Australia's Involvement
in World War 1

Forty WW1 Clyde Volunteers

World War 1 Roll of Honor

Honor Roll - Former Scholars

Honor Roll - Residents

Honor Roll - Nurses

Clyde Men Who Never Came Home

ANZAC Stan Allars' Story

War Casualties

 

Military Awards

Community Recognition

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clyde's Honor Roll - Nurses
Nurses who Enlisted
Three nurses linked with Clyde volunteered for overseas military medical service.

These were courageous adventurous  professional single women, who’d travelled interstate, and volunteered with their nursing experiences to bring healing to wounded military service personnel.
Each in their own way had a wider understanding of life compared to other women of their time.
Each had an individual link with Clyde, the Cranbourne Shire and were recognised as belonging to the Clyde community.


Voluntary Aid Detachment
Red Cross Australia Badg
e

Madeline Theresa "Birdie" Kirkpatrick Western Front
Red Cross Volunteer Nurse
(28 April 1878 – 15 March 1969 )

Unable to identify any nurse by the name of E Kirkpatrick, the editor pursued the possibility or a copyist error on the Clyde North Honor Roll board. The letter E was instead should have been written as a B. Miss "Birdie" Kirkpatrick is the only Nurse with that family name who was involved in WW1 and lived in the Cranbourne Shire.

Known as 'Birdie' since her young days Madeline Theresa was short in stature with a bright personality.Birdie Kirkpatrick (36) travelled to England in 1914 before WW1 broke out in August that year.
After the commencement of War she worked as a nurse in Lady Sykes Hospital and at a Red Cross hospital, Cleve Hospital, Bristol.
Her next move was to Dunkirk, France with the British Red Cross. The recuperating soldiers referred to her as Sister Australia.
Following her return to Australia in 1915 Birdie Kirkpatrick volunteered with the Red Cross in Malvern. An adventurous woman who bought her own car, a Morris, in 1927.
Birdie Kirkpatrick lived in Vermont for 45 years and died at 91 years of age in 1969.
The Clyde people acknowledged her as one of their own even though her residence was Hampton Park. The editor assumes that Nurse Birdie Kirkpatrick made her connections with Clyde through another WW1 nurse, Norah Lehman, who also would be linked with the Clyde North Church of England.

Memorial and Awards:
1. Honor Roll,, Clyde North State School No 118 and District; now in Clyde Primary School, Oroya Grove Clyde Vic 3978
2. Cranbourne Avenue of Honor Oak Tree Memorial planted in 1919.
Now her name is inscribed on Plaque 5 of the Oak Trees roll of honor.
3. Roll of Honor, Cranbourne School No 2068
Read more about awards and memorials at Community Recognition of WW1 personnel on this website

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Sisters Aileen Lehman and Norah Blanche Lehman born in South Australia, belonged to a large family, inspired by adventurous parents who took their children from South Australia to Bundaberg by boat. Their father, George Lehman was a brewer who then ventured south, bought a hotel in Dandenong and committed themselve to the local community. Both sisters attended the Dandenong East Primary School No 1430 and finished their secondary education in a convent. In 1913, according to the Cranbourne Rate books, George and Kathleen Lehman bought "Springmeadows" on Thompsons Road Clyde. This is now 1580 Thompsons Road opposite the Woolworths shopping complex.

Both sisters had trained in the Melbourne General Hospital and worked in Albury Hosptial and Tallangatta, Northern Victoria until 1915. They were among the first group of nurses to leave for the Middle East. On 12 June 1915 they both enlisted with AANS (Australian Army Nursing Service) and embarked on a hospital ship, Orsova, 17 July 1915, for service in Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt.. Within  a few days of arriving in August they were treating the wounded from Gallipoli.
During that time, 20 March 1916 they formally signed up with the Australian Army as Staff Nurses and served in France. Records show that they embarked aboard the Braema Castle and headed to the Western Front for the 2AGH (2nd Australian General Hospital) Wimereaux, France arriving there on 1 July1916 to be united with their unit.


Aileen Lehman

LEHMAN, Aileen Middle East and Western Front
(14 May 1886 - 12 December 1953)

Aged 27, Aileen Lehman, standing 5ft 6in (167.6cm) , she was tall for a woman of her day when she enlisted for the Australian Army Nursing Service, on 12 June 1915. Twelve months later Aileen "Budge" Lehman enlisted with the AIF, Australian Infantry Force for service in France. Along with her sister, Norah, she brought comfort and caring to the Australian men at the 2AGH ( Second Australian General Hospital) Wimereux. She wasa great favorite with the soldiers in France, and she has in her possession, a testimonial bearing the signatures of 800 Australian wounded fighters.

In 1917 Aileen Lehman suffered several bouts of pleurisy which became the cause for her to return to Australia and recover. On the return journey she met her husband, Cecil Paul Best whom she married at Kew, Melbourne 1917.The marriage didn't last as Paul Best moved to somewhere in South America leaving Aileen to raise a son.
She continued nursing. Aileen died in December 12, 1953 aged 68.

Memorial and Awards:

1. Honor Roll,, Clyde North State School No 118 and District; now in Clyde Primary School, Oroya Grove Clyde Vic 3978
2. Awarded Cranbourne Patriotic Association Certificate, Friday November 29, 1918
3. Gold Medal awarded by the Cranbourne Patriotic Association, Friday 10 October 1919
4. Military Awards:1914-15 Star, British War Meda.l Victory Medal
Read more about awards and memorials atCommunity Recognition of WW1 personnel on this website.

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Norah Lehman in Egypt.

LEHMAN, Norah Blanche Middle East and Western Front
(19 May 1882 - 24 May 1949)

Taller than her younger sister, Norah stood at 5ft 7.5in (170.8) about the averange height of WW1 soldier when she enlisted for overseas nursing service in June 1915. Aged 31, with 7 years of nurse training and experience she was prepared medically for the task ahead of her.
Travelling on the Orsova, a hospital ship, to Egypt she was appointed the position as a Sister. Arriving in Cairo, Egypt along with her younger sister, Aileen, Norah Lehman was involved in caring for wounded soldiers in Heliopolis, a huge building that was converted into a hospital. In March the following year, Norah signed up with the AIF (Australian Infantry Force) for service in Wimereux, France.

It was during her time there Norah earned recognition for her outstanding service which resulted in formal recognition from GeneralSir Douglas Haigh.

Norah travelled home to Australia as a Sister in Charge of Nursing on a hospital ship arriving in June 1919. Soon afterwards, in July she was appointed Matron of the Cranbourne Hospital erected for treatment of Spanish Influenza patients. This was a pandemic more devastating for Australia than coronavirus of 2020.

Norah continued her nursing career in the Melbourne area. She died on 24 May 1949, aged 67

Memorial and Awards:
1. Honor Roll,, Clyde North State School No 118 and District; now in Clyde Primary School, Oroya Grove Clyde Vic 3978
2. Awarded Cranbourne Patriotic Association Certificate, Friday November 29, 1918
3. Gold Medal awarded by the Cranbourne Patriotic Association, Friday 10 October 1919
4. Military Awards:1914-15 Star, British War Meda.l Victory Meda
5. Mentioned in Despatches: Oak leaf clasp attached to Victory Medal (Read more about Military Awards in this web site)
Read more about awards and memorials at Community Recognition of WW1 personnel on this website


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Sources
1
The AIF Project Basic summary of each soldier's WW 1 military record
2
Military Record Search Individual military records
3
Army - World War 1: 1914-18 Army personnel military records
4
Virtual War Memorial Australia Basic individual military history with details added in by volunteers
5
Monuments and Memorials Plaques, memorials to individual military personnel in Australia
6
Victorian War Heritage Inventory Find a name on a Roll of Honor
7
TROVE digitised newspaper accounts Newspaper accounts of events, news items, adverisements, family news
8
Victorian. Registry Office, Family History Family history search
9
Ryerson Index of Newspaper Death notices Death notices in Australian newspapers
10
Public Records Office, Victoria Family history section: Wills, Travel- interstate and international
11
Casey Cardinia Commemoriates Our War Year Local historian, Heather Arnold, explores military history & stories
12
Ancestry.com (subscription account) Electoral Rolls, Military History, Births Death Marriages, Travel & Immigration
13
Cranbourne RSL Archives  
14
Cranbourne Shire Rate Books 1863-1947  
15
Schools' Register of Clyde children 1910-1980  
16
Cemetery Records - Deceased Search online  
17
Relevant Historical Societies  
18
Family History Researchers Kirkpatrick, Lehman
19
Photographs Dr. Jim Best Grandson of Aileen Best (nee Lehman)
Note: Internet site addresses frequently change