Nellie Spindler
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Staff Nurse Nellie Spindler died during the Battle of Passchendaele. She is one of only two female casualties of the Great War buried in Belgium[1], and the only woman buried among more than 10,000 men Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery[2].
Nellie Spindler was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom in September 1891 to Elizabeth and George H Spindler. George was a police Sergeant, and later Inspector in the local police force. Nellie was the oldest of two daughters born to the Spindlers.
Nellie entered the nursing profession in 1911, when she became a hospital nurse at the City Fever Hospital, Wakefield[3]. Nellie joined the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service in October 1915. Nellie was only 24 at the time she signed up, and the minimum age to join was 25. On her application form, she said her year of birth was 1889 rather than 1891. It is possible that this was a mistake, but she may have concealed her true age so she would appear to be old enough to serve[4].
In May 1917 travelled to France. She was initially stationed at the Stationary Hospital in Abbeville, before being transferred to No. 44 Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) which moved to Brandhoek, Belgium, in July 1917.
This CCS specialised in abdominal, chest and thigh wounds which needed urgent treatment and so was stationed relatively close to the frontlines. Though around five miles from the frontlines, Brandhoek was within range of the larger German guns, and with its railway sidings and munitions dumps was the target of frequent German shelling.
On 21 August 1917, the hospital was shelled all day and at 11.00am Nellie was hit along with four other nurses by an exploding shell. Nellie died 20 minutes later in the arms of a fellow nurse. In a letter home, Nurse Kate Luard recalled:
Bits came over everywhere, pitching at one’s feet as we rushed to the scene. A group of stricken MOs were standing about and in one tent the sister was dying. The piece went through her from back to front near her heart. She was only conscious for a few minutes and only lived 20 minutes. She was in bed asleep. It all made one feel sick.[5]
Spindler’s body was then taken to Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. She was buried, with full military honours the next day. The 'Last Post' was sounded and it is thought that more than 100 officers, four generals and the Surgeon-General attended the funeral.
Her gravestone includes the inscription “A noble type of good heroic womanhood”.
References
- ^ The other woman who died during World War One to be buried in Belgium is Elsie Mabel Gladstone, who also worked as a nurse, and died of pneumonia.
- ^ BBC News: Nellie Spindler - WW1 nurse death centenary marked in Leeds
- ^ Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Casualties of Passchendaele - Staff Nurse Nellie Spindler
- ^ Imperial War Graves Commission: Nurse Nellie Spindler
- ^ Royal British Legion: Letters from the front line
Nellie Spindler - World War One Nurse
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