Rebecca Rose Beresford

BERESFORD, REBECCA ROSE

• Rank: Staff Nurse
• Date of Death: 26/02/1918
• Age: 39
• Regiment/Service: Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service
• Panel Reference:
• Memorial: HOLLYBROOK MEMORIAL, SOUTHAMPTON
• Additional Information: Daughter of Mrs. H. E. Beresford, of 59, Silverdale, Sydenham, London.

“Would you kindly inform me if the department is likely to require my services at an early date, as I find it quite impossible to remain idle any longer.”

Rebecca was certified in 1910 after training at Taunton and Somerset Hospital and by 1917 was eager for service. In a letter to the secretary responsible for appointments, Rebecca expressed her wish to join the QAIMNS and get to work. In February 1918, she specifically requested a transfer to the Glenart Castle as

“my friend Miss Blake is at present on the staff of the ship, it would be a great pleasure to both of us to work together.”

Just weeks later, on 26 February 1918, Rebecca died aged 40, when the HS Glenart Castle was sunk by a torpedo from the German submarine U56 in the Bristol Channel near Lundy Island. The hospital ship was on her way to France to pick up wounded, and all eight nurses on board were lost.

Source: Those who served: Remembering First World War nurses

From The British Journal of Nursing, March 9, 1918:

Amongst the nursing staff of the Glenart Castle were two nurses who had just given up the greater part of a year to nursing German prisoners of war at Belmont, Surrey. We all know how hard this task is, and it seems an act of brutal ingratitude that their work for the enemy wounded should be requited with foul murder at the hands of the German navy.

Sister R. R. Beresford joined the Glenart Castle on February 24th; and Sister Blake, an Australian, in November.

A memorial service, held on Sunday in the hospital chapel at Belmont, was conducted by Captain Whitaker, who paid a high tribute to the work of the Sisters.

During the impressive service, Sister Berry sang “O Rest in the Lord”; and it concluded with the “Last Post.”

Links:

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission Record
• Residence: 1881 - 37 Theberton St, Islington, London, England
• Reference: 1881 England & Wales Census - SmartCopy: Mar 4 2017, 3:49:28 UTC
• Residence: 1891 - 60 Albion Grove, London, London, England
• Reference: 1891 England & Wales Census - SmartCopy: Mar 4 2017, 3:50:30 UTC
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Mar 4 2017, 3:33:24 UTC