Louisa Constance Colt-Williams

"Louisa ... signed up as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) and by February 1915 she had completed her training in home nursing and in an article in a newspaper at the time was one of the VAD’s who passed her exams in December 1914. She was based at Crawley Hospital, where Asda now stands. However Louisa’s medal card tells us that her first Theatre was 10, which must have been France and her date of entry therein was October 1915. As can be seen she was in the French Red Cross as a Nurse...I tried to get her mentioned on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database, but this was refused. I n their adjudication, the National Army Museum (Ref: WGA 955 – CWGC Ref: ARMY 4073) dated 5th January 2017 they said that she did not qualify for commemoration due to the fact there are no records to say that she was “under contract serving with the Fighting Services” at the time of death. The undated newspaper report (which I had sent to them) says she was serving in the French Red Cross when she was captured by the German army in 1918, it does not mention if she remained in service after her release either in the VAD or British Red Cross Society at the time of her death."