Helena Kathleen Isdell
Born 30 Nov 1888 - Died 23 Oct 1915
- Service number
- WWI 22/130 AWMM
- Also known as
- —
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Last rank
- WW1 Staff Nurse AWMM New Zealand Army Nursing Service AWMM
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
About
- Title
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- Forenames
- Helena Kathleen AWMM
- Surname
- Isdell AWMM
- Ingoa
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- Also known as
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- Service number
- WWI 22/130 AWMM
- Gender
- Female AWMM
- Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
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- Religion
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Images
Documents
About birth
- Birth
- 30 Nov 1888 AWMM
Greymouth, New Zealand AWMM - Date of birth
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- Place of birth
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- Birth notes
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- Address before enlistment
- WW1 Matron, Kumara Hospital, Westland, New Zealand AWMM
- Post war occupation
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- Next of kin
- WW1 Miss Isabell Isdell (sister), Greymouth, New Zealand AWMM
- Relationship status
- Pre 10 Jul 1915 AWMM Single AWMM
Wars and conflicts
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
- Campaign
- 1914-1916 AWMM Egypt AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Service number
- WWI 22/130 AWMM
- Military service
- —
- Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers
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Military decorations
- Medals and Awards
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Training and Enlistment
- Military training
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- Branch Trade Proficiency
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- Enlistment
- WW1 Nurse AWMM
- Age on enlistment
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- Occupation before enlistment
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Embarkations
- Embarkation details
- WW1 Hospital Ship No. 1, 1st Voyage from NZ AWMM Vessel was Maheno AWMM Nurse AWMM New Zealand Army Nursing Service Corps AWMM New Zealand Hospital Ship No. 1, "Maheno" AWMM
Prisoner of war
- Capture details
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- Days interned
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- Liberation date
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- POW liberation details
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- Liberation Repatriation
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- POW serial number
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Medical history
- Medical notes
- Accidental Death, Cause of Death AWMM
Drowned AWMM
Last known rank
- Last rank
- WW1 Staff Nurse AWMM
New Zealand Army Nursing Service AWMM - Last rank
- —
Biographical information
- Helena Isdell was the daughter of Mrs. H. C. Isdell, of Preston Road., Greymouth.
Helena Isdell was one of the New Zealand nurses who died when the Marquette was torpedoed and sank in October 1915.
Typo on the Nominal Roll, she was Matron at Kumara; Kumeroa did not have a hospital. The Marquette was a British Merchant ship of 7,057 tons. It sank when a torpedo launched from a submarine hit it 36 miles south of Salonica Bay. Twenty nine crew and 182 troops were lost. Ten of those who died were New Zealand nurses who had been working at No.1 New Zealand Stationary Hospital in Port Said in October 1915 when they were ordered to prepare to go to Lemnos. The hospital was to be set up there to care for casualties being brought back from the Dardanelles. The Transport Ship Marquette took on board officers and men of the New Zealand Medical Corps, 36 New Zealand Army Nursing Staff, 610 officers and men of 29th Divisional Ammunition Column , 541 mules and some ammunition in mid October sailed for Salonika. The French torpedo destroyer Tirailleur joined the convoy on 22 October which gave credence to the idea that there was a real danger of being attacked by German submarines in the Mediterranean. The torpedo destroyer left the convoy that night and at 9.15 am on 23 October the Marquette was hit by a torpedo on the starboard side and began to list. Within about 15 minutes she sank. Nurses lost their lives in the evacuation as lifeboats tipped over as they were lowered into the sea, some boats falling on others, with some being left on the ship and going down with her. AWMM - Staff Nurse Isdell's brother Private Charles Creagh Isdell (1883-1917) born Barrytown, Westland, New Zealand - served with the Canadian Forces : Canadian Service # 761027; Canadian Infantry, British Columbia Regiment, 29th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Forces. Private Isdell died of wounds - 13 April 1917 - at France or Belgium. He was 34 years of age. Refer his military profile on this website.Public - Jenifer - Researcher - 4 December 2017 - Military file of Private Charles C. Isdell - AWMM & Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
- Helena Isdell was the daughter of Mrs. H. C. Isdell, of Preston Road., Greymouth.
About death
- Death
- 23 Oct 1915 AWMM
- Date of death
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- Age at death
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- Place of death
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- Cause of death
- Accidental Death AWMM
- Death notes
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- Cemetery
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- Cemetery name
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- Grave reference
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- Obituary
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- Memorial name
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- Memorial reference
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Memorial
- Memorial name
- Mikra Memorial, Greece AWMM
- Nurses' Memorial Chapel, Riccarton Avenue, Christchurch, New Zealand AWMM
- Memorial bed, 1916, Kumara Hospital, Westland AWMM
- Memorial window, Five Sisters Window, north transept, York Minster, York, England AWMM
Related Serviceperson
Sources
- External links
- Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R18052276
Further Reference - Other military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R7880232
Further Reference - Rogers, A. (2006, 27 October). In Loving Memory: The Nurses’ Memorial Chapel, Christchurch, New Zealand. The New Zealand Medical Journal. Vol 119, no. 1244.
http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/119-1244/2292/
Further Reference - New Zealand Military Nursing: New Zealand Army Nursing Service - Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps.
http://web.archive.org/web/20220126041404/https://www.nzans.org/index.htm
Further Reference - Memorials. Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume IX, Issue 1, January 1916, Page 9
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=KT19160101.2.18&srpos
Further Reference - York Minster, Five Sisters Window. In memory of overseas nurses. (1925, 3 July). Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, p. 140.
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=KT19250701.2.44&srpos
Further Reference - A Street Near You record
https://astreetnearyou.org/person/1647888/-
Further Reference - Commonwealth War Graves Commission Casualty record
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1647888
Further Reference - Wikipedia Entry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Isdell
Further Reference
- Military personnel file
- References
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1914-1919). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Volume I. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
Vol1: 359 - New Zealand Military Nursing - A History of the R.N.Z.N.C. Boer War to Present Day
- Service Women Project: Sponsorship to research this record was kindly provided by the Auckland Returned Services Association, Returned Servicewomen's Branch; Marjorie Traill, Dorothy Grant, Daphne Shaw and Margaret Woollett.
- Beattie, P.J. & Pomeroy, M. (2013-2020). Onward : portraits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (vols 1-5). Auckland, New Zealand: Fair Dinkum Publications
Vol. 1: Includes portrait - McNabb, S. (2015). 100 years New Zealand military nursing : New Zealand Army nursing service : Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps, 1915-2015. Hawke's Bay, N.Z.: Sherayl McNabb.
- Harper, G., Clements, C., & Johns., R. (2019). For King and Other Countries: The New Zealanders Who Fought in Other Services in the First World War. Auckland, New Zealand: Massey University Press.
p. 197 - Beattie, P.J. & Pomeroy, M. (2013-2020). Onward : portraits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (vols 1-5). Auckland, New Zealand: Fair Dinkum Publications
Vol. 5: Includes portrait - Tolerton, J. (2017). Make her praises heard afar : New Zealand women overseas in World War One. Wellington, New Zealand : Booklovers Books.
- Rogers, A. (2003). While You're Away: New Zealand Nurses at War 1899-1948. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland University Press.
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1914-1919). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Volume I. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
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