INGRAM Edith

Daughter of Mrs. S A. Ingram, of Clymping, Littlehampton.

The following information is courtesy of Peter Lang, great nephew-in-law of Edith Ingram:
Edith Ingram was born on the 31st December 1887 in Braunton, North Devon, the daughter of Heber Anthony and Sarah Ann (nee Bidder) Ingram. She also had one brother, William born in 1883 and three sisters, Louisa born in 1884, Florence born in 1886 and Ida born in 1891. In 1905 the family moved to Washington in Sussex.

The following information has been researched by Sandra Taylor:
By 1911 Sarah was a widow living with her son William, a farmer, at Church House in Washington. There is no record of Edith on the 1911 census.

On 2nd October 1915 at the age of 27, Edith enrolled as a VAD nurse with the Sussex 146 detachment of the British Red Cross at Storrington. She was living at 58 Buckingham Road, Brighton so she was based at the 2nd Eastern General Hospital at Brighton. She remained working at the hospital until the 30th April 1917 when she went overseas to work in one of the military hospitals in Northern France. Over the next three months Edith was awarded two scarlet efficiency stripes, denoting that she had been certified as ‘efficient’ by her Matron or Commanding Officer.

On the evening of 13th August 1918, Edith was on duty at No 55 Stationary Hospital near Boulogne when there was an enemy air aid over the area. Sadly, one of the two bombs dropped landed near where Edith was working and she was killed. Another VAD nurse working alongside her survived the attack but with extensive wounds.

The war diary for the hospital provides an extensive report on the raid including the death of Edith Ingram. Dame Emma Maud McCarthy, Matron in Chief of France and Flanders wrote the following entry on the 13th August in her war diary:

Edith was buried in the nearby cemetery on the 16th August 1918. Dame McCarthy made the following entry in her war diary:
Miss E. A. Ingram, V.A.D. Member, killed in the air-raid on the night of the 13th, was buried at the Turlingthun Cemetery. Representatives of Nursing Sisters from all the Hospitals in the Boulogne area were present.

Further information from Peter Lang:
Edith’s tragic death was reported in the local newspaper and the Parish Magazine. After the end of the war her family received certificates from the British Red Cross as well as the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Edith is the only woman commemorated on Storrington War Memorial.

Edith Ingram
Photo courtesy & copyright of Peter Lang

Edith’s grave in France
Photo Courtesy & Copyright of Dan Phelan

Edith Ingram, Ablain Saint Nazaire Ring of Remembrance
Photo ©Susan Strang