The London
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In 1921, Florence moved to London and took a government position as a nurse with the school medical service. The Nurses Registration Act of 1919 set up the General Nursing Council which maintained a register of nurses to ensure that all nurses were properly trained. Florence first registered as a nurse in London on February 16, 1923; her registration number was 11230. Florence listed her address as 70 Seymour House, Compton Street, London, WC1.
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The London Registers of Electors show that Miss Frances Mary Annetta Clarkson (Florence’s friend, Clarkie) had lived at the Seymour House address since 1921. Clarkie was nine years older than Florence, and also a nurse. She served with QAIMNSR in Salonika and Taranto during WWI and was on the same transport ship as Florence between the two locations. Clarkie had studied at Westminster Hospital. She left the service of QAIMNSR in January 1919 to take a position as a public health nurse in London. Florence is shown to be residing at Seymour House with Clarkie in the 1924-27 Registers of Electors. In 1927, Florence is also listed at 4 Logan Road, Wembley Park, which was to be her residence for the next several years. In both 1927 and 1928, Florence and Mabel Symonds are shown as residents of 4 Logan Road. In 1929 through 1933, the Registers list Florence and her mother, Esther Yemm, at that address. In 1930 only, Arthur Charles Stannard was also listed there, possibly a boarder taken in to help with expenses.
In the 1935 Register of Electors, Florence is shown as sharing her 4 Logan Road residence with Hilda Mary Marshall. However, by October 1936 Florence had moved back in with her friend, Clarkie, at 70 Seymour House on Compton Street. On April 26, 1937, Florence's sister, Esther, arrived in England aboard the Queen Mary. The passenger manifest shows Esther's address in England as Seymour House. Esther visited England during an exciting time. On May 12, 1937, the coronation of King George VI and his wife, Elizabeth, took place at Westminster Abbey, and the abdicated Edward married Wallis Simpson on June 6, 1937. Six days before the coronation the Hindenburg exploded and later that summer, on July 2nd, Amelia Earhart’s flight disappeared. Esther's daughter remembers that Florence was working during Esther's visit and Esther often went out and about with a friend of Florence's, perhaps Clarkie. Esther stayed in London for about five months, arriving back in the United States on October 4, 1937. Florence lived at Seymour House with Clarkie through 1939, when Britain became involved in World War II.
During the six years Britain was at war, 1939 to 1945, life was frequently hard for London residents. Food and clothing were rationed and in short supply. Bombing caused fear, injury, death and destruction. The period of the Blitz, in particular, must have been terrifying. Starting September 7, 1940, London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 57 consecutive nights. Fires consumed many portions of the city. Residents sought shelter wherever they could find it, many fleeing to the Underground stations that sheltered as many as 177,000 people at night. Florence told stories of hearing air raid sirens and running for shelter. Over a period of 267 days (almost 37 weeks, to May 21, 1941), London was attacked 71 times. The Blitz claimed the lives of over 20,000 civilians in London and damaged or destroyed more than one million London houses and numerous public buildings.
Sometime after 1939, perhaps coincidental with a job promotion to divisional nursing superintendent on January 1, 1941, Florence moved to 154 Holly Lodge Mansions, Oakeshott Avenue, in the Highgate area of London. (We don’t know the exact timing here because Election Registers were not kept up during the war, but by October 1945, Florence was in Highgate, where she lived until she immigrated to the United States.) The Holly Lodge Mansions, along with Langbourne Mansions and Makepeace Mansions, were built in 1924 by Lady Workers Homes Ltd on what was formerly Holly Lodge Estate. The development created a total of 785 flats for working ladies. In the words of The Times, this was "the kind of thing the woman-worker has dreamed of, but never hoped to see at the price." The facilities included communal spaces and opportunities: reading rooms, a theatre, a car service from the bottom of the hill, tennis courts and landscaped gardens exclusively for tenants' use. Most flats were single bed-sits with shared ablutions. The development is near the historic Highgate Cemetery and is now part of the larger Holly Lodge Estate Conservation Area. |
After the war, on May 16, 1947, Florence again visited the United States, this time aboard the Queen Elizabeth. During her two-month stay, Florence made the rounds visiting her family: Esther and Joe in Illinois, Steve in Kansas, and nephew Warren Yemm in Alabama. Florence's visit to Steve made the local news--read all about it here! Florence was by this time beginning to dream about retirement. She told the Belleville Telescope reporter "...when I retire, I shall have an open fireplace in my room, some logs and a poker." Florence returned to England on July 7, 1947.
Two years later, after 28 years of service, Florence retired from her job with the school medical service. A press release on her retirement stated that, in the position of divisional nursing superintendent, “her zest for the success of the work amongst the school children was matched by her care for the welfare of every member of the staff.” Florence said her farewells at a retirement party on October 13, 1949, where she was presented with “a handsome leather bag and umbrella.” The following day, October 14, 1949, she boarded the Queen Elizabeth with her worldly belongings in tow and immigrated to the United States. |