Sister
Florence
Narelle Jessie
(Narelle)
Hobbes
Born in Brewarrina, New South Wales (Australia)
Daughter of John Thomas Hobbes
and Margaret Anne (Goldie) Hobbes
Sister of
Robert P Hobbes, Charles Goldie Spence Hobbes, Helena Isabel (Hobbes) Commons, Mabel J (Hobbes) Magill, Margaret Ethel (Hobbes) Mackay, Effie Muriel (Hobbes) Griffiths, Constance Muriel (Hobbes) Weston, Roberta Grace (Hobbes) Weston and Caroline Elsie M (Hobbes) Thorburn
Died
at age 39
in At Sea
Profile last modified
| Created 21 Feb 2019
This page has been accessed 106 times.
Biography
Florence Narelle Jessie Hobbes was born on 21st August 1878 in Brewarrina Hospital, Brewarrina, New South Wales (Australia). The family then lived in Tilba Tilba. Narelle, as she was known, was the seventh daughter of John Hobbes and Margaret Goldie. [1]
Narelle was a nurse, serving at Cobar and Brewarrina NSW, before serving in The Great War at Malta, Sicily and Bombay
Narelle started her training as a nurse in 1903, at the age of 24 years. After passing her exams in 1910, she began nursing in Cobar before moving to the Brewarrina District Hospital, where she was working when war broke out. Determined to serve in an active capacity during the war, Narelle embarked at Sydney for London on 20th February 1915. On arrival in London in April, she enlisted in the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS); arriving in Malta by the end of May and nursing casualties from the Gallipoli campaign in Valletta Military Hospital. At the end of November, she was transferred to Sicily and nursed at the Excelsior Palace Hotel Hospital. After the hospital closed in March 1916, Narelle returned to Malta briefly. From June she worked in the Victoria War Hospital at Bombay (Mumbai), India whilst waiting to move on to Mesopotamia (Iraq), eventually arriving in Basra, in late August. In October, she moved north from Basra on the Tigris River to Amara, to No. 32 British General Hospital. [2]
Having been on active service without leave for two years, Narelle fell sick in June 1917, and was moved to the Colaba War Hospital on the outskirts of Bombay. After recovering sufficiently, she was granted sick leave, and chose to recover at the small hill station Binsar, in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas. By the end of January 1918, she was moved to Meerut to be examined by a surgeon, who sent her on to Bombay for specialist treatment; arriving back at Colaba War Hospital in mid-February. Narelle's younger sister, Elsie, arrived from home to check on her well-being, only to be told that Narelle was dying from advanced liver cancer. [2]
Sister Narelle Hobbes died of cancer at sea, just four days from Australia during The Great War.
Four days out of Fremantle, Western Australia, on 10th May 1918, Narelle passed away, aged 39 years, aboard the HMAHS Kanowna. She was buried at sea after a simple funeral service. Florence Narelle Jessie Hobbes is commemorated on the Basra Memorial, Iraq. [2]
Sources
- ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #10159/1878; registered at Broulee
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Australian War Memorial: Sister Florence Narelle Jessie Hobbes; accessed 29 Jul 2020
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Categories: Cobar, New South Wales | Tilba Tilba, New South Wales | Australia, Nurses | Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service | Brewarrina, New South Wales | Died in Military Service, Australia, World War I