To Nurse in a War a World Away
In every family closet there is an interesting story, but when Gloucester’s Julia Stuart opened hers an entire book’s worth fell out.
“I kept hearing these stories about my husband Ralph’s four great aunties, the Lowrey sisters, who lived in Stroud. All four of them enlisted as nurses in World War I. That’s unique and remarkable! I’ve got a great passion for history, particularly that era, but there was no substantial information about them. Nobody knew anything,” Julia said.
It wasn’t until a trip to Newcastle Museum in 2002, when Ralph drew her attention to an Australian nurse’s uniform in a glass cabinet labelled ‘Matron Bessie Lowrey served in India 1916 – 1918 in WWI’ that Julia decided to do something about it.
“I told Ralph that someone needed to write a book about them. He said he knew just the person. Me. I was dumbfounded.”
And the rest, so to speak, is history. Including a five year hiatus, it’s been a journey that has taken Julia 13 years and next Monday she will finally launch her book ‘To Nurse in a War a World Away’ at the Gloucester Book Shop…more
Article courtesy of the Gloucester Advocate
To read the full article | www.gloucesteradvocate.com.au
The Stroud Historical Society holds a raft of information and memorabilia on the Lowrey sisters and their family who of course were born and bred in Stroud. In my own and my colleagues’ recollections, Julia did not contact the Society for any information whilst writing her book. It is a reminder to anyone wanting to research Stroud’s local history and genealogy, to do try us first.
Did Julia see ‘The Lowrey Sisters’ which was researched by Jonathan King and performed at the School of Arts in Stroud? It was a true piece of community theatre and Jonathan and I would love to do it again.
I think you should Anne, I’d love to see it as I missed it the last time.