This week’s Down Memory Lane remembers Kate Luard.
Kate was born in Aveley, on June 29 1872, and became a nurse and served with distinction in the Boer War and later in the First World War.
Having decided she wanted to be a nurse, she worked as a teacher and governess to raise the necessary funds for training at Kings College Hospital.
In 1900 Kate served for two years in South Africa in the 2nd Boer War.
On the August 6 1914, two days after the declaration of the Great War she enlisted in the Queen Alexander Imperial Nursing service.
She was twice mentioned in dispatches for gallant and distinguished service, and shares with Florence Nightingale the honour of twice earning the 1st Class Royal Red Cross medal.
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