Jessie Gertrude Swift

Jessie Swift was born Gertrude Jessie Smith in Broughty Ferry, Scotland on 27 July 1883. She was baptised on 3 November 1889, at St. Peter London Docks together with some of her siblings. The 1891 Census shows that the family were living at 30 Calvert Buildings, Watts Street, Wapping, where her father Stephen’s occupation was described as Traveller/Local Preacher, but he most probably was also employed as a Labourer at the Docks. Her mother Ann, and siblings Dean, Sidney and Ida completed the family. By 1901 the family had moved to 29 Opal Street, Kennington, Lambeth, where her father was employed as a Draper’s Warehouseman. The family had now grown to include Ethel, Mabel, Walter and Hilda.

Ten years later the family were living in a large seven roomed property at 91 Paulet Road, Camberwell. Jessie was one of ten children, but unfortunately it seems that two of her siblings had died. Jessie was now 26 and was employed as a Book Folder (Book Binding). Her father’s occupation was described as a Baptist Minister.

When War broke out in August 1914, Jessie was living at 107 Caithness Road, Mitcham and had already joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment on 12 April 1914. She worked full time in a paid capacity, carrying out Ward Duties at Netley Military Hospital in Southampton. Originally built to treat men wounded in the Crimean War, the hospital had the capacity to treat over 2,000 patients. One of their most famous patients was the poet Wilfred Owen who was treated for shell shock at Netley before he was transferred to a hospital in Scotland.

The staff at Netley were mainly reservists or Red Cross VAD nurses, and the “Regulations Governing the Employment of Nursing V.A.D. Members in Military Hospitals” handbook states the following:
“…They will be required to work under fully trained Nurses, and will be under the direct control of the Officer in charge and the Matron of the Hospital in which employed. Their duties will be similar to those carried out by probationers in Civil Hospitals. These include sweeping, dusting polishing of brasses, cleaning of ward tables and patients' lockers, cleaning of ward sinks and ward utensils, washing of patients' crockery and sorting of linen. These and any nursing duties which they are considered qualified to perform, will be allotted to them by the Matron of the Hospital.”

Jessie appears to have two periods of engagements with the VADs, as on 1 June 1916 to 31 May 1918, she is recorded again as working at the Netley Military Hospital, transferring on 1 June 1918 to a Military Hospital in France where she stayed until 28 October 1919.