A unique family pair to ‘Nursing Sister Servants’ Edith and Nellie Hale, the only ladies to have served in that capacity in the Boer War - other than their middle sister Emma who was likewise employed at the same hospital

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (Miss Nellie Hale), officially re-impressed naming, as commonly found on Boer War medals to nursing staff, good very fine

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (Miss Edith Hale), officially re-impressed naming, as commonly found on Boer War medals to nursing staff, good very fine (2) £400-500

(Isabella) Nellie Hale known as Nellie Hale was born in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, circa 1873. In the 1881 census she is listed as an 8-year-old residing with her family at 11 Trinity Street, Fareham, Hampshire. Nellie served as a Nursing Sister’s Servant in South Africa from early 1900 and embarked to return home on 17 January 1901. The 1911 census records her name as Nellie Hale, a Domestic Servant residing at 40 Quay Street, Fareham with her father a Jobbing Gardener, mother, one brother and one sister. She died in Fareham in September 1935, aged 62 years, having never married.

Edith Hale was born on 23 June 1880 in Fareham, Hampshire. In the 1881 census she is listed as 9 months old residing with her family at 11 Trinity Street, Fareham. Edith served as a Nursing Sister’s Servant in South Africa from early 1900 and embarked to return home on 30 May 1901. The 1911 census records  her as a 30-year-old living in South Africa with her 25-year-old husband Bandsman Herbert Bolch, 2nd Battalion, Hampshire Regiment. He was to serve in Gallipoli, Egypt and France during the First World War. Returning to Hampshire after the end of hostilities he died at their home ‘Moorside’, Hogmoor Road, Bordon, Hampshire on 30 January 1948. Edith died in Fareham on 16 November 1958, aged 78 years.

Their middle sister, Emma, was born on 30 September 1877 in West Bromwich, Staffordshire. The 1881 census records lists her as a 3-year-old residing with her family at 11 Trinity Street, Fareham. Emma served as a Nursing Sister’s Servant in South Africa from early 1900 and embarked to return home 30 May 1901. She married in Fareham on 30 December 1902, Charles Edmund Freeman (born in Portsmouth 18 August 1872), an N.C.O. in the Royal Army Medical Corps who she almost certainly met in South Africa, and the 1911 census lists them as residing at 11 Glanmor Crescent, Swansea. Charles died in Portsmouth in June 1926, and Emma died in Gosport, Hampshire in March 1956, aged 79 years.