GEORGINA POPE FIRST NURSING MATRON OF THE CANADIAN ARMY MEDICAL CORPS Page 1 of 3 Researched and Written by: Capt. (N) Michael Braham, (Ret’d) Edited by: Julia Beingessner Introduction: Georgina Pope (1862 - Florence Nightingale,” Pope is remembered for her strong leadership and 1938) was a Canadian nurse who served selfless devotion to her patients. with distinction in the Second Boer War and the First World War. The Canadian Army demonstrated its Early Life: The Pope household in respect for nursing by assigning Canadian Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island was a nurses full lieutenant status during their hotbed of journalism, legal issues, and time in South Africa. Pope was head of all political strategies in the late 1800s. Well- nursing services at Kroonstadt. The nurses heeled and comfortable, William H. Pope, endured long hours in crowded wards a Father of Confederation, and his wife while under threat of attack, dealt with welcomed their newborn daughter on 1 bug infestations and extreme January 1862, naming her Cecily Jane temperatures, and subsisted on small food Georgina Fane Pope. rations. She grew up on a At the end of 1900, she returned to lovely estate with Canada and was put on reserve status. In servants and a 1901, the Canadian Army Nursing Service governess. It was made official, and Georgina Fane therefore came as a Pope was one of its seven members. shock when Georgina announced she was In 1902, she went back to South Africa going to New York to and served in a hospital in Natal until the train as a nurse at end of the Second Boer War. Bellevue Hospital Training School, for In 1903, after nurses were returning to considered servants Canada at the at the time. Bellevue had been established end of the war, by Florence Nightingale, a nursing legend she was awarded who had revolutionized army medical the Royal Red care. Georgina was destined to follow in Cross by Queen Nightingale's footsteps. Victoria for conspicuous Royal Red Cross After graduation from Bellevue, she service in the served in various administrative positions field. She was the first Canadian to at hospitals in the US until 1899 when she receive the award. came back to Canada to volunteer to go overseas with the troops at the beginning Later Life: In 1906, Georgina Fane Pope of the Second Boer War. became a member of the new, permanent Canadian Army Medical Corps and worked Second Boer War: On November 30, at the Garrison military hospital in Halifax, 1899, Georgina Fane Pope and the first Nova Scotia. She was responsible for a Canadian contingent of nurses arrived in handful of permanent staff and up to 80 Cape Town to work in hospitals during the reservists. South African War. Known as “the Island’s Fact Sheet # 39 Published by: The Friends of the Canadian War Museum GEORGINA POPE FIRST NURSING MATRON OF THE CANADIAN ARMY MEDICAL CORPS Page 2 of 3 In 1908, Pope was the first person to be References: assigned to the position of Nursing Matron in the Canadian Army Medical Corps, 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgina_ which made her responsible for the Pope permanent nursing sisters, as well as the reserve nursing service. She played an 2. http://canadaonline.about.com/od/can essential role in the development of adasawar/p/georginapope.htm military nursing in Canada. 3. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/co From 1911 onwards, Pope’s unwavering ol/002027-2110-e.html devotion to nursing took its toll on her 4. http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/P health. She decided she was well enough rinterFriendly.cfm?Params=A1ARTA00 to be sent overseas to England and France 06387 to work in Canadian military hospitals from September 1917 to August 1918. 5. http://www.suite101.com/content/geo When her health problems, including shell rgina-fane-pope-first-matron-of- shock, returned, she was sent back to canadian-army-nursing-corps-a288606 Canada. 6. http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/cseh- Pope retired to twih/archives2_E.asp?id=357 Prince Edward Island, where she 7. http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhi spent the rest of bitions/boer/georginapope_e.shtml her life. To commemorate her service to the army, Georgina Fane Pope was laid to rest in Charlottetown with full military honours on 9 June 1938. A person of national historic significance1, she is recognized by a plaque in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Georgina Pope is one of fourteen figures from Canada's military history commemorated at the Valiants Memorial2 in Ottawa. 1 “Persons of National Historic Significance” are people designated by the Canadian government as being nationally significant in the history of the country. 2 The Valiants Memorial is a collection of nine busts fourteen individuals featured in the memorial are and five statues and a large bronze wall inscription celebrated for their personal contributions, but they that reads, “No day will ever erase you from the also represent critical moments in our military memory of time”, from The Aeneid by Virgil. The history. Fact Sheet # 39 Published by: The Friends of the Canadian War Museum GEORGINA POPE FIRST NURSING MATRON OF THE CANADIAN ARMY MEDICAL CORPS Page 3 of 3 Captain (N) (Ret’d) M. Braham, CD Mike Braham is a graduate of the Royal Military College (1965) and a former naval officer and senior official with DND. He has an abiding interest in military history. Fact Sheet # 39 Published by: The Friends of the Canadian War Museum .