Laura Gamble, ARRC (4 September 1887 – 1939) was a Canadian nurse who served in the Canadian Army Medical Corps during the First World War.
Laura Gamble | |
|---|---|
| Born | 4 September 1887 |
| Died | 1939 (aged 51–52) |
| Allegiance | Canada |
| Service | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
| Years of service | 1915–1919 |
| Rank | Sister |
| Unit | Canadian Army Medical Corps |
| Battles / wars | First World War |
| Awards | Associate Royal Red Cross |
Nursing career
editA 1910 alumna of the Toronto General Hospital School of Nursing, Gamble joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps as a nursing sister, enlisting on May 4, 1915.[1] She expected that her experience in a Toronto hospital would be an asset to the war effort.[2] She served on a hospital ship in the Mediterranean,[3] and at hospitals in Greece, France, and the United Kingdom.[4] She arrived on the Greek island of Lemnos after the Anglo-French force had already suffered heavy casualties as a result of the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign.[5]
Canadian nurses were the only nurses of the British Empire's armies that held the rank of officers.[2] Gamble was awarded the Royal Red Cross 2nd class in 1917 for her show of "greatest possible tact and extreme devotion to duty".[2] This was presented to her at Buckingham Palace during a special ceremony for Canadian nurses.[2][6] She also received the British War Medal and Victory Medal.[7]
Gamble was recalled to Canada after the war and served as matron of St. Andrew's Military Hospital, Toronto. She was among the first nurses to take a new course in public health from the University of Toronto and worked for the Toronto Department of Public Health as Acting District Superintendent.[5]
The diary Gamble kept during the war is conserved at the Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.[8]
References
edit- ^ Canadian Great War Project: "Nursing Sister Laura Adelaide Gamble"
- ^ a b c d Library and Archives Canada: "Canada and the First World War: We Were There", 7 November 2008
- ^ Ottawa Citizen: "Amos: The Wakefield nurse who was decorated for First World War service"
- ^ Library and Archives Canada: "Laura Gamble, Nursing Sister, Canadian Army Medical Corps"
- ^ a b Steven Fouchard, Department of National Defence: "First World War Nursing Sister Laura Gamble: 'Tender hands, buoyant spirit'", 8 November 2019
- ^ "No. 30111". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 1917. p. 5488.
- ^ 1914.org: "Women in Public Service"
- ^ Library and Archives Canada: "Laura Gamble: Greece", 9 September 2020