men’s pyjama pants, putties, gum boots and men’s shirts to keep them warm.
They would tuck their dresses around their waist and worked over their ankles deep in mud, dragging one foot out then and then the other and standing on one leg in grim peril or sitting down hastily with the rain oozing through their mack’s.

Along with the weather they had difficulties in obtaining fresh food and they drew rations just as the soldiers did (though they did not use their rum ration!). Once a week they had iron rations, which was bully beef and biscuits.
At other times the ‘home sister’ allocated to each hospital for the purposes of attempting to obtain fresh vegetables, eggs or milk would be successful.

Despite the harsh winters, there was little respite in the warmer months as the heat of the summers was as intense as the cold of the winters.
As in India, permission was granted for nurses to wear white uniforms.
Due to the scarcity of suitable material this led to improvised uniforms using white aprons and used sheets.
The heat also contributed to the malaria which dominated the difficult summer months. The many ravines and streams in the area made ideal breeding grounds for mosquitos and most of the nurses were affected by malaria one time or another.
Owing to the extremes in weather and the location of the hospitals near mosquito infested ravines, modification of the AANS uniform was a necessity. The style of uniform worn during the war changed according to the conditions the nurses found themselves in and Salonika was no exception.

In the malaria season they were supposed to wear veils, long gloves and putties, which made it quite impossible to carry out their duties, when men were rigoring and vomiting all night long. So they just had to do away with the precautions and run the risk of being bitten with mosquitos.

A ‘mosquito proof’ nurse would be clad in her working dress, huge gloves, rubber boots and thick veil, making it incredibly difficult to move and nurse. Unfortunately this amount of protection still did not do the trick, as suitable leg coverings, such as long boots, were too expensive for the nurses. Although recommendation was made for the boots to be bought for them, it was made shortly before the war ended and came too late.

Despite the rigours of the climate, the overall health of the expedition was good.
The most serious health problem, which had long-term consequences, was malaria. Fortunately, although many sisters suffered greatly from malaria and dysentery (75 were invalided to Australia) only one was lost from the disease. This was Sister Gertrude Evelyn Munro (Munnie) of the 43rd British General Hospital, who died on the 10th of October 1918 at the age of 36 years.
She was buried with full military honours at the British War Cemetery in Salonika.

During her time in Salonika Gertrude was hospitalised for 2 weeks in June 1918 with Dysentery and was promoted to Sister.
After spend her last Christmas in Salonika in 1918, she embarked fro leave to England on the 24th of January 1919.

When her leave ended she reported for duty on the 5th of February and was attached to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Dartford.
After 6 weeks here she was granted extended leave on the 24th of March to attend the National School of Cookery at Battersea Polytechnic Institute.

Gertrude passed her exams on the 15th of July and was then granted further leave and found time to visit Scotland and Ireland before obtaining permission to go to France, where she paid a visit to the battlefields of that country and Belgium. She also ran down to Cologne, where she called on several friends who were serving with the army of occupation.

She embarked for Australia on the 22nd of August 1919 on board HT Anchises and disembarked in Adelaide on the 5th of October.

Gertrude was then posted to the 7th Australian General Hospital at Keswick for 6 weeks before she was discharged from the AANS on the 30th of December 1919 and awarded the British War & Victory Medals.