A SEARCH through history has unearthed the story of an Australian nurse’s connection to a mid-Essex town.

Irene Dunne, travelled from the other side of the world to nurse the wounded in Witham during the First World War.

Historian Heather Johnson, who lives in Colchester, says even more remarkably Irene even survived a torpedo hit on her way home.

Irene Dunne was born around 1878 and her First World War British Red Cross Service Card notes her nurse training was carried out at Manchester Infirmary, England, between 1896 and 1899.

She says: “We don’t know who Irene’s parents were or where she was born but we know she was of Irish and Scottish extraction and that she already had relatives in Australia whenever she arrived there.”

By the turn of the century, around 1905, she was a private nurse in Western Australia, working in a private hospital run by a Dr Birmingham.

In 1906, Irene’s address was Hotel Australia, Adelaide Street, Fremantle, Western Australia.

In the March and April, a court case hit the news – because Irene had had some jewellery stolen, whilst she was working for Dr Birmingham.

By July 1914, Irene was a nursing sister at the Northam Public Hospital – which was about 115 miles north-east of Freemantle where she became good friends with another nurse there, Helen Doyle.

When the First World War broke out, nurses all over Australia expressed their readiness to join the forces and nurse the wounded, says Heather, and Irene and her friend Helen were among them.

Gazette:

Nurse - Irene Dunne in later years in her native Australia

She says: “When Irene and Helen rushed to join the Army Nursing Service in Australia they were told that there was a long waiting list to be accepted to serve.

“The result was that the two women decided to go to England on their own - at their own expense.”

After a farewell tea in December 1914, at the Northam Hospital the two nurses were presented with gifts and the event was reported in the local press.

On December 141914, Irene and Helen left Northam and began the first leg of their journey to England.

Five days later they sailed from Freemantle, west of Perth, for Adelaide.

On Christmas Eve they boarded the ship SS Commonwealth which took them from Adelaide to London, England.

They arrived in London just over 50 days later before heading to sign in with the British Red Cross.

Heather says from here the two nurses went their separate ways and Irene first went to the Red Cross Hospital in Henley on Thames.

Irene and Helen went their separate ways from here.

She then went on to the Auxiliary Military Hospital in Levenshulme, Manchester before working at the Witham V A D Auxiliary Hospital in Essex in October 1915.

The Witham Red Cross Hospital, or the Bridge School Hospital, was in the hospital wing of the building which was originally built as the Witham Union Workhouse which had been built between 1837 and 1839.

In the summer of 1882, the site was acquired by South Metropolitan School District and was one of two establishments which provided accommodation for around 300 to 400 orphans and deserted children between the ages of seven and 12.

By 1908 the School was converted into an industrial training home for “feeble-minded” but “improvable” boys and at the outbreak of First World War, the hospital wing of the property was converted into a Home Hospital, a Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital.

The British Red Cross Card for the Hospital shows it administered to a maximum of 34 beds while service cards show the Hospital was operational from October 1914 until March 1919.

Gazette:

Trees - youngsters outside Tall Trees, Irene Dunne’s home where she retired

Irene left Witham on January 5 1916 and began working at the Red Cross Hospital in Alford, Lincolnshire just over a month later.

She didn’t stay long in Alford, heading to Lincolnshire then Norwich and eventually resigning days into 1917 to return to Australia.

Heather explains she was awarded the British medal for her nursing services during the First World War.

While she was on board the SS Port Adelaide on her back to Australia the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine.

Heather explains newspaper reports from the time reveal the seven passengers got into rescue boats and the German submarine followed them on took the chief officer and purser prisoner, releasing the others.

“She regretted not being able to take with her the treasures given to her by some of the men she nursed as they had not time to gather belongings before getting off the ship,” added Heather.

They were eventually rescued by a Dutch ship and Irene Dunne returned to nursing at Northam Government Hospital, eventually becoming Matron there.

Affiliated to this Government Hospital was nearby Wooroloo Sanatorium where Irene, who never married, remained for the rest of her career.

During that time, she visited Britain several times for nursing gatherings.

She died in 1940 aged 75.