Description
Object description
An interesting collection of 141 ms letters to her parents in Kenya during her service with the Burma Hospital Nursing Corps / Burma Military Nursing Service at the Indian Military Hospital, Nowshera, North West Frontier Province (May - August 1943), at Indian Military Hospital, Shillong, India (October 1943 - June 1944), briefly at No 58 Indian General Hospital, Curashku Island (July 1944), at No 41 Indian General Hospital, Dehra Dun, India (August 1944 - February 1945), at No 89 Indian General Hospital, Tamu, Burma (March - July 1945), with the Civil Affairs Bureau (Burma) (CAS(B)) at a civilian hospital in Rangoon and on leave in Simla and in Calcutta (while awaiting confirmation of her resignation from the BMNS) (July - November 1945), in Bombay with her uncle, Lieutenant Colonel D M L Hennessey while awaiting passage to Kenya (February - March 1946); together with a number of photographs, including one of her in uniform and a further series of 56 ms letters to her parents from HMT ORBITA (March 1948) en route from Kenya to the United Kingdom and during further nursing training and service at Colchester, Essex and at Carshalton, Surrey (April 1948 - January 1949). The wartime letters contain some interesting details regarding her nursing duties, the living and working conditions at the various hospitals at which she was based, her off duty activities, particularly attending RAF dances and occasional film shows and ENSA concerts, but also walking and writing poetry (many of her poems are included in the letters) and include good descriptions of Christmas celebrations in the hospital (December 1944) and of VJ Day (August 1945) and a small sketch showing the layout of the hospital at Tamu (15 May 1945) and a detailed and rather poignant account of her return in November 1945 to her family's pre-war home in Kalaw, Burma, from which her parents had been hurriedly evacuated in March 1942, while the later series of letters are primarily of interest for her observations on life in post-war Britain, particularly her frustrations at the shortages of food and other goods and the bureaucracy prevalent in all aspects of everyday life.
Content description
An interesting collection of 141 ms letters to her parents in Kenya during her service with the Burma Hospital Nursing Corps / Burma Military Nursing Service at the Indian Military Hospital, Nowshera, North West Frontier Province (May - August 1943), at Indian Military Hospital, Shillong, India (October 1943 - June 1944), briefly at No 58 Indian General Hospital, Curashku Island (July 1944), at No 41 Indian General Hospital, Dehra Dun, India (August 1944 - February 1945), at No 89 Indian General Hospital, Tamu, Burma (March - July 1945), with the Civil Affairs Bureau (Burma) (CAS(B)) at a civilian hospital in Rangoon and on leave in Simla and in Calcutta (while awaiting confirmation of her resignation from the BMNS) (July - November 1945), in Bombay with her uncle, Lieutenant Colonel D M L Hennessey while awaiting passage to Kenya (February - March 1946); together with a number of photographs, including one of her in uniform and a further series of 56 ms letters to her parents from HMT ORBITA (March 1948) en route from Kenya to the United Kingdom and during further nursing training and service at Colchester, Essex and at Carshalton, Surrey (April 1948 - January 1949). The wartime letters contain some interesting details regarding her nursing duties, the living and working conditions at the various hospitals at which she was based, her off duty activities, particularly attending RAF dances and occasional film shows and ENSA concerts, but also walking and writing poetry (many of her poems are included in the letters) and include good descriptions of Christmas celebrations in the hospital (December 1944) and of VJ Day (August 1945) and a small sketch showing the layout of the hospital at Tamu (15 May 1945) and a detailed and rather poignant account of her return in November 1945 to her family's pre-war home in Kalaw, Burma, from which her parents had been hurriedly evacuated in March 1942, while the later series of letters are primarily of interest for her observations on life in post-war Britain, particularly her frustrations at the shortages of food and other goods and the bureaucracy prevalent in all aspects of everyday life.
History note
Cataloguer AAM
History note
Catalogue date 2002-10-30