LEST WE FORGET 265 NUTT, George Jocelyn WWI George was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1896. He joined the 196th Western Universities Battalion on March 20, 1916, and served in Canada, England and France. He was discharged sometime in 1919, and received the General Service Medal and the Allied Medal. It is interesting to note that his birthplace is Jamaica and that his occupation is bank manager. So many occupations are listed as farmer or labourer. It is unclear how long he stayed in the community of Earl Grey. NYE (HEWETT), Elizabeth Isabel WWI Born in England in November 1869, Elizabeth Hewett emigrated to Canada in June 1909. The passenger list of the ship indicated that she was “coming to Canada to marry a farmer,” William Nye, who was born in Brighton, England on November 14, 1861. She and her husband lived on a homestead northwest of Conquest. Tragedy was soon to follow. On November 28, 1910, their infant daughter died. Thirty-four days later, on January 1, 1911, William passed away. Previously, Elizabeth had earned a Royal College of Nursing Certificate at London’s Metropolitan Hospital. After marrying William Nye of Conquest, she became a Canadian citizen in 1909. Like so many newly arrived immigrants from the British Isles, she answered the call when World War I began. Elizabeth returned to England where, on July 26, 1915, she began work as a matron with the Red Cross at Gifford House Auxiliary Hospital, where her pay was £1.1 per week. The hospital was located in an enormous country home owned by John Douglas Charrington of the wealthy brewery family. When it first opened on June 21, 1915 it had 80 beds, a number that rose to 230 as the war progressed. The ball room was converted to a ward, and the concert room became a day room for the many discharged servicemen who needed continuing care. A tragic combination of trench warfare, bombs and chemical weapons meant that the wounded often needed a long time to recover. In these hospital-homes, men who had been blinded by mustard gas or who had lost limbs would take the first steps towards re-entering the civilian world. Under the care of Red Cross Nurses, men with ‘shell shock’ were made to feel safe among comrades suffering the same trauma. Elizabeth worked at other hospitals in France, Belgium and Greece. She was awarded a Victory Medal. After the war, Elizabeth returned to her home in Conquest. The 1921 Census identifies her as a 50-year-old widow and a self-employed private nurse. At that time, she was living in Conquest, operating a nursing home in her six-room house on Kirkton Street. In July 1933, along with 2,000 other nurses, she attended the International Congress of Nurses co-hosted in Paris and Brussels where she met King Albert I and Queen Elizabeth. She had many experiences in her lifetime. For example, she was present on the welcoming platform when King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited Saskatoon in 1939. Moving to Saskatoon in 1952, Elizabeth Isabel Nye spent the final years of her life in a nursing home where she died at the age of 86 on Tuesday, January 18, 1956. The funeral was held at McKague Funeral Chapel in Saskatoon. She is buried in the Fertile Valley Cemetery near Conquest.
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