Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (Nursing Sister J. E. Phillips), edge bruising, otherwise very fine £200-240

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Barrett J Carr Collection of Nurses’ Medals.

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Jane Elizabeth Phillips trained as a nurse at Barony Parish Hospital, Glasgow, and volunteered for service in the Boer War in her capacity as a Nursing Sister on the strength of Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service Reserve. Embarking for South Africa in the British Princess in July 1900, she initially served at No. 14 General Hospital, Newcastle but, as noted on the medal roll, she transferred to the hospital ship, ex-P. & O. liner Nubia in June 1901.

Previous research also verifies that Phillips undertook several return trips to the U.K. in Nubia, the outward leg from Durban with wounded and the return leg from Southampton, or London, with troops. According to the British Medical Journal (February, 1900), Nubia had sufficient accommodation for 475 sick, wounded or convalescent patients and was equipped with an operating theatre ‘with all the latest appliances for the proper pursuit of antiseptic surgery’. The medical team comprised six Doctors, seven Nursing Sisters and 35 attendants.