ISABELLA PAUL DOW (1872-1935)
Isabella Paul Dow was a nurse during World War One. She served in two Balkan units of the Scottish Women’s Hospital (SWH).
She was born on the 23rd October 1872, at the Porter’s Lodge, Rothiemay, Banffshire. Her father, George Dow worked as a coachman there. He and his wife Mary Smith had at least 8 children and they moved around the country as George was an agricultural worker.
After the death of her father, the family lived at Strachan House, Old Machar where her mother worked as a housekeeper. Isabella was educated at the Girls’ School, Aberdeen. When she was 18 she was still living with her mother and some siblings, at 15 Claremont St., Aberdeen. She was employed as a bookkeeper prior to beginning a career as a nurse.
Isabella’s nursing career began in the 1890’s. She nursed in the Fever Hospital at Monsall, Manchester from Sept 1892 to Sept 1894. Then she moved to Whitehaven hospitals (Cumbria) from Aug 1895 to April 1898. Isabella returned to Scotland, and was based in the Victoria Infirmary Glasgow for six months, May to November 1898. She worked as a sick nurse at the “Peter Brough Nursing Home” Oakshaw Street, Paisley and then Paisley Infirmary, up to 1904. Just prior her application to the SWH Isabella was working in Perthshire as a temporary Matron at Convalescence Home for wounded soldiers
During Isabella career, especially working in the Glasgow Hospitals she would have heard about Dr Inglis call for volunteers for the SWH and as an experienced, mature nurse who had fever hospital skills, she was an ideal candidate.
In September 1915, aged 44, she travelled to Serbia where she joined the 2nd Serbian Unit known as the London-Wales unit, under the command of Dr Alice Hutchinson. Her wage was £50 per annum. She had an allowance for train travel, inoculations, her uniform, passport and also her travel to Serbia, paid for. The unit was based in Valjevo, but just a month after her arrival the hospital was ordered to evacuate.
Initially, the Unit moved to Pojega and then onto Vrnjarch Banja where the women were detained by the Austrian Army and became prisoners of war, even though this was against the Geneva Convection.
Isabella’s unit now comprised of 32 women. Food was scare and accommodation was sparse, each member had managed to smuggle a blanket, pinned underneath their coats. The captives were moved around by Bulgarian and German armed guards, first to Belgrade, then Hungary and onto Vienna. There, the women and their belongings were searched - any papers, diaries, photographs and camera film were confiscated before they were set free in Zurich. The women arrived back to London on the 12 February 1916. The SWH prisoners had no communication at all, for a whole four months. They would have been unaware of the execution of Nurse Edith Cavell in Belgium during this time.
By July of 1916, Isabella’s application for another tour with the SWH was accepted. This time she was assigned to the Ostrovo Unit, it was often called the American Unit, as that was the country which funded the Unit. She sailed out of Southampton with other SWH colleagues and set sail for Salonika, now known as Thessaloniki, in the northern Greek region of Macedonia. The journey was challenging and dangerous, the seas had been mined and patrolled by German submarines.
Of the 60 or so volunteers in the unit many were from Australia and New Zealand. Isabella was also working with fellow Scotswomen, one of the Unit cooks was Ishobel Ross from the Isle of Skye. This Unit hospital was under canvas, in meadows by Lake Ostrovo, very picturesque under normal conditions. During the summer the heat brought malaria with it, in the winter, it was so cold that the nurses hair froze to their pillows. The fighting was close by and casualties were brought to the hospital by mules or the SWH ambulances, the 200 beds filled up quickly. The hospital supported the Serbian Army, and set up various field hospitals, as the front line moved about.
Isabella worked for the SWH Unit until May 1917. On her return to the UK, she was placed in charge of a London hospital for wounded officers and men. Later she returned to Scotland, where she was transferred to a soldiers' convalescence home in Perth.
In 1921, she was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal by the British Committee of the French Red Cross. Isabella was living at School Wynd, Paisley, again in 1925, where she rented a room within the address, for £11 16 shillings a year.
On retirement, she settled and bought a home in Banchory – The Chalet, Ramsay Road. She had family nearby, a brother in Banchory and sister and family in Inverbervie. Isabella died aged 63, on the 11 February 1935. She must have died while out walking or visiting, as she was found dead on that evening in the nearby garden of Marlow Cottage, Banchory. She was buried in Springfield Cemetery in the same lair as her mother and two siblings, although the gravestone bears no mention of Isabella. The only evidence of her burial there is a burial record.
Entry written by Karen Shaw
Further Reading:-
Leneman, Leah. “In the service of life; the story of Elsie Inglis and the Scottish Women’s Hospitals”. 1994, Edinburgh: The Mercat Press.
Ross, Ishobel. “Little Grey Partridge: First World War diary of Ishobel Ross who served with the Scottish Women’s Hospital unit in Serbia”. 1988. Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press.
She was born on the 23rd October 1872, at the Porter’s Lodge, Rothiemay, Banffshire. Her father, George Dow worked as a coachman there. He and his wife Mary Smith had at least 8 children and they moved around the country as George was an agricultural worker.
After the death of her father, the family lived at Strachan House, Old Machar where her mother worked as a housekeeper. Isabella was educated at the Girls’ School, Aberdeen. When she was 18 she was still living with her mother and some siblings, at 15 Claremont St., Aberdeen. She was employed as a bookkeeper prior to beginning a career as a nurse.
Isabella’s nursing career began in the 1890’s. She nursed in the Fever Hospital at Monsall, Manchester from Sept 1892 to Sept 1894. Then she moved to Whitehaven hospitals (Cumbria) from Aug 1895 to April 1898. Isabella returned to Scotland, and was based in the Victoria Infirmary Glasgow for six months, May to November 1898. She worked as a sick nurse at the “Peter Brough Nursing Home” Oakshaw Street, Paisley and then Paisley Infirmary, up to 1904. Just prior her application to the SWH Isabella was working in Perthshire as a temporary Matron at Convalescence Home for wounded soldiers
During Isabella career, especially working in the Glasgow Hospitals she would have heard about Dr Inglis call for volunteers for the SWH and as an experienced, mature nurse who had fever hospital skills, she was an ideal candidate.
In September 1915, aged 44, she travelled to Serbia where she joined the 2nd Serbian Unit known as the London-Wales unit, under the command of Dr Alice Hutchinson. Her wage was £50 per annum. She had an allowance for train travel, inoculations, her uniform, passport and also her travel to Serbia, paid for. The unit was based in Valjevo, but just a month after her arrival the hospital was ordered to evacuate.
Initially, the Unit moved to Pojega and then onto Vrnjarch Banja where the women were detained by the Austrian Army and became prisoners of war, even though this was against the Geneva Convection.
Isabella’s unit now comprised of 32 women. Food was scare and accommodation was sparse, each member had managed to smuggle a blanket, pinned underneath their coats. The captives were moved around by Bulgarian and German armed guards, first to Belgrade, then Hungary and onto Vienna. There, the women and their belongings were searched - any papers, diaries, photographs and camera film were confiscated before they were set free in Zurich. The women arrived back to London on the 12 February 1916. The SWH prisoners had no communication at all, for a whole four months. They would have been unaware of the execution of Nurse Edith Cavell in Belgium during this time.
By July of 1916, Isabella’s application for another tour with the SWH was accepted. This time she was assigned to the Ostrovo Unit, it was often called the American Unit, as that was the country which funded the Unit. She sailed out of Southampton with other SWH colleagues and set sail for Salonika, now known as Thessaloniki, in the northern Greek region of Macedonia. The journey was challenging and dangerous, the seas had been mined and patrolled by German submarines.
Of the 60 or so volunteers in the unit many were from Australia and New Zealand. Isabella was also working with fellow Scotswomen, one of the Unit cooks was Ishobel Ross from the Isle of Skye. This Unit hospital was under canvas, in meadows by Lake Ostrovo, very picturesque under normal conditions. During the summer the heat brought malaria with it, in the winter, it was so cold that the nurses hair froze to their pillows. The fighting was close by and casualties were brought to the hospital by mules or the SWH ambulances, the 200 beds filled up quickly. The hospital supported the Serbian Army, and set up various field hospitals, as the front line moved about.
Isabella worked for the SWH Unit until May 1917. On her return to the UK, she was placed in charge of a London hospital for wounded officers and men. Later she returned to Scotland, where she was transferred to a soldiers' convalescence home in Perth.
In 1921, she was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal by the British Committee of the French Red Cross. Isabella was living at School Wynd, Paisley, again in 1925, where she rented a room within the address, for £11 16 shillings a year.
On retirement, she settled and bought a home in Banchory – The Chalet, Ramsay Road. She had family nearby, a brother in Banchory and sister and family in Inverbervie. Isabella died aged 63, on the 11 February 1935. She must have died while out walking or visiting, as she was found dead on that evening in the nearby garden of Marlow Cottage, Banchory. She was buried in Springfield Cemetery in the same lair as her mother and two siblings, although the gravestone bears no mention of Isabella. The only evidence of her burial there is a burial record.
Entry written by Karen Shaw
Further Reading:-
Leneman, Leah. “In the service of life; the story of Elsie Inglis and the Scottish Women’s Hospitals”. 1994, Edinburgh: The Mercat Press.
Ross, Ishobel. “Little Grey Partridge: First World War diary of Ishobel Ross who served with the Scottish Women’s Hospital unit in Serbia”. 1988. Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press.
