Voluntary Aid Detachment (VADs)

Voluntary Aid Detachment

During the First World War many women provided nursing care of military personnel as Voluntary Aid Detachment (VADs). Established in 1909 by the British War Office and managed by the British Red Cross Society and the St John Ambulance Society, the Voluntary Aid Detachment provided volunteer nurses to hospitals (and other sites) during wartime. 

By 1914, there were 74,000 members of the VAD, two thirds were women.  Through the course of war, they were posted to Belgium, Egypt, Malta, Salonika, Russia, Serbia, Romania and Italy.  Though often untrained, VADs, provided essential help to hospitals short of staff.  

As war intensified, male orderlies were transferred to the front and more VADs were required for work in New Zealand Hospitals. Colin Gordon an orderly with the New Zealand Medical Forces, described the situation in Brockenhurst ‘the orderlies, the men, were almost removed, except for the fetch and carry jobs from the ward. We had more nurses and hosts of VADs – New Zealand and English – who did the actual nursing.’   

Often New Zealand VADs were New Zealanders who already lived overseas or travelled to offer their services, they were not a part of New Zealand’s official military structure.

Online Cenotaph has been able to identify approximately four hundred New Zealanders who served as VADs during the First World War. With special thanks to Glyn Harper, and Sherayl McNabb and their research in helping to idenify these VADs. 

Further Information 

You can read more about Margaret Swarbrick, an English VAD who served at New Zealand General Hospital, Brockenhust.

You can search for the records of VADs on the British Red Cross website. 

Harper, Glyn. For King and Other Countries: The New Zealanders who fought in other services in the First World War. (Massey University Press, 2019). 

McNabb, Sherayl. 100 years New Zealand Military Nursing. (Sherayl McNabb, 2015). 

Rogers, Anna. While You’re Away: New Zealand Nurses at War 1899 – 1948 (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2003). 

Rogers, Anna. With them through hell: New Zealand Medical Services in the First World War. (Massey University Press, 2018). 

Results

Displaying 21 - 40 of 470 records

10 20 50 100 500

Family name A-Z Family name Z-A First name A-Z First name Z-A Force War Service # Relevance

Record ID	Photo	Family name	First names	Force	Wars	Service #		Preliminary
180769		Chapple	Nelca Allan	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918
193704		Burgess	Lucy Isobel	Navy	World War II, 1939-1945, World War I, 1914-1918	NZW 0574, 574
C31713		McGlashan	Betty Alice	Army	World War II, 1939-1945	818001
C139154		Cook	Olive Muriel Ella	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918
198861		Smith	Elizabeth Anne	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918
180780		Fulton	Katherine	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918	40B
C133381		Gutteridge	May Valentine	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918
186614		Dovey	Kate	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918
C143625		Woodruffe	Grace	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918
C132351		Howie	Delicia M.	Civilian	World War II, 1939-1945
98408		Herbert	Agnes Mary	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918
198466		Rudd	Charles George Villers	Army	World War II, 1939-1945
193497		Grigg	Mary Victoria Cracroft	Army	World War I, 1914-1918, World War II, 1939-1945
C18960		Callender	Mary Meta	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918
C144205		Millward	Laura	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918
C139062		Mendelssohn	Minnie	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918
C136313		McKechnie	Matilda	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918
198491		Atkins	Daisy Ethel	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918
198496		Barnicoat	Allison	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918
198503		Bennett	Ivy A.	Civilian	World War I, 1914-1918

1 2 3 4 5 …

Next page

Previous page

The development of the Online Cenotaph is an ongoing process; updates, new images and records are added weekly. In some cases, records have yet to be confirmed by Museum staff, and there could be mistakes or omissions in the information provided.