As are the fearless stars...

Originally a Great War memorial, the commemorative plaques remain a focal point of remembrance, and it is, as designed, a tangible and lasting monument to profound loss and sacrifice. A sentiment that echoes down generations, although time and memory have blurred beyond recall names and stories.

Walter Parsons, Principal at Leeds Training College, in a 1916 address listed only five men who had 'given their all for King and Country'. By the end, the number had risen to seventy-seven. He included a long list of male staff and students serving their Country. Perhaps in the interests of balance, Parsons highlighted two women students; there were undoubtedly many more, Madge Woodhouse and Fannie Nesbit, both working in military hospitals. Unrecorded by the war memorial are many men who survived the war, at least in body, many broken. Nor does it acknowledge the work carried out by women many of who found themselves thrust into unfamiliar roles. In his 1916 address, Parsons reminded the college of the 'valuable work' women were performing in the 'national struggle'. He highlighted the hard work of registration, recruiting offices, the Red Cross, war funds and flag days. Above all, in his opinion, women carried on the vital load of educating, 'the most important national work of all'. The varied roles of women during WW1 are, for the most part, hidden; their contribution forgotten.

Madge Woodhouse 1889-1973

Madge Woodhouse was a student at the City of Leeds Training College in 1910-11. In 1916 a serving Nurse at the No. 11 Stationary Hospital, BEF in France.  This hospital was in Rouen. Woodhouse served from October 1915 until May 1919.  In January 1918, she received a scarlet stripe, awarded for efficiency rather than length of service. And later, in 1919, Woodhouse was awarded the Royal Red Cross 2nd Class for exceptional services in military nursing. Towards the end of her service, she was an Assistant Nurse and Acting Matron in Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service. In her later years, she worked as a Hospital Secretary and Administrator. Woodhouse was born on 11 June 1889 in Menston, West Riding, the daughter of Harry Woodhouse, a Woollen Merchant, and Margaret Ramsden. She lived in the family home at Wharfedale View in Menston for most of her life. Woodhouse died on 15 December 1973 at her home in Menston.

Fannie Florence Nesbitt 1888-1981

Fannie Nesbitt was a student at the City of Leeds Training College from 1907 to 1909. In 1911 she was a Certified Teacher in Whitehaven. In 1916 a serving Nurse at a military hospital in Carlisle. Nesbitt was trained and certified at the Cumberland Infirmary between 1915 and 1918. In 1920 she travelled to Australia to nurse with her sister Annie. Two years later, Nesbitt came back to the UK described as a Teacher. From 1923 she was on the Midwives Roll. By 1939 she was working as Estate Agent's Clerk, probably for her brother James Creighton Nesbitt an Estate Agent in Whitehaven. Nesbitt was born on 7 March 1888 in Whitehaven, the daughter of Creighton Jenkins Nesbitt, a Solicitor's Clerk, and Hannah Robinson. She died on 25 May 1981 in Cockermouth.

Throughout WW1, the military requisitioned more and more buildings forcing Leeds Training College to withdraw to neighbouring houses and schools in Headingley. The 2nd Northern General Hospital became a comprehensive institution with military and medical links across Leeds, but its main focus was on the college buildings at Beckett Park. The hospital needed a vast array of personnel to run efficiently, including Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers, Nurses and VADs of the Territorial Force Nursing Service and Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service. Not to forget civilian telephone operators, typists and secretaries, the majority of positions filled by women. At best, the military's attitude to women was dismissive, but some forced their way into active service. For instance, Dr Elsie Inglis and her female doctors formed the Scottish Field Hospitals. The stubbornness of the Royal Army Medical Corps and others forced Inglis to take her hospitals to the Belgians, French and Russians. However, the authorities had no trouble seeing the worth of women as nurses. By 1914,  something like 47,000 women volunteered to be a VAD.  Assiduous research has identified some of the Nurses, VADs, and Clerks who came to Leeds to work in the hospital.

Lillian Winifred Ford 1888-1973

Lillian Ford was a Staff Nurse based at the 2nd Northern General Hospital at Beckett Park during WW1. She trained at Southport infirmary and was certified in 1914. before the war, she worked as a Sister in the Lady Forester Hospital in Broseley, Salop. Ford joined the Beckett Park Hospital on 15 May 1916; she was described as an outstanding and intelligent nurse and almost immediately was sharing the burden of Acting Sister duties. Due to her professionalism and ability to be firm with stubborn patients, Ford spent much time on the Officers wards. She requested permission to demobilise in 1919; the death of an Aunt required her to keep house for her family. Ford stayed on as a Reservist with the Territorial Force Nursing Service and its successor, the Territorial Army Nursing Service, until 1933 and gave up nursing. Immediately after the war, George Sprittles noted that Ford had moved to Bradford in 1922., possibly to work in a hospital there. He labelled his photograph as Sister, which may refer to her civilian position as she remained a Staff Nurse in the Territorial Service. Ford was born on the 9 February 1888 in Seacombe, Cheshire, the daughter of Arthur Ford, a Tailor, and Jane Taylor Finnemore.

Margery Grace Parker 1897-1978

Margery Parker worked at the 2nd Northern General Hospital during WW1; she was a Shorthand Typist. Parker appears to have given up work when she married in 1922. During WW2, she took part in Air Raid Precautions at Kirkstall.

Parker was born on 15 October 1897 in Leeds, the daughter of Harry Wormesley Parker, a Manager, and Annie Ames. She married Hubert Reginald Steele in 1922, and Steele had been stationed at the 2nd Northern General Hospital while serving in the RAMC. She died on 19 December 1978 at Kirkstall.

Phyliss Russling 1896-1976

Phyliss Russling was a Civil Servant, Sorting Clerk and Telegraphist with the General Post Office and appeared to have been seconded to the offices within the 2nd Northern General Hospital at Beckett Park. She began her career at the GPO in Leeds in December 1913, where she was taken on as a Learner (Clerk), becoming a Sorting Clerk, Telegraphist and Telephone Operator in January 1914. In a photograph entitled 'In Borrowed Plumage', Russling is dressed in an invalid soldier blue hospital uniform. Her attire may have been part of a hospital entertainment event, or the photograph represents a private joke. It seems likely that Russling continued with the GPO until her marriage in 1937. At that time, women in the GPO were required to give up their job when they married.

Russling was known as a dog breeder, and regular at Dog Shows in the Yorkshire region. She continued this passion all her life; Irish Setters seem to be her primary breed of interest.

Russling was born 12 December 1895 in Leeds, daughter of Arthur Russling, a Plumber and Builder, and Mary Elizabeth Campenett. She married Harry Roland Sharpe in 1937, by which time she had moved to the Bridlington area. She died in Scarborough on 6 August 1976.

Emily Violet Pratt 1888-1987

Emily Pratt was a Sister engaged at the 2nd Northern General Hospital at Beckett Park during WW1. She trained at the Royal Salop Infirmary in Shrewsbury between 1910 and 1913. Immediately before the war, Pratt was a Massage Sister at the Sheffield Royal Hospital. On 11 January 1915, she joined the Beckett Park Hospital as a Staff Nurse and was promoted to Sister in May 1916. Reports suggest that Pratt was a capable, self-reliant and intelligent Nurse. The report noted that she had a difficult temper and was intolerant of the mistakes made by others; by 1917, the Head Matron felt that she had improved in these matters. After the war, Pratt specialised in Physiotherapy and Massage. She worked in this capacity at the National Hospital in Queen Square London (full title, National Hospital for the Relief and Cure of Diseases of the Nervous System including Paralysis and Epilepsy) and as a Private Practioner. Pratt was working from a professional address in Earls Court Square. By 1939 she was living in rural Crawley in Sussex at Pound Hill Cottage. She continued as a Territorial Army Nursing Reservist and lived at Pound Hill until 1946, in later life, Pratt moved to Scotland. Pratt had a connection to the author Norah Mary Edmondson whose 1929 book The Lavender Garden and Other Stories was published by Frederick Warne with a foreword by Beatrix Potter. Pratt was born on 17 December 1888 at Hallow, Worcestershire, the daughter of Henry Samuel Pratt, an Inn Keeper, and Edith Jane Taylor. She died at the age of 99 in 1987 at Dumfries.