Little Mother
Nursing Sister Margaret Jane Fortescue the youngest daughter of the late Joseph Fortescue, Chief Factor, Hudson’s Bay Company. His wife, Sarah Jane, daughter of the late Rev Mason, DD, of Northumberland. Granddaughter of the late Matthew Fortescue, County Court Judge, of Totnes, Devon. Born in York Factory, Keewatin, North West Territories on 23 July 1878.
Enlistment of Nursing Sister Margaret Jane Fortescue
Margaret at Ladies’ School, West Cliff, Dawlish, Devon, United Kingdom on 5 April 1891. Margaret later trained as a nurse at Montreal General Hospital where she volunteered for foreign service on 22 April 1915. Next of kin noted as her sister, Gertrude Fortescue of Montreal. Brother Matthew Fortescue of Dublin, Ireland.
Nursing Sister Margaret Jane Fortescue entered France on 17 June 1915 with No.3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill). In the next year and a half, Margaret and her unit have had 18,943 sick patients, 17,198 wounded patients, 3,704 operations, and yet only 151 deaths.
No.3 Canadian Stationary Hospital
Throughout January 1917, changes in the personnel of No.3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) occurred more frequently than usual. Nursing Sisters Margaret Jane Fortescue (laryngitis), M F Bliss, and M J Ross took ill and admitted to No.14 Canadian General Hospital, Wimereux. Captain H B Rogers granted sick leave to England. Captain G Shanks struck off the strength on proceeding to take out a commission in the Medical Services of India. Finally, Captain H C Burgess left to assume duties at No.3 Canadian Stationary Hospital.
First Evacuation to England
Suffering from laryngitis, Nursing Sister Margaret Jane Fortescue evacuated to England on 6 January 1917. Following three weeks in the UK, Margaret returned to her unit on 16 February 1917.
On the last day of April 1917, Nursing Sisters M J Fortescue and E J Stuart left No.3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) to assume duties at No.3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, which stood in need of reinforcement.
No.3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station
Nursing Sister M J Fortescue serves with No.3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station for seven months.
On 4 December 1917 Nursing Sisters Olive Fitzgibbon and A M Stewart, original members of No.3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill), struck off strength on proceeding to Home Establishment. Nursing Sister J Haycock also left. But, the strength of the establishment maintained. Nursing Sisters M I Macintosh and J M Sedgewick, who had crossed with the unit from Canada and served previously in France, reposted on the 4th. Nursing Sister C P Archibald, another original, on December 7th.
Return to No.3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill)
A fourth original member of the No.3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill), Nursing Sister M J Fortescue, rejoined from No. 3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station on 12 December 1917.
Soon after the visit of the British Matron-in-Chief and her associates, Nursing Sister McLeod and Acting Sisters Rennison and Spence, who had been attached to No. 3 for two months, completed their practical course in general anaesthesia and ordered to proceed for duty to No. 44 Casualty Clearing Station. On the same day, Nursing Sisters M J Fortescue and M Nunn evacuated sick to England. Nursing Sister Janet Rodd, an original member of the unit, had crossed to England some days previously.
Return to England
NS Fortescue admitted to No.14 Canadian General Hospital once again on 25 February 1918, this time with bronchitis. Evacuated to England again, and finally discharged from the Canadian Red Cross Special Hospital at Buxton on 10 May 1918.
Fortescue Mentioned in Despatches, (London Gazette, 28 May 1918. For gallant and distinguished services, and devotion to duty, at No. 3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station.
H.M. Hospital Ship Llandovery Castle
Nursing Sister M J Fortescue posted to HM Hospital Ship Llandovery Castle on 5 June 1918.
On the evening of 27 June 1918, while sailing from Halifax to Liverpool, Llandovery Castle torpedoed and sunk by U-86 under the command of Oblt Helmut Patzig (Royal House Order of Hohenzollern). Of the 258 crew and passengers, only 24 survived. Almost all the CAMC personnel killed. Six male officers, 64 enlisted men and 14 Bluebirds. Only one lifeboat escaped. The rest either sucked under as the ship sank or attacked by the U-boat.
News reaches No.3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill)
Hot weather marked the 2nd of July, when the firefighting apparatus of the Hospital inspected by Lieut-Col Pollock. Fourteen hundred patients in the Hospital at the time. Many, well enough to be interested, praised the smart manner in which members of the personnel responded to a test alarm. This same day brought news to the Hospital of the sinking at sea on June 27th of His Majesty’s Canadian Hospital Ship Llandovery Castle. The resultant death of 5 medical officers and 14 nursing sisters. Nursing Sister M J Fortescue, an original member of the McGill unit, after prolonged service with No. 3 Hospital in France, had assumed duties on ships carrying the wounded back to Canada.
In the sinking of the Llandovery Castle, the German Navy accomplished a feat which will forever blot its name and reputation. Submarine U-86, with First Lieutenant Helmut Patzig in command, fired on survivors and circled about, endeavouring to sink the life-boats and hide all traces of the crime. In addition to Nursing Sister Fortescue, who graduated from the Montreal General Hospital in 1906, the staff of No. 3 mourned Nursing Sister A. Dussault, who graduated from the Royal Victoria Hospital in 1910, and several other sisters intimately known to them. In the Canadian Corps the sinking of the Llandovery Castle and the bombing of the hospitals at Etaples and Doullens lit a flame of indignation which burned ever brighter until, in the late summer and autumn of the year, the slaughter of the medical officers, patients, and nursing sisters was abundantly avenged.
No.3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill)
Victoria Cross
“Little Mother” (the name bestowed upon her by the patients whom she nursed) earned the V.C. as much as any man in the Army. ……..Four years’ untiring labour and fearless devotion, often caring for the wounded and dying in sound of guns and while bombs crashed through the hospital roof; through cold and heat, by days and dreary nights of ceaseless care, Nursing Sister Fortescue was ever brave and unafraid, knowing nothing else save the doing of her duty, no matter what the cost. We who received her tender ministrations have the proud and reverent memory of a good woman.”
A former patient, a private in the Canadian Army.
Sergeant Arthur Knight
In his duties, Sergeant Arthur Knight also worked with Nursing Sister Margaret Jane Fortescue. Witness to the pain and suffering of Canadian soldiers on a daily basis. He had no idea of the horrors which he had yet to experience as a survivor aboard Llandovery Castle.
What he witnessed, only rivalled by the bombings of Canadian Field Hospitals in France – the most harrowing days in the Great War for Canadians.
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