Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Annie Kinsman Sexton was born on the 25 of September 1891. She was the daughter of Mary Anne Playford and John Henry Sexton of 45 Groove Street, Unley Park, SA. Annie had four siblings, including her sisters Louise, Nellie and Marie and her brother Murray. She was the only one of her family to serve in the War. Before serving she had had previous work as a nurse, which was why she decided to then be a nurse for the Army.  She also belonged to the Baptist church, was 5 feet 4¾ inches (162 cm) tall.

Annie enlisted as an army nurse on the 24th of May and shipped out on the 23rd of June 1914 on the RMS Khiva.  During her time, she served as a Staff Nurse or a Sister, which was the most common rank for a nurse and would be the equivalent to a private. At the time of her enlistment, she was 25 years old, which would have been around the average age for a nurse. She arrived at London where she was then transported to the hospital in Southwell. This is where Annie would have spent almost the entirety of here time, excluding a couple of break says Annie served until the 16th of November 1919 due to a “Cessation of Hostilities”, meaning the war had ended and there was no more wounded soldiers coming in.

Being a nurse during the war, she would have been trained to treat a large different variety of illnesses or wounds that a solider may have gotten. This includes gunshot wounds, stab wounds and a variety of illnesses that soldiers developed in the trenches. Due to the fact that she served for the Australian army, she would not only take in and treated Australian soldiers but also soldiers from the British army and allies to the British army.

After the war, Annie moved backed to Adelaide where lived out the rest of her life, although she never married nor had children. Annie died at the age of 97 in the 1988. She was buried at Mitcham General Cemetery (Picture of Tombstone Included).