Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Daughter of John Walter YEATMAN and Katherine Maude nee BROWNE
Of Auburn, SA

Married Lieut Hugh HART-DAVIES RFA and RFC on 05 November 1921 at St. Augustine's Church, Queens' Gate, London.                                                                           

ANZAC Spirit School Prize Biography 2022 contributed by Eman Alaboody, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College

Auburn residents in South Australia contributed to war efforts to assist their allies in WW1, a prominent family that displayed patriotic values and the characteristics of the Anzac Spirit were the Yeatman family of Dr John Walter Yeatman and Katherine Maude nee Brown. A dedicated and established member of the Auburn community, Dr John Walter Yeatman (also a Police Magistrate) assisted in local fundraisers for the Great War and was described as an influential and responsible citizen. Being the single Auburn individual to volunteer as a nurse for WW1, one of Dr John Walter Yeatman’s daughters served overseas. Her name was

Evelyn Marguerita Yeatman and this is her story…

Evelyn Marguerita (Madge) Yeatman was born on the 8th of June, 1891 in Auburn South Australia to Dr John Walter Yeatman and Katherine Maude nee Brown. The fifth of a total of eight children, Evelyn was educated through home tuition and enrolled at the Auburn Public school on the 10th of June 1904 at 13 years of age.

Evelyn gained nursing qualifications and experience through exhaustive training at the Adelaide Children’s Hospital, including external examinations and an accredited nursing program.

Receiving a pass in Invalid Cookery and the Australasian Trained Nurses Association Examination, she was admitted a member of the Australian Trained Nursing Association at the completion of her training. Nurtured in a considerably large family surrounded by pillars of dedication, conscientiousness, and other strong qualities and with her brothers already serving the nation overseas, Evelyn was also keen to fulfill her obligation through her achievements in the Australian Trained Nursing Association. Evelyn’s brother, Lieutenant Charleton Yeatman OBE, served in the Australian Medical Corps which perhaps further inspired her to heroically serve overseas in the war also (State Library of South Australia, 2022). Immediately following the success of qualifying for the duty, she volunteered for the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) enabling direct participation in the war effort (appendix 5). The active service comprised “trained nurses who are qualified and willing to serve with stationary field hospitals and base hospitals when required upon national emergency” (Lambert, Kay, 2018).

Inoculated on New Year’s Day in 1916, Evelyn was not required for duty until that same year on the 21st of December which was when she had become a staff nurse. On the 18th of April in 1917, she happily enlisted and signed a declaration agreeing to serve in the AANS for the duration of the war. Travelling to Melbourne aged 25, Evelyn joined the Hospital ship HMAT A63 Karoola which set sail on the 21st of April arriving in Avonmouth England on the 17th of June. After less than three weeks in England, Evelyn sailed for France on the 5th of July 1917 where she was assigned to the British Army 25th General Hospital. Evelyn was among the 100 nurses sent to the 25th British General Hospital which was housed in tents and a former hotel in coastal sandhills at Hardelot. The hospital specialised in dermatological diseases with wounded men later sent there (Lambert, Kay, 2018).

By 1917, medical treatment within the Army had drastically improved in clinical aspects, resulting in efficient patient and hospital management. Evelyn supported the idea of ensuring the effort had been made to treat sick men within France rather than sending them to Britain to be diagnosed and treated.

Families situated within the Auburn suburb received letters from serving family members during their time recuperating or in hospitalisation in England before being repatriated to Australia or back to the war front in France. In an unfortunate circumstance, Evelyn was admitted to hospital due to scarlet fever receiving initial treatment in France and then transferring to a hospital suited for nurses in London. After an extensive recovery period, Evelyn managed to return to France also joining the 1st Australian General Hospital at the Race-Course Camp in Rouen on the 27th of February, 1918. By the 9th of December in 1918, the Hospital discharged any remaining patients prior to its return to England between 8-10 January 1919. Evelyn was recorded as an “invalid” nurse when embarking on the HMAT A14 Euripides to return to Australia. Administrators recorded her as demobilised and unfit as she was yet to recover from Scarlet Fever imposing her arrival in Adelaide with 143 South Australians required to spend 7 days at Torrens Island Quarantine Station (Lambert, Kay, 2018).

Evelyn returned to England on the 5th of November in 1921 and married Lieutenant Roland Hugh Hart Davies in London which led to her reference as Evelyn Marguerita Hart-Davies (The Register, 1921). Roland Hugh Hart Davies was a British Artillery Officer who while flying as a Royal Flying Corps observer, was shot down over Belgium in 1917 and critically wounded spending the remaining war as a German prisoner. Evelyn visited her family at Auburn alongside Roland during early 1922 but returned to England to live where a British publication recorded the birth of their son in July 1923. Unfortunately, the marriage did not endure and came to an end in 1939 in an uncontested divorce on the grounds of her husband’s adultery.

Believing in responsibility, the outbreak of the Second World War in 1945 provoked Evelyn in joining a munitions factory which entailed the engagement and dismissal of women employees within welfare work. Shortly afterwards, the Imperial Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen’s Help Society (originally formed during the Boer War and acronymised as ISSAHS) called for 40 women welfare workers to travel to Burma (News, 1947). Evelyn attended this duty necessitating the strenuous work of rehabilitation, re-settlement, and maintenance of soldiers’ domestic troubles. Between June 1945 and 1947, she travelled through Malaya, Singapore, India, and Burma for the philanthropic purpose of helping soldiers. In various accounts, Evelyn was injured by a bomb blast in Birmingham during the Blitz and contracted Malaria in Burma with the results of serious illnesses on two occasions. In March 1947, following her engagement in welfare work with British troops in Singapore, Burma, Malaya, and India, Evelyn reunited with her sisters; Constance Ethel and Audrey Joan after an absence of 25 years. On the 26th of April, Evelyn and other former nursing colleagues participated in Anzac Day Commemorations wearing the captain’s uniform of the Imperial Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen’s Help Society.

Evelyn Marguerita Yeatman embodied diverse Anzac Spirit characteristics including sacrifice, mateship, perseverance, endurance, heroism, and devotion to duty. Joining the Australian Army Nursing Service forced courageous and dedicated women to work in overwhelming, apprehensive, difficult, terrifying conditions and with the expectation of sustaining their composure to care for patients in military clinics and hospitals near battlefields and casualty clearing stations close to the front line (Anzac Portal, 2020). In the face of adversity, Australian nurses were established to be enthusiastic, diligent, and resilient. Poor facilities, a shortage of staff, sickness, and a severe climate were among the challenges they faced. Remarkably, Evelyn had exceeded these substantial expectations, conquered these challenges and continued to do so after WW1 whilst partaking in a crucial responsibility in the ISSAHS.

Traumatisingly confronted with soldiers’ fatalities and agitative surroundings, Evelyn initiatively acted to treat wounded individuals and remained resourceful when exposed to the devastating events of war. This required a strong mental capacity – to be caring for patients whilst in terrifying conditions. Often, soldiers and nurses disappear from active service after a couple of years due to traumatic experiences and memories. However, Evelyn patriotically continued to serve during the Second World War knowing she was the single person from her hometown to be doing this. Initiating a mission unaccompanied requires great courage and confidence in one’s capabilities.

Details of Evelyn’s life remain unidentified after 1947. With the cause of death residing unknown, she passed away on the 25th of June in 1986 in Victoria with her remains scattered in Springvale Botanical Cemetery in Melbourne (Virtual War Memorial Australia, n.d). Local historians within Evelyn’s hometown in Auburn are privileged and proud of Evelyn’s committed service also providing an exemplary model of the Anzac Spirit in WW1. She will always be remembered as an extraordinary woman, inspiring leader, and authoritative representation of the Anzac Spirit as historians understand her to be their only resident in Auburn to have nursed overseas in either of the World Wars.

 
 REFERENCE LIST
 

Websites:

Anzac Portal, 2020. Department of Veterans' Affairs - Australian Army Nursing Service in World War I. [Online] Available at: https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/ww1/military organisation/australian-imperial-force/australian-army-nursing-service [Accessed 7 May 2022].

Hampton, S., 2021. Of Auburn - The Untold Stories of Women in War. [Online] Available at: https://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/auburn-untold-stories-women-war [Accessed 8 May 2022].

Lambert, Kay, 2018. Auburn's History Column - Yeatman.pdf. [Online] Available at: https://rslvwm.s3.amazonaws.com/I/documents/7313/file/yeatman.pdf [Accessed 7 May 2022].

Virtual War Memorial Australia, n.d. Explore People - Evelyn Marguerita (Madge) Yeatman. [Online] Available at: https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/209507 [Accessed 5 April 2022].

Biography written by Eman Alaboody, Our Lady Sacred Heart College, SA attached as a document. Winning entry for 2022 Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize.