VAD Nurse Flora Ellen BarlowThis free script provided by JavaScript Kit
© The Wooster Family Group
VAD Nurse Florence (Flora) Ellen Barlow (nee Wooster) Tree By Nick Wooster and Sally ScagellFlorence Ellen Wooster was born on 20th January 1876 at Laura Place in High Wycombe1. Flora was the first of eight children born to her parents Thomas Wooster, a great grandson of William Wooster and Hannah Bennell and a chair maker of High Wycombe and Ellen Charlotte Veary, who were married in the previous year. Ellen had been widowed previously and Flora's birth certificate erroneously gives her mother's maiden name as Britter. In a multiple Christening on the 23rd April 1885, Flora was baptised at All Saints in High Wycombe when she was nine, along with her siblings Lily Elizabeth, William James and Albert Edward2. At this point, the family lived at 4 Albert Street. By 1891 they had moved to the nearby 30 Duke Street3 and by 1895 they had moved again to 31 Gordon Road2.At the age of twenty-two, Flora married Herbert Barlow, a boot finisher aged 24, at All Saints on 24th December 18984. Her father Thomas and sister Lily were witnesses. In 1899 Flora and Herbert lived at 412 Berkhamsted Road in Chesham, where their son Bertram Walter Barlow was born5, but by 1904 they were back at the family home in Gordon Road, High Wycombe, where their daughter Constance Ellen was born6 and by 1911 they had moved the short distance to 7 Slater Street7. In 1918 with World War One still ongoing, the new threat of the Spanish Flu emerged and on 13th June of that year, Flora, who had enrolled as a Voluntary Aid Detachment Probationer Nurse (VAD Nurse) and served as a VAD nurse at the High Wycombe VAD hospital for three years, was transferred to the military hospital at Bethnal Green.8,9 VAD's were numbered at around 74,000 in 1914 and upon the outbreak of war, many volunteered their services. The shortage of professional nurses paved the way for VAD's to work in military hospitals, both at home and abroad, although many lacked the skills and discipline required and this initially led to an uneasy relationship between trained nurses and VAD's. As the war progressed, these problems eased as a result of improved experience and training and professional nurses became more accepting of the contribution of the VAD's. Much more can be found on the VAD on Wikipedia, The Red Cross and ScarlettFinders websites10.All Saints in High Wycombe, where Florence was baptised and married.
Flora's service in Bethnal Green was tragically to last only four months as Flora herself fell victim to the flu. Flora was visiting her daughter in St Albans when she became ill and was transferred to the hospital at St Albans where she died on 23rd October 1918 aged 41 from influenza and double pneumonia. Her home address was given as 7 Slater Street, High Wycombe8. Flora was buried on 30th October 1918 at the cemetery in her home town of High Wycombe10. An obituary in the local press gives a detailed account of Flora's funeral and as it was a semi-military funeral it was quite a grand affair. Her coffin, covered by the Union Jack, was borne on a gun-carriage, followed by three mourning carriages. The first part of the burial service was conducted at Trinity Congregational Church by the Reverend Gaut. Later the R.F.A. firing party under Lieutenant Allingham, fired three volleys over Flora's grave and the trumpeters sounded the Last Post. Flora's husband and daughter Connie were in attendance but sadly not their son, Bert, who had only recently returned wounded from France and was still in hospital in England. Many of Flora's Wooster relatives attended, including siblings William, Lilian and Edwin, along with her colleagues from the Military Hospital in Bethnal Green, and nurses and wounded men from the VAD Hospital in High Wycombe. There were many floral tributes from family and friends including one from the boys of Ward 6 at the Bethnal Green Military Hospital. In a re-enactment day at High Wycombe Cemetery, a participant in a VAD nurse's uniform was photographed with Flora's, as the time, unmarked grave in the background.
The picture opposite, from the ScarletFinders website shows a group of nurses from WW1 and a variety of uniforms worn by VAD nurses. Uniforms varied and changed throughout the war and could depend on a number of factors, including the experience of the nurse, whether a Red Cross or St John's nurse and even the availability of materials.In this picture, the nurse at the centre with the cross on her apron is a VAD nurse, as is the nurse on her right and these are typical of the sort of uniform which would have been worn by Florence. The lady at the back with the dog is either the Commandant or a professional nurse. Much more can be found on the ScarlettFinders website. Sources 1. Birth Certificate 2. Buckinghamshire Family History Society Baptisms 3. 1891 Census, Sub registration district: High Wycombe, ED: 8, Piece: 1138, Folio: 112 4. Buckinghamshire Family History Society Marriages 5. Birth Certificate of son 6. Birth Certificate of daughter 7. 1911 Census, Registration district: Wycombe, Registration District Number: 145, Sub-registration district: Wycombe, ED: 10, Household schedule number: 79, Piece: 7873 8. Death Certificate 9. Bucks Herald 10. Scarlettfinders (http://www.scarletfinders.co.uk/)
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, as part of the In From The Cold project have recognised that Flora died in war service and have now placed a CWGC headstone on her grave. Flora's husband Herbert and her sister Lily Elizabeth and are also buried in this plot. Herbert died in 1935 and Lily in 1954. A full account of Flora's life can be found on Sally's website: Lost The Plot
Page last updated
06 October 2023