Llandovery Castle

[chickenfeet]

 I saw (and reviewed for OC) a new opera about the sinking of HMHS Llandovery Castle by U86 on this day in 1918.  It made me think about a few things besides the opera.  It's the status of the nursing sisters; 14 of whom died, that interests me.  They were the first women to be recognised as part of the military.  Indeed they held commissions.  That's interesting because women have been nursing wounded men for as long as there has been war; right back to big rocks and pointy sticks.  But in 1914 it's recognized as "respectable" for the first time.  So much so that female members of the military (and some female relatives of serving men) were allowed to vote in the Federal "conscription" election of 1917.  Given that the polls opened hours earlier for the CEF members in Europe, nursing sisters must have been the first women to vote in a Canadian federal election.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Respectable is what 'camp followers' as they were called certainly were not, but I've been fascinated by them as long as I have been a student of history!