Hi Vince,
We 'spoke' when you contacted my mother about Lydia a couple of years ago. Since this time the Australian TROVE newspapers from NSW has scanned the NSW papers. I have tagged all the articles I can find about Lydia and you may like to read them.
Jane

Hi,

There is a Nursing Sister Lydia Abell on NSW Electoral Rolls during the 1930's & 40s.

1930 & 1933 Electoral Roll
Lydia Abell, Lady Davidson Home,Turramurra,nurse.

1936 Electoral Roll
Lydia Abell, Burbank, Wentworth Falls, nursing siater.

1936 & 1937 Electoral Roll
Lydia Abell, Red Cross Farm, Exeter, nurse.

1943 Electoral Roll
Lydia Abell, 123 Prince Edward St Malabar, home duties.

1954 Electoral Roll
Lydia Abell, 79 Boundary St, Roseville, no occupation.


Arrival in England on November 15th 1915 on the "Arabia" from Sydney to Tilsbury.
Travelling 2nd class, Lydia Abell, Nurse, 43.


Gerry

Thanks for the references Gerry. (How are you?)
Lydia was my G-G-Aunt. She never had children. Have a read about her on TROVE. She was a wonderful woman. Vince has found references to her in British servicemen's diaries and has complied much information about her service. Australia wouldn't allow her to enlist because they believed she was too old so she took herself to England and joined the Red Cross. She worked immediately behind the lines in Flanders. She was honoured by the king at the end of the war. She moved to Sydney from Newcastle after WW1. I'm very lucky to have a few trinkets that she brought back from France and Belgium.
Jane

Hi Jane, I'm going ok, I'm originally from around Newcastle having been born at Belmont with my parents living at Valentine before moving on when I was a child. I came back later and was married in Newcastle before moving on again, I now live in Queensland.

I did have had a look at Trove and I even saw Lydia's Newcastle Nursing results plus other great references.

Nice to see that you have some trinkets plus her service records with the Red Cross, the enlisting requirements with the Australian Army were fairly strict in the first couple of years of the war with the upper age limit set at 35.

There is probably more information about Lydia that hasn't been unearthed yet, maybe in official war diaries and official records in the UK.

I think Lydia was a remarkable determined woman.

All the best.
Gerry

To all of you researching Lydia Abell, how exciting to make contact with her descendants! - the Royal Newcastle Hospital Graduate Nurses'Association recently published my book "Sisters of the Valley - First World War Nurses from Newcastle and the Hunter Region". Lydia gets more than a few mentions in it, and there is a chapter on the Australian Voluntary Hospital at Wimereux where some of her colleagues from Newcastle hospital nursed. You may find some additional references in the book to what you already have - for instance, in the Australasian Trained Nurses Jounral (in the Mitchell Library). There are copies of 'Sisters of the Valley' in quite a few libraries around the country including Newcaslte Local Studies Library, the Australian War Memorial and the National Library.

Needless to say, I would love you to read what I have written about Lydia and let me know if you have anything to add - and whether there is anything I have got wrong. I did check all the family history v carefully but there are many traps in studying genealogy!

Best wishes, Christine Bramble

Media Snippet about the book
... In her book Sisters of the Valley, Hunter historian Christina Bramble tells the experiences of the nurses, details the scenes they would rather forget, and unearths the lighter moments of war and the women?s unwavering camaraderie.


from the Newcastle HERALD 6 April 2011
... THE stories of Hunter nurses who tended to soldiers wounded on World War I battlefields is to be told for the first time in a new book.
Author and Newcastle historian Christine Bramble researched the roles of the region's dedicated nurses, many of whom received bravery and leadership awards for their work during the 1914 to 1918 conflict.

The experiences of about 75 nurses from the region, who joined military nursing units, are detailed in Sisters of the Valley


Mentioned on SAG Society of Australian Genealogists
... Tells of the nurses' experiences and provides insight into the history od Australian women being accepted into the workforce and into military nursing at the time of the First World War. It explores the family connections and careers of some of the nurses. It includes and index entry for each of the nurses which summarises the information available and a chapter on each phase of the war featuring the stories of those women for whom there is a richness of primary source material.


Available in the National Library of Australia


Order a Copy SISTERS OF THE VALLEY First World War Nurses from Newcastle and the Hunter Region