Elizabeth Annie Dickenson papers, 1906-1936

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Summary

Creator:
History of Medicine Collection (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library), Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture, and Dickenson, Elizabeth Annie, 1878-1926
Abstract:
Elizabeth Annie Dickenson was a white British nurse stationed in Wales and Lahore during World War I. This collection contains two captioned albums with Dickenson's photographs of herself and other nurses and soldiers; two certificates documenting Dickenson's nursing and midwifery service; a nurse's scarf; and a framed portrait of an unidentified nurse. Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collection (Duke University) and the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.
Extent:
1.0 Linear Foot
Language:
Materials in English.
Collection ID:
RL.13006

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains two photograph albums, two certificates, a woven scarf, and a small framed portrait of a nurse. The albums contain snapshots and candid photographs taken by or collected by Elizabeth Annie Dickenson, as well as some handwritten captions recording names, places, and dates of images. A larger album has about 140 photographs and appears to be based solely at the Bodlondeb Auxiliery Hospital in Bangor, Wales, where Dickenson worked as a nurse during World War I. Images include scenes of nurses and soldiers at the hospital as well as leisure outings to local sites in nearby Welsh towns. This album also contains two signatures from Princess Victoria, who appears in some of the photographs during her visit to the hospital.

A second album, "Autographs," has a range of images from different sources and periods of time, including Bodlondeb and other locations in Wales in 1916-1917; some images of Lahore, including Mayo Hospital, in 1919; and at least one 1906 photograph of Dickenson with other nurses. This album also contains a 1936 note and photograph of children dated 1924.

The certificates relate to Dickenson's nursing career - one is a midwife certification, issued 1906, and the other is a commendation issued by the Joint War Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England, dated approximately 1918.

The framed portrait is presumably of Elizabeth Annie Dickenson in uniform, but is unlabeled and undated.

Biographical / historical:

Elizabeth Annie Dickenson was a white woman originally from Topcliffe, Yorkshire, England. She worked as a nurse and midwife, and lived in Yorkshire and Sussex in the early 1900s. She served as a nurse for the Joint War Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England at hospitals in Bangor, Wales, and Lahore, India (now Pakistan) during World War I and shortly afterward. It appears she continued working as a nurse in England following the war. She never married and does not appear to have had descendants.

Census records indicate that Elizabeth Annie Dickenson was born in early 1878 in Topcliffe to parents Barnard Dickenson, a butcher, and Mary Hannah Cooper Dickenson. She was baptized on 17 February 1878. She had several siblings, including Joseph Cooper Dickenson, George Allanson Dickenson, Claribel Dickenson, Mary Jane Dickenson, William Edward Dickenson, and Thomas Barnard Dickenson. An entry in the National Probate Calendar indicates that she died in Ely, Cambridgeshire, on 1927 March 12.

Acquisition information:
The Elizabeth Annie Dickenson Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a purchase in 2015.
Processing information:

Processed by Meghan Lyon, May 2023

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2023-0030

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Elizabeth Annie Dickenson Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1tj20