The pioneering nurse
Georgina Fane Pope story on display in Summerside
A Charlottetown author is bringing the story of a heroic Island nurse to life, thanks to the recent release of her book.
Katherine Dewar, who was born and raised in Summerside, began researching the story of nurses like Georgina Fane Pope after scrolling through microfilm in old newspaper archives.
“I was researching something else when I came across the “Of Local Interest Column” from the summer/spring of 1919. Two lines on the page mentioned that a local nurse was returning from the battlefields.”
She continued, “Then on another page there was this whole spread, giving a hero’s welcome to the returning soldiers.”
Thus began Dewar’s journey learning about Pope’s role in the history of Canadian nursing.
Dewar has written a previous book on Island nurses who served in the First World War called “These Splendid Girls.” Her latest
work is all about Pope: “Called to Serve: Georgina Pope Canadian Military Nursing Heroine.”
Pope, born in January 1862, was a child of privilege as her father was a Father of Confederation and her great-grandfather was the first lieutenant-governor of P.E.I.
“When she was little, she read a story about Florence Nightingale going to war. She decided when she grew up she was going to do the same,” explained Dewar.
It was unheard of that young women of privilege would do this.
When she became eligible, Pope attended Bellevue Hospital in New York where she was formally trained as a nurse. At the time, the hospital only accepted women of the elite.
“Then when war broke out in South Africa and Canada committed to send 1,000 troops and eight nurses to serve in the Boer War, Pope applied. She was one
of 200 applicants.
“It was 1899. The conditions were terrible. It was so stifling hot during the day and so cold at night, sometimes the medicine would actually freeze in the vials.”
“After serving, she returned to Canada, only to return to South Africa in 1902 when Canadians joined the fight in the Boer War again.”
In 1908, after about 20 years of experience, Pope organized, and later became the matron of, the
Canadian Army Nursing Core.
“Then in 1917, she went to war.”
By August 1918, Pope was 56 and stationed in a hospital that was being bombed every night by the Germans.
“She, along with a few other nurses, became shell shocked. She was sent back to London, England and eventually admitted to a convalescent home in Buxton. By 1919 she was discharged from the Canadian Army as medically unfit.”
Although Pope’s war-time nursing career was over, she still played a crucial role in the development of the nursing occupation. She also spent many years spreading her wealth to various Catholic and non-denominational organizations.