Louise Elizabeth Brandon

Born 1879 - Died 23 Sept 1945

Service number: WWI 22/106 AWMM
WWI 3/76 AWMM
Also known as: —
Armed force / branch: Army AWMM
Last rank: WW1 Sister AWMM
War: World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM

Louise Elizabeth Brandon — Photo from Kai Tiaki - the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume VII, Issue 4, October 1914, Page 165, provided by Sarndra Lees. - Image has All Rights Reserved. All Rights Reserved

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Biographical information

Louise Elizabeth Brandon was born in Wellington in 1879. She trained as a nurse at Wellington Hospital from 1907 to 1910 and, after qualifying, worked there as a ward sister. She later trained in massage, an important form of physical rehabilitation for injured and convalescent patients at the time.

In August 1914, Brandon was one of six New Zealand nurses selected at short notice to accompany the New Zealand Expeditionary Force Advance Party to German Samoa. She travelled aboard Moeraki with Evelyn Brooke and Fanny Wilson. Following the New Zealand occupation, the nurses worked at the hospital in Apia. Ida Grace Willis joined the nursing group in Fiji, bringing the number of New Zealand nurses in Samoa to seven.

Brandon remained in Samoa until June 1915. Soon after returning to New Zealand she left again for overseas nursing service. She served aboard the New Zealand hospital ship Maheno and subsequently worked in Egypt and England. Her training in massage was particularly useful in the treatment and rehabilitation of wounded servicemen.

Brandon later served at No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital at Codford, England, and in France. Her wartime nursing included both general nursing and massage work with wounded and convalescent soldiers.

In recognition of her service, Brandon was appointed an Associate of the Royal Red Cross (ARRC) in 1917. She had by then been serving with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force nursing staff since August 1914, including service in Samoa and Egypt.

Her health was affected during her wartime service and she underwent periods of medical treatment and assessment. She nevertheless remained associated with military nursing until after the war and returned to New Zealand in 1919. She was discharged in February 1920 after approximately five and a half years of service.

Brandon continued her association with nursing after the war and remained connected with the New Zealand Army Nursing Service Reserve. She later worked in Wellington as a masseuse, continuing the rehabilitation work in which she had developed experience during the war.

Louise Elizabeth Brandon died on 23 September 1945. AWMM

Sources

External links: Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R22278618
Further Reference
Wikipedia Entry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Elizabeth_Brandon
Further Reference
McNabb, S. (2022, April). New Zealand Army Nursing Service – Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps. NZANS. Archived from the Wayback Machine on 26 January 2023.
https://web.archive.org/web/20230126100532/https://www.nzans.org/
Further Reference
Elborough, Sophie. New Zealand Nurses in Samoa. Auckland War Memorial Museum - Tāmaki Paenga Hira. First published: 5 April 2024.
https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/features/new-zealand-nurses-in-samoa
Further Reference
References: McDonald, W. (2013). Honours and Awards to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Great War, 1914-1918. (3rd ed.). Hamilton, N.Z.: Richard Stowers.
New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1914-1919). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Volume I. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
Vol1: 74
New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1917). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume II. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
42: 2
New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1918). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume III. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
57: 27
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.
Liverpool, Arthur William de Brito Savile Foljambe, Earl of, (compiler). (1916). The New Zealand hospital ship "Maheno" : the first voyage July 1915 to January 1916. Auckland, N.Z.: Whitcombe and Tombs Limited.
p.59
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.
HMNZT 80. Tiki-talk / edited by A. Allen, S.D. Waters and J. Carmody ; artist, Gordon Calman. (1917). London: Printed and published by the Angus Printing Co. for the executive committee of Tiki-talk.
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.

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Louise Elizabeth Brandon