Greatorex, Janet Mary

Warwick Cemetery 191 C 3

Age: 38
Date of birth: July 1877

Parents: John and Alice Greatorex
Wife:
Address: 14 Broad Street

Occupation: Nursing Sister

Janet Mary Greatorex was born in Hazelwood, Derbyshire and baptised on 22nd July 1877.  Her parents were John and Alice Greatorex.

In 1911, she is recorded as a Nursing Sister at Bolton Infirmary.  At the same time her sister, Alice Greatorex was living as a Boarder in the house of Arthur and Elizabeth Baker at 20 Broad Street, Warwick.  Alice was Head Teacher at Coten End School.

As Janet was discharged as unfit for duty in June 1915, we assume that she moved to Warwick to be looked after by her sister for the 10 months before her death in April 1916.

Janet left her estate, valued at £168 14s 9d to Alice.  She is buried in Warwick Cemetery

Military Service

Rank & Number: Sister, n/a
Regiment/Service: Territorial Nursing Service
Brigade/Division: 1st Southern General Hospital, Birmingham
Date of death: Sunday, April 02, 1916
Cause of death/Battle: Died at home in Broad Street
Commemorated/Buried: Warwick Cemetery 191 C 3
Awards: Nursing Sister - award not known
Commemorated locally at:

Janet’s nursing records indicate that she was called up in August 1914 and served at the 1st Southern General Hospital, Birmingham before having to resign as medically unfit on 4 June 1915.

From ‘Warwick in the Great War’ by Graham Sutherland (by kind permission of the author
When casualties from the Western Front began arriving in large numbers at Warwick Station, the hospitals were overwhelmed and large houses such as Hill House and Guys Cliffe were turned into wartime hospitals. The injured brought back with them many diseases, and later the Spanish flu, a particularly virulent form of the virus that caused millions of deaths across Europe at the end of the war. In Warwickshire alone, 24,000 people are thought to have died from the flu. So nursing the casualties could be a hazardous business.

Janet Greatorex joined the Territorial Nursing Service as a sister at the outbreak of war. On 2nd April 1916 she died of ‘phyhisis’ – an old name for pulmonary tuberculosis, almost certainly contracted when treating sick soldiers. She was a victim of the war even though not killed directly by enemy action.’

 

 

 

 

Contributors

  • Unlocking Warwick Research Group
  • Graham Sutherland
  • David Oliver – details of Janet’s nursing records

Leave a Reply