Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Daughter of Thomas Jagger and Bessie May ALLCHIN
Of 21 Royal Parade, Parkville
Served in Egypt, England, France and India
Returned to Australia 15 July 1919 per 'Somalia'
Appointment terminated 26 September 1919
Married Wallace Ernest (Tassie) MORLEY
Loved mother of Nernette (Mrs. L T MORTON, Yarroweyah)
Resided 'Sutton Grange' 6 A'Beckett Street, Kew, Vic.

Biography

Ethel Alice ALLCHIN Ethel’s Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad shows she was born in Rockhampton in 1888. She completed her General Nurse training at The Austin Hospital Melbourne in 1913. Service Details:  Sister Allchin was 27 years old when she joined AANS as a Sister on 5th November 1915. She embarked in Melbourne aboard HMAT A67 “Orsova” on 12th November 1915. While overseas she served in India, Egypt, England, and France. The highs and lows of overseas war service can often be found in letters written home to relatives and friends. One such example was written by Sister Allchin from Southall, England, to her Aunt:

“I am only on temporary duty so expect a move shortly at any time again. This is only for convalescent limbless men. It is most pathetic to see the men who have both legs off. They crawl along the floor like little children when they are not in their own wheelchairs. That is the ones with their legs off below the knees. There are an awful lot here with one leg off. I have seen very few with their arms missing.   Last Tuesday I had the day off and several others visited Windsor Castle. It was a beautiful trip. After touring round the different apartments we were invited to morning tea in which Princess Mary waited on us. The objections to that were the cups were too big & coarse to drink out off. We were each given by Princess Mary a postcard of the castle. In attendance were Ladies Fortescue-Farquahar-Carey & the French governess.

Sister Allchin returned to Australia on 15th July 1919 aboard SS “Somali."  Her appointment was terminated on 26th September 1919. Post War:  Ethel married Wallace Ernest Morley. She died on 27th January 1953 at home in Melbourne and is buried at the Burwood Cemetery. In his book “Warrior – The Legend of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, New York”: St. Martin’s Press. ISBN: 978-0312182717, author Peter A. Capstick writes:  “German defense there had become so strong that Allenby decided to plant contrived documents that would suggest that the real attack was coming further into the desert at a later date than the intended date, and that the operation through Gaza was a feint, or diversionary attack” The letter, thought to be written by a nurse at El Arish, was said to have been in the contrived documents which later changed this phase of the war. On the Australian Light Horse Association Forum website, Steve Becker in his information of Nurses in Egypt, posted on 18th December 2013, the possibility that Sister Allchin was the nurse who wrote the letter for Meinertzhagen (Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, the British soldier and ornithologist (a scientist who studies birds, focusing on their behaviour, ecology, physiology, taxonomy, and conservation), he was a historical figure active in Africa, the Middle East, and Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries).