Lot Essay
INDENTM.M. London Gazette 18.12.1917, Miss Helena Kate Repton, Queen Alexandra's Hospital. "For Bravery and conspicuous devotion in the performance of their duty while exposed to enemy shellfire or bombs dropped by enemy aircraft"
Miss Helena Kate Repton A.R.R.C., M.M., trained at Leeds General Hospital and held positions at Plymouth Hospital, St Bartholmew's, Rochester, and Plaistow, before arriving at Haine's Hospital as assistant Matron in 1907; joined the Friend's Ambulance Unit and went with them to Dunkirk in early April 1915; took charge of the Queen Alexandra Hospital, one of the unit's largest and best known enterprises of the war; the hospital was originally established to deal with the 1914-15 typhoid epidemic in Flanders and was attached to the French Eighth Army; from late 1915, the hospital admitted British patients which included the Royal Naval Air Service personnel from aerodromes near Dunkirk; Queen Alexandra Hospital was situated in one of the most dangerous rear areas on the Western Front, and for most of the war was the only British hospital in the district; it was bombed many times, and during September 1917 was subjected to an almost daily bombardment from air, land, and sea; the hospital was eventually moved to the Château de Petite Synthe about a mile and a half outside Dunkirk; Miss Repton returned to Haine's Hospital in 1919 and was appointed Matron in 1922
Miss Helena Kate Repton A.R.R.C., M.M., trained at Leeds General Hospital and held positions at Plymouth Hospital, St Bartholmew's, Rochester, and Plaistow, before arriving at Haine's Hospital as assistant Matron in 1907; joined the Friend's Ambulance Unit and went with them to Dunkirk in early April 1915; took charge of the Queen Alexandra Hospital, one of the unit's largest and best known enterprises of the war; the hospital was originally established to deal with the 1914-15 typhoid epidemic in Flanders and was attached to the French Eighth Army; from late 1915, the hospital admitted British patients which included the Royal Naval Air Service personnel from aerodromes near Dunkirk; Queen Alexandra Hospital was situated in one of the most dangerous rear areas on the Western Front, and for most of the war was the only British hospital in the district; it was bombed many times, and during September 1917 was subjected to an almost daily bombardment from air, land, and sea; the hospital was eventually moved to the Château de Petite Synthe about a mile and a half outside Dunkirk; Miss Repton returned to Haine's Hospital in 1919 and was appointed Matron in 1922