Monday, 22 May 2017

Nurse Escapes from a Sinking Ship



Market Square, Leighton Buzzard c.1920. Number 22 is on the extreme right. [Z1306/72/11/3]

Tuesday 22nd May 1917: The family of nurse Edith Halford of Leighton Buzzard have been surprised by her unexpected return after she left for service in one of the more distant theatres of war. She never reached her destination, having had a narrow escape when the ship on which she was travelling was sunk. She and other nurses on board spent four hours in open boats before they were picked up by a tug. Miss Halford and her sister were enthusiastic members of the local Voluntary Aid Detachment before the war. For the past two years she has been nursing in an Army Hospital at Cambridge, where she and 56 other nurses were recently selected for foreign service. She is in good spirits and hopes she will be able to return to useful hospital work. Miss Halford’s father Edwin, one of the town’s oldest tradesmen, runs a jewellery business at 22 Market Square.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 22nd May 1917

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