239058 Hilda Brownrigg Voluntary Aid Detachment from:Haslemere, Surrey Hilda Brownrigg, VAD, passed the British Red Cross Society's exam in 'Home Nursing' in September 1914, and was re-examined successfully in October 1914 for 'First Aid to the injured', when based at the Chelsea VAD. Hospital. She was posted to France from January to May 1915 to the Hopital de l'alliance at Yvetot as a probationer, and received a certificate of thanks from the Committee of the Allies Hospital Benevolent Society. From June to August 1915 she was posted to another military hospital in France, when based at her home in Surrey, and spent the rest of the war working at the Admiralty. A fluent French speaker, she may have served in France for only a shortish period because she was near the upper age limit for VAD nurses abroad.
Another sister, Norah, worked for the Italian Red Cross, and the youngest sister, Helen, was a VAD Nurse at stationary hospitals in Harfleur and Étaples from 1915-19. The daughters of a doctor in General Practice, none of the sisters ever married. Hilda and Helen continued with their nursing work until after World War 2 and lived together for about thirty years in London and Guildford, Surrey, where they died in the 1960s - they are buried in Milford Cemetery.
Hilda and Helen were my courageous great aunts whose memory should be honoured.
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