Nursing Sister. K.G. Hill, RRC

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Royal Red Cross 1st Class Breast Badge (Vict.) (silver-gilt);

Q.S.A. no clasp Nursing Sister. K.G. Hill

RRC 1ST CLASS LONDON GAZETTE 10 SEPTEMBER 1901 Earl Roberts. K.G. Despatch p 5968 under Civil Staff, Mafeking Miss C. Hill, Matron, Victoria Hospital, p1094 The Edinburgh Gazette, October 1, 1901, Mafeking.

 

To have the Decoration of the Royal Red Cross. Lady Sarah Wilson. Mother Superior Teresa. Miss Hill. Miss Craufurd. 

 

Only 84 awards of the Royal Red Cross were made during the Boer War. Kate Hill was an extraordinary woman as were most who pursued a career in nursing in Victorian England.

 

She travelled to South Africa to help the British forces in their hour of need. An Irish girl by birth – she was born in County Cork in 1871. Having finished her schooling she enrolled in Monkstown Hospital in nearby Dublin for her nursing training…...

 

….by the time October 1899 the war, which had threatened between the two Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal finally erupted into open conflict…

 

It was especially on the nursing front that the lack of expertise and staff was felt the most keenly. There were simply not enough trained and qualified nurses and doctors to cater for the needs of the military and civilian populations.

Whilst undergoing her training at Adelaide Hospital a young Katherine Hill met and worked with one of the most eminent consulting surgeons of his day – Dr (later Sir) Kendal Franks. Franks was a brilliant and artistic man but one who was doomed to marry women whom he outlived.

 

After he had lost his second wife at a young age he remarried for a third time but, again, to a woman who was in indifferent health. Determining to take her to South Africa where the climate would be better suited to her health he made the move in the late 1890’s. It is uncertain as to when Hill followed suit but the records indicate that she came out to South Africa to administer to Franks’ wife.

As already indicated the country was crying out for trained, experienced medical personnel and Nurse Hill came as a godsend to the sleepy town of Mafikeng, under siege from the Boers two days after the war had commenced.

 

For details of how she was engaged we must turn to the October 28th 1899 edition of the Nursing Record and Hospital World. 

 

The siege endured for a period of 217 days and was lifted only on 17 May 1900. Of military casualties there were not many –certainly not many shot and wounded by Boer bullets or cannon but, as can be imagined, foodstuffs and other vital supplies were soon in short supply. 

Colonel Robert Baden-Powell described the situation in his report published in the London Gazette of 6 February 1901. It read, in part, as follows: 

“General Cronje with an army of 3000 Boers and 10 guns, surrounded the place. On the approach of the enemy we sallied out and, in a sharp little engagement, dealt them a severe blow, by which they lost 53 killed and many more wounded, and which had a lasting moral effect.

 

During the first phase of the siege, October and November, General Cronje made various attempts to take the place.These attacks we beat off without difficulty in every case and responded by sorties, varying their nature every time as far as possible, and making them so sudden and so quickly withdrawn as not to give the enemy’s supports time to come up and overpower us.

The enemy’s losses in this period were very heavy compared to ours.” Baden-Powell went on to make specific mention of those whose conduct had warranted distinction – these mentions included the Victoria Hospital (Mafeking Hospital) and the Nursing Staff: Miss Hill (Matron) and three nurses, assisted by four volunteers and also by Mother Teresa and six sisters (nuns).

 

So there it was – a 29 year old nurse had been catapulted into bearing the responsibility of a hospital in wartime with the full status of Matron.

 

Baden-Powell went on to say that:
“On outbreak of war I took over the town hospital, but at first the administration was not satisfactory, on account of want of supervision, over expense of sores, and sanitation. I therefore appointed an issuer and storekeeper and a sanitary inspector.

 

Both Doctors and Nurses did excellent work. Always shorthanded, and frequently under fire. (All the hospital buildings were struck by shells and bullets) and the first convalescent hospital was wrecked 
and the second damaged by 94 pound shells.)”

 

In another section of his report he mentioned that:
“Miss Hill, the Matron of the Victoria Hospital, was assisted by a number of lady volunteers, in addition to her regular staff. The above ladies worked with the greatest zeal and selfdevotion throughout the siege. The protracted strains of heavy work, frequently carried out under fire, told on most of them, Miss Hill being at one time prostrated by overwork.

 

It was largely due to their unremitting devotion and skill that the wounded, in so many cases, made marvellous recoveries, and the health of the garrison remained so good.”

With Mafeking relieved a lady like Matron Hill was not going to stand idle – she moved on to Vryburg a short distance away and assisted at the hospital there for a period before moving down to Wynberg in Cape Town where she continued her sterling work. She was awarded, in addition to the RRC, the Queens Medal - sadly she was unable to sport the Defence of Mafeking clasp on her medal as nursing staff were deprived of this honour no matter how richly deserved. 

Inevitably affairs of the heart took control and, on 27 June 1902, a couple of months after the cessation of hostilities, she wed a dashing 33 year old Lieutenant in the Cape Police – Claud Edward Wimble in Kimberley. She signed herself “C.G. Hill” for the last time. 

The son, Ernest Alfred Hugh Edward Wimble was born in Kimberley 1902. The second son, Hewitt Edward Mervyn was born to the couple. He died at El Alamein on 23 October 1942 as a Lance Corporal with the Rand Light Infantry. Perhaps Katherine Hill had been spared the news?

 

There is no report on hand to inform us as to when and where she died.