Army Nurse Mary Alice Sherriff

Mary Alice Sherriff enlisted in the British India Nursing Service unit (1) of the Australian Imperial Forces on February 27, 1918. She was aged 27 and her next of kin was her mother, Mrs M. A. Sherriff,  of A'Beckett Street in Bunyip (2). Mary was born in Longwarry in 1890 to Alfred and Maria (nee Auchetto) Sherriff. She was the eldest of their seven children.  Alfred was a blacksmith and had a business in Longwarry for seventeen years, before moving his business to Bunyip and later to Tynong. Maria operated a  grocery and drapery in Bunyip (3). 

Alf Sherriff opens up a his business in Tynong. The claim that Tynong some day may be the queen city of the east was ambitious (and as it turns out, wrong)

Bunyip Free Press July 15, 1915 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129630666

Maria Sherriff's business.

Bunyip and Garfield Express September 9, 1913

Mary completed her training at Warragul Hospital  in May 1917 when she passed the Royal Victorian Trained Nurses Association examinations (4). 

Nurse Sherriff was mentioned in this bereavement notice inserted in the Bunyip Free Press by Mr Fawkner after the death of his wife, who died on August 11, 1915 after a lengthy  illness that was borne with great fortitude (5).  Mary obviously made an impression on the Fawkner family to be mentioned in the notice. 

Bunyip Free Press, August 19, 1915 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129630758

The only other reference I could find to Mary during her period of  nursing training was an article  in October 1915 in the West Gippsland Gazette (6) where she and some of her fellow nurses sold buttons, on Button Day,  as a fund-raiser for the Warragul Hospital. Nurse Sherriff, Nurse Percy, Sister McLeod and Nurse West sold 750 buttons on the day and being Thursday, market day, Warragul was very busy. The townsfolk were enthusiastic and they raised over £23 that day. On the Tuesday two other nurses, Nurse Perry and Nurse Hawkins, had raised over £11 in Drouin making a grand total of over £35. The report said that the people were very generous in their responses to the winning allurements of the nurses (7). I am taking this to mean that the Nurses were well regarded and looked upon with affection by the Community, because many reports I have seen over the years suggests that this was the case all throughout Australia.

Part of the report on Button Day, the Warragul Hospital fund-raiser.

West Gippsland Gazette, October 26, 1915 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68619794

Army Nurses had to be qualified and experienced, so Mary could not enlist before she finished her training. Mary left Melbourne on March 6, 1918 for Bombay (as Mumbai was then called) and commenced duty at the Colaba War Hospital on May 1, 1918. Whilst she was serving at Colaba she was admitted to the Hospital suffering from small pox. Disease was an ever present danger to the Nurses and Soldiers who served overseas.

This photo was taken at the Colaba War Hospital, where Mary served.

Group portrait of the medical and nursing staff of the Colaba War Hospital, Bombay.

Australian War Memorial Image P07133.005

In August, she was transferred to the Station Hospital at  Barrackapore and in July 1919 to the 34th Welsh General Hospital at Deolali, a British Army Camp. 

The 34th Welsh General Hospital at Deolali, where Mary also served.

Australian War Memorial Image H12551

On November 17, 1919 Mary embarked from Bombay  to Singapore on the S.S Dilwara, where she transferred to the S.S. Charon. She arrived in Fremantle on January 19, 1920 and then overlanded to Melbourne where she arrived on January 23. On her arrival in Melbourne Mary was accomodated at the Nurses' Hostel, Grand Hotel, Spring Street. The Grand Hotel is now the Windsor Hotel.  Mary was discharged in September 1920 (8). 

On January 28, 1922 Mary was married to Archibald Duncan of Black Rock (9). At the time of their marriage Archibald was working for the Victorian Railways and they moved to Newstead, near Castlemaine; then Maryborough and from around 1931, they lived at Chelsea (10). Archibald died November 1, 1957 and Mary in on January 28, 1984 (11).  I don't know if they had any children.

Marriage notice of Mary and Archibald

The Argus March 9, 1922 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4689224

Footnotes

(1) The Australian War Memorial website has some information about Australian nursing in India during the First World War here https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/nursing-british-raj

(2) Mary Alice Sherriff's First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920 see it here.
(3) This information is from the Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages; from the book Call of the Bunyip: History of Bunyip, Iona and Tonimbuk, 1847-1990 by Denise Nest (Bunyip History Committee1990) and from the advertisment of Maria's business (shown above) from the Bunyip and Garfield Express September 9, 1913. Mary's siblings were Clarence, Hilda, Irene, Eileen, Albert and Roy.

Death notice of Alfred Sherriff, who died May 7, 1931. Maria died in September and is buried at Bunyip with Alfred.

The Age May 8, 1931 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205848874

(4) The Argus June 7, 1917, see here.

(5) Bunyip Free Press, August 19, 1915, see here.

(6) West Gippsland Gazette, October 26, 1915, see here.  

(7) West Gippsland Gazette, October 26, 1915, see here.  

(8) The information about Mary's War service is from her file at the National Archives of Australia, part of the First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920, see it here.
(9) Marriage notice in The Argus March 9, 1922, see here. 
(10) Information from the Electoral Rolls, available on Ancestry.com
(11) Date of deaths from the Wills and Probate files at the Public Records Office of Victoria, www.prov.vic.gov.au