Edith Anne Moorhouse

Name: EDITH ANN MOORHOUSE

Rank: Sister

Unit Served: Australian Army Nursing Service

Personal Details: Daughter of Frederick Moorhouse & Deborah McCleary with one brother and two sisters, her parents died when she was only six and after that she lived with her Uncle.

Enlistment Details: Edith trained as a nurse at the Mooroopna General Hospital for 3 years, and was still a resident of Mooroopna when she enlisted as a Staff Nurse in 1915.

Details about her role in War: On the 9th of February 1916 Sister Edith was placed in Suez for nursing duties where she served until the 16th of January 1917 when she became ill and was transferred to H.S “Essequibo” where she stayed until the 8th of February when she was moved to France to work in the 14th Strategic Hospital. On the 26th of September she was moved to the 2nd A.G Hospital. Over the next year she worked there with two trips back to England, then on the 29th of September, she was posted to 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station for duty, and then the next month she was promoted to Sister. Edith managed to live long enough to see the end of the war on the 11th of the 11th only to be evacuated to another hospital due to Pneumonia on the 24th.

Would not give in until she could not move

“Then the 1st ACCS moved again after the fall of Lille to a dreary bleak spot called Fretin just beyond Lille. Here we were billeted in an old Chateau about 20 minutes walk from the camp. Here I returned to my own CCS No 2 having closed down ready for another move. My team went on night duty and filthy weather prevailed cold winds and rain for it was now late in October. We were cold and miserable long before we reached our ward for the nights work. It was during this night duty that the late Sister Moorhouse took ill but would not give in until she could not move, and it was too late to save her precious life.”

Sister Leila Brown, AWM nurses’ narratives

Age at Death: 33

Cemetery or Memorial Details: She was buried at the Lille Southern Cemetery, France on the 26th of November 1918

Commemorated by Anne Molinaro