About Georgina Fane Pope:
Georgina Fane Pope was from a prominent Prince Edward Island family and her father was William Henry Pope, a Father of Confederation. She chose nursing as a profession and trained in New York City. Georgina Fane Pope came back to Canada to volunteer to go overseas with the troops at the beginning of the South African War. She was awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria for her nursing service in the South African War.
Georgina Fane Pope was appointed the first Nursing Matron of the Canadian Army Medical Corps in 1908. She also served in England and France during World War I.
Birth:
January 1, 1862 in Charlottetown, PEI
Death:
June 6, 1938 in Charlottetown, PEI
Education:
School of Nursing, Bellevue Hospital, New York City
Profession:
Nursing sister
Career of Georgina Fane Pope:
- After nursing school in New York City, Georgina Fane Pope began her nursing career in the United States, where she worked in civic hospitals.
- She came back to Canada to volunteer as a nurse to go overseas with the troops leaving for the South African War in late 1899.
- Georgina Fane Pope was the senior nursing sister of the four nurses who went with the first Canadian troops to South Africa. Four more nurses followed. The nurses were given the rank, pay and benefits of lieutenant.
- For five months Georgina Fane Pope worked at British hospitals just north of Cape Town.
- Georgina Fane Pope then went to Kroonstadt, where she and another nursing sister took charge of the military hospital, caring for more than 200 patients, most with enteric fever.
- At the end of 1900, Georgina Fane Pope returned to Canada and was put on reserve status.
- In 1901, the Canadian Army Nursing Service was made official, and Georgina Fane Pope was one of its seven members.
- In 1902, Georgina Fane Pope went back to South Africa. She served in a hospital in Natal until the end of the South African War.
- In 1903, Georgina Fane Pope was awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria for conspicuous service in the field. She was the first Canadian to receive the award.
- In 1906, Georgina Fane Pope became a member of the new permanent Canadian Army Medical Corps and worked at the Garrison military hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was responsible for a handful of permanent staff and up to 80 reservists by 1914.
- In 1908, she was appointed Nursing Matron, the first in the Canadian Army Medical Corps.
- In 1917, Georgina Fane Pope again went overseas, this time to serve in England and France in World War I. She was sent back to Canada in 1918, suffering from health problems, including shell shock.
- She retired to Prince Edward Island.
- When Georgina Fane Pope died in 1938, she was given a full military funeral.
