Grace Horwood THOMPSON

THOMPSON, Grace Horwood

Service Number: Staff Nurse
Enlisted: 10 October 1914
Last Rank: Sister
Last Unit: 14th Australian General Hospital
Born: Benalla, Victoria, Australia , 13 October 1889
Home Town: Strathfield, Strathfield, New South Wales
Schooling: Burwood Primary School, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation: Nurse
Died: Renal cell carcinoma, Repatriation Hospital, Concord, New South Wales, Australia, 18 October 1959, aged 70 years
Cemetery: Not yet discovered
Memorials:
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World War 1 Service

10 Oct 1914: Enlisted Australian Army Nursing Service (WW1), Staff Nurse, Staff Nurse, Australian Army Nursing Service (WW1)
28 Nov 1914: Embarked Australian Army Nursing Service (WW1), 2nd Australian General Hospital: AIF, HMAT Kyarra from Sydney
1 Dec 1915: Promoted Australian Army Nursing Service (WW1), Sister, 2nd Australian General Hospital: AIF
29 Jul 1916: Involvement 14th Australian General Hospital, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '24' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Orsova embarkation_ship_number: A67 public_note: ''
29 Jul 1916: Embarked 14th Australian General Hospital, HMAT Orsova, Sydney
31 Jan 1917: Discharged Australian Army Nursing Service (WW1), 14th Australian General Hospital, Resigned due to marriage

Help us honour Grace Horwood Thompson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Faithe Jones

Daughter of John Lowe THOMPSON and Agnes Clay nee KENTISH

Resigned in England on 31 January 1917 due to marriage
Married Piero Francisco FIASCHI

Biography contributed by Sue Smith

Grace Horwood Thompson was born on the 13th October 1889 at Benalla, Victoria.  She was the daughter of John and Agnes Thompson and had 3 brothers and 4 sisters.  One of the brothers, Frank, was her twin.  The family moved to Burwood NSW in 1891 where Grace had her early education at Ballyshanassy School which later became Burwood Primary School.  Grace attended the Presbyterian Ladies College in the neighbouring suburb of Croydon from 1904-1905. 

In 1909 Grace began her nursing training at Royal Prince Albert Hospital in Sydney and gained her certificate in 1913.

Grace enlisted as a Staff Nurse with the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) on the 10th October 1914 just 3 days before her 25th birthday.  She’s described as being 5ft 8ins tall with blue eyes, blonde hair and a fair complexion.  She was assigned to serve with the 2nd Australian General Hospital (2AGH) and embarked from Sydney on the 28th November 1914 on the HMAT Kyarra.  Upon arrival in Egypt she proceeded to Mena Camp in Cairo where 2nd AGH was established in Mena House. 

On the 1st December 1915 Grace was promoted to Sister. 

Grace contracted the mumps in late January 1916 and was admitted to the 4th Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Abbassia.  Subsequently, she was returned to Australia leaving from Suez on the HMAT Runic on the 11th April 1916 undertaking nursing duties on the return voyage.  She arrived back home in Australia on the 12th May but rather than resigning, she chose to continue serving in the AANS so she re-embarked on the HMAT Orsova from Sydney on the 29th July 1916.  She was assigned to serve with the 14th Australian General Hospital, a newly formed unit which was to serve in England.  A number of the nursing staff were sent on ahead and undertook nursing duties on the ship.  However, just days before the bulk of the unit was to embark, the orders were changed and the 14th AGH was assigned to replace the 3rd AGH in Egypt and that unit was to go to England instead.  The 14th AGH embarked from Melbourne on the 18th August 1916 and arrived in Egypt on the 23rd September 1916.  Meanwhile, Grace had arrived in England and was subsequently detached for duty to the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Harefield on 21st October 1916.  This was a convalescent hospital for the wounded from France.

She remained serving here until her marriage to Army doctor Piero Fiaschi, 10 years her senior and the son of renowned and decorated Army doctor Thomas Fiaschi.  The marriage took place in the All Saints Parish Church at Marylebone, Middlesex, England on the 31st January 1917.  Married nurses were not allowed to serve in the AANS so she was discharged from the service on the same date as her marriage. 

Piero was a surgeon at Sydney Hospital prior to the war so they may have met in Australia before the war or in Egypt when Piero, while serving at Gallipoli, was evacuated in November 1915 suffering from septicaemia, to the 2AGH in Cairo where Grace was serving.  Piero then served in France during 1916 while Grace continued serving in Egypt and then returned to Australia and subsequently embarked for England. 

Just after they were married Piero was posted to a hospital in England in March 1917.  He returned to serve in France in March 1918 and was returned to Australia in November 1918.  He stopped off at San Francisco on the way home and arrived in Sydney on Christmas Eve 1918.  It’s not known whether Grace returned to Australia after her marriage to Piero or if she stayed in England and returned to Australia with him in 1918. 

Piero set up a practice in Phillip Street Sydney where Grace assisted him and in 1920 they bought a beautiful 3 story home at Darling Point overlooking Sydney Harbour.  It was called “Craigholme” and was built in 1856 for Sir Thomas Mitchell, the NSW Surveyor General. 

On the 16th October 1923, 3 days after Grace’s 34th birthday, they welcomed a daughter, Katherine Agnes.  She was to be their only child.  She married in June 1947 and on the 6th March 1948 Grace and Piero welcomed their first grandchild. 

In June 1948, after 31 years of marriage, Piero was severely burned when a kerosene stove he was lighting exploded.  He was admitted to Sydney Hospital, where he had worked for some time as an honorary surgeon, but died 2 weeks later on the 15th June aged 69.  It was said that he was a casualty of the gas shortage being experienced at the time. 

Grace sold “Craigholme” in 1952 and went to live with her daughter and son-in-law in Wahroonga.  She died from renal cell carcinoma at the Repatriation General Hospital, Concord NSW, on 18th October 1959...5 days after her 70th birthday.  She was survived by her daughter and 5 grandchildren.               

Grace Horwood Thompson was awarded for service in WW1 the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Respectfully submitted by Sue Smith 22nd November 2021.

 

Sources

file:///C:/Users/gsue0/Downloads/GraceFiaschi_Thompson_WWINurse%20(6).pdf

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