Helena Isdell

Nurse Helena Isdell, 1915

Helena Kathleen Isdell (30 November 1888 - 23 October 1915) was a New Zealand nurse who served in World War I and died in the sinking of SS Marquette in 1915.^[1][2]

Early life

Isdell was born in Greymouth, on the West Coast of New Zealand, on 30 November 1888.^[2] Her parents were Josephine Margaret and James Isdell. She had a sister, Isabel, who also served as a nurse in World War I, and a brother, Charles, who enlisted and died in action in 1917.^[3]

Career

After completing her training, Isdell was the matron at Kumara Hospital on the West Coast. However, some sources also list her home as Napier or Lyttelton.^[4][5]

In June 1915, Isdell enlisted in the Royal New Zealand Army Nursing Service. She left Wellington in July on the SS Maheno, travelling with 69 other New Zealand nurses, and arrived in Port Said, Egypt, in August.^[2] On 19 October, the hospital unit boarded the SS Marquette in Alexandria, but four days later it was sunk by a torpedo from a German submarine. Isdell's body was found in a lifeboat, along with that of Margaret Rogers and four men, which washed up on the shore near the Greek town of Zagorá.^[6]

Recognition

Isdell is named on the Mikra British Cemetery in Greece and in the Nurses' Memorial Chapel at Christchurch Hospital.^[1] She is also remembered in the Five Sisters Window at York Minster in York, England.^[2] Kumara Hospital has a memorial bed in Isdell's name.^[2]

References