“ABOUT PEOPLE. Our Christmas Hills correspondent records the death of Miss Isabel Russell Ross, a well-known war nurse, on 12th inst. She went to the Great War on April 14, 1915, with the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve, and gave continuous service throughout the war. Nurse Ross was a daughter of the late John and Mrs Russell Ross, of “Kincraig,” Yarra Glen. She was a sister-in-law of Mr G. A. Maxwell, M.H.R., and Mr H. Campbell Jones, of the “Sun,” and a niece of Mr David Ross, the astronomer”. (Healesville Advertiser, 19 December, 1924)
“The funeral took place yesterday at the Yarra Glen Cemetery of Mrs Isabella Jane Russell Ross of Kincraig, Yarra Glen, the widow of the late Mr John Russell Ross. Mrs Russell Ross was the last surviving member of the family of Captain Cain who supervised the building of the first overseas ship in 1848. Mr J Russell Ross who died in 1891 was for some time general manager of the London Chartered Bank and later he was appointed manager of the Australian Loan and Finance Company”. (The Argus, 23 December, 1932)
“The death occurred last Friday of Mr. David Ross, of Kincraig, Yarra Glen, at the age of 80 years. For 30 years he was associated with the National Bank. After his retirement in 1915 he gave much of his time to astronomy, which had long been one of his favourite studies. Mr. Ross was the discoverer of two comets, one of which is called the Ross Comet. He was born in North Scotland. His brother, Mr. John Russell Ross, was manager of the London Chartered Bank for many years”. (Hurstbridge Advertiser, 6 June, 1930)
There were two nurses from Yarra Glen that served and both were noted by the Eltham and Whittlesea Advertiser at a Yarra Glen Welcome Home on 12 September, 1919 along with a group of servicemen. Yarra Glen currently falls outside the WikiNorthia boundaries, but at the time of the First World War was part of the Shire of Eltham.
Matron Jessie McHardie White was easily traceable, but the name of Nurse Russell Ross does not appear in Australian War Memorials records as embarking for overseas service.
Some further research reveals her to have been a member of one of the more fascinating families in the district.
It was initially assumed that she may have served at a local hospital as part of the Home Nursing Service, but deeper research reveals – sadly, in a reference to her death in 1924 – that she was one of the early volunteer nurses that paid their own way to England to enrol with the Queen Alexandra Military Nursing Service before the Australian Army Nursing Service (A.A.N.S) was formed.
Little is known of the 130 nurses known to have thus volunteered – their work with the Queen Alexandra Service was largely ignored by Australian authorities as it was not part of the local military hierarchy and those in England that wished to join the A.A.N.S. were initially required to pay their own passage home and their experience counted for nothing with the backlog of local nurses waiting to volunteer.
Eventually some common sense prevailed and the Defence Department in 1918 agreed to pay for the return of nurses still serving overseas (a limited archive documents the date and vessel for about 80 of the 130, but nothing of their service).
Victorian shipping records reveal she left on RMS Orontes in April, 1915, but beyond that, nothing is known of her time with the Queen Alexandra Service. The records suggest around 20 volunteer nurses and ten doctors where among the 184 that boarded in Melbourne.
Promoted to the rank of sister, Isabel Russell Ross embarked for return with a group of nurses on RMS Osterley on 21 May, 1919 and little else is known of her before a chance discovery of a little-known archive dated 1923-24 which records her death.
A follow-up on family notices reveals that Isabel Russell Ross died in the Caulfield Military Hospital in Kooyong Road on 12 December, 1924 and thus she has been included in our Shire of Eltham Memorial Roll.
Other than a file (not online) denoting her death, there is just a single page documenting her embarkation for return from England to Australia. A Death Notice was placed by her family but gave no indication of the cause of her demise.
One of her sisters, Jessie was farewelled at a function on 18 January, 1919 from her role as secretary of the Yarra Glen Red Cross Society, a position she had held for three-and-a-half years, resigning on account of her impending marriage and leaving the district. Her mother, shown as Mrs J. Ross, was president of the Society.
The family patriarch, John Russell Ross died in 1896 at 60 years of age, with “Russell” appearing in the names of all the children and as part of the surname, but never hyphenated.
The family appear to have been well-off the standards of the times, a couple of advertisements noted for domestic staff and an obituary following the death of George Maxwell, K.C., M.H.R., the husband of Jean Russell Ross describes her father John “formerly a well-known banker in Melbourne”.
“DEATHS ROSS – On the 12th December, at Caulfield Repatriation Hospital, Isabel Russell Ross third daughter of the late John and Mrs. Russell Ross, “Kincraig”, Yarra Glen.”
Isabella had mustard gas poisoning, I was told by my father, Jessie’s son . We have her war medals. She is buried in the Yarra Glen Cemetary.