Frances Blencowe was one of the key players in Chailey during the First World war.  Her family owned large tracts of land in Chailey and was one of several influential families in the area.  During the war years, Frances was commandant of Sussex 54 VAD (briefly in 1914) and latterly the RFC hospital at Brook House.  She also nursed at Netley, in Serbia and in France.  After the war, she returned to Sussex 54 VAD and took over as commandant when Margaret Cotesworth resigned in 1921.

 

She was born in Chailey in 1864, her birth registered at Lewes in the September quarter of that year.  On the 1871 census she is noted as living at The Hooke, Chailey, with her grandfather, parents, siblings and a legion of domestic servants.  The household was headed by Robert Willis Blencowe, a 74 year old widower whose occupation is noted as magistrate and landowner.  With him at The Hooke were his son, John George Blencowe (aged 54, also a magistrate), his daughter-in-law Frances Blencowe (nee Campion), aged 42 and seven grandchildren: Florence Charlotte Blencowe (aged 11), John Ingham Blencowe (aged 10), Harriet Blencowe (aged eight), Frances Isabel Blencowe (aged six), Mary Blencowe (aged five), Elizabeth P[enelope] Blencowe (aged three) and William Poole Blencowe (aged two).  An eighth grandchild, Robert Campion Blencowe (aged 12), was at boarding school in Hove.  The final family member noted on the 1871 census is Robert Willis’s unmarried sister Elizabeth Blencowe (aged 69).

 

By he time the 1881 census of England and Wales was conducted, Frances and her family had moved to Bineham Mansion in Chailey.  The family had lived for a short while at Bineham farmhouse but with eight children to accommodate it was just too small.  John George therefore commissioned the architect Decimus Burton to build him a new home, Bineham Mansion, on a secluded site nearby. John George Blencowe (aged 64), is noted as the head of the family on the 1881 census and with him are his wife Frances (aged 51) and his children: Florence (aged 21), Harriet (aged 18), Frances (aged 16), Mary (aged 15) and Penelope (aged 13).  It would appear that the girls were educated at home – Ann Smith (aged 56) is noted on the census as a governess – but by this stage their three brothers – Robert, John and William - had moved away.

 

On the 1891 census, John George and his wife are still at Bineham with their daughters although by now, Florence C Blencowe had married and become Florence C Drummond. Her son, Frederick John Drummond (whose birth was registered in the September quarter of 1891) would later be killed in action in the First World War.

 

John George Blencowe died in 1900 (his death registered at Lewes in the June quarter of that year).  Frances appears on the 1901 census living on her own means at Bineham with her sister Mary.  Also noted is Muriel Blencowe (nee Courage) aged 21.  She had married Frances and Mary’s brother, William Poole Blencowe in 1900 but he had died after only a few months.  Muriel is therefore noted as a widow on the 1901 census.

 

Frances first appears in Red Cross archive records on The First World War Military Hospitals’ Index where she is noted as having enrolled in 1911.  She would have been 47 years old by then and may have already had nursing training.  She is not one of the named Sussex 54 personnel taking part in the Stanmer Park Field Day in 1913 although she does appear in a group photograph.  Her sister-in-law Mabel Blencowe, wife of her older brother John Ingham, also took part, filling the role of Quartermaster.

 

During the war, Frances worked both as a VAD nurse and a Military nurse and it would be worthwhile here, to make the distinction between the two.  In February 1915 a War Office letter proposed that due to the expansion of Military Hospitals at home and abroad, “… members of Voluntary Aid Detachments might advantageously be employed, and so enable us to release a number of fully trained Nurses for duty in new hospitals.”  It was suggested that £20 a year (plus “£1 per quarter for the upkeep of uniform”) would be a suitable salary and that nurses should be between 23 and 38 years of age.

 

VAD nurses per se were for the most part untrained helpers or ‘probationers’ who worked under the watchful eye of fully trained nurses.  VAD hospitals had a trained nurse as Commandant but were largely staffed by volunteers who, it should be noted, were no less dedicated than their trained colleagues. 

Frances’ early years with Sussex 54 VAD are a little sketchy.  In pre-war 1914 at the annual War Office inspection, the detachment personnel are named in a local press report.  Mabel Blencowe is noted as Quartermaster with Frances and her sister Mary recorded as nurses.  British Red Cross archives hold a number of cards for Frances, one of them noting that she was engaged as commandant in 1914.  It is possible that she relinquished this position later in the year as the 1915 annual report for the Sussex branch of the British Red Cross Society, covering the period 4th August 1914 to 31st December 1915, notes that Margaret Cotesworth is the Commandant of Sussex 54 VAD. 

 

Frances worked for three weeks in 1914 at Netley Red Cross Hospital and she also appears in some early photos taken at Hickwells’ Convalescent Home in Chailey.  By August 1915 though, she had left England to work in the Belgrade Naval Hospital in Serbia, attached to Rear-Admiral Troubridge’s staff.  Troubridge was the head of the British Naval Mission to Serbia and it was Troubridge who later organized the massive winter retreat of the Serbian Army.   Frances remained in Serbia until November 1915 and took part in the retreat, only leaving the capital as the enemy were entering it.  In recognition of her humanitarian care of wounded Serbian soldiers she was later awarded the Serbian Cross of Mercy, presented to her by the Crown Prince of Serbia.

By the time Frances returned to England, Hickwells was in full swing. Sussex 54 VAD had been mobilized in October 1915 and casualties from the Loos battlefields had been transferred straight from the overworked 2^nd Eastern General military hospital in Dyke Road, Brighton, to Chailey.  The hospital had room for twenty beds but it wasn’t nearly enough. 

 

Frances’ Red Cross card reveals that she worked again as a VAD nurse between February 1916 and January 1917 and on February 3rd 1916 the Sussex Express reported that she and Miss Green entertained the wounded soldiers of Hickwells to tea at the Chailey Parish Room.  Miss Green is probably Miss Helen Marian Green, a fellow member of Sussex 54 VAD and also from a wealthy local family.  Her two brothers, Bernard and Edward, were serving their King and Country as officers in the British Army. The photo above, taken at Hickwells, shows Frances (left) and Commandant Margaret Cotesworth.  The two ladies were influential figures not only within Sussex 54 VAD but the Chailey village community as a whole.  Frances' niece, Margaret Penelope Blencowe, daughter of John Ingham Blencowe and Mabel Frances Blencowe, stands on the right.  The Matron, Miss Emily Morris Marshall, sits in the front.

 

Frances’ hospital duties appeared not to deflect her from other local concerns.  In April 1916, two meetings were held in North and South Chailey at which Frances, supported by Margaret Cotesworth amongst others, entreated local women to help with farm work.  The April 13th edition of The Sussex Daily News reported that, “... Chailey does not mean to be behindhand in doing all she can for her country.  Now the women feel they must try and do ‘their bit’ in some practical way… 18 farmers in Chailey were ready and willing, in fact wanted, women workers.  They would pay them for piece work, the same price as men, or by the hour at 3.5d if preferred… Some could not work on the land, but they could help and look after the homes of those who could while they were away.  Young girls who had just left school could work in the gardens, in fact nobody ought to be satisfied unless they were doing something.”  After Frances had finished speaking, another lady handed a card to everybody present so they could write down what they could and were willing to do.

 

In May 1916, although already working as a VAD, Frances’ Military Hospitals index card notes that she was selected as a nurse.   The following month, Sussex 54 transferred its auxiliary hospital operation from Hickwells to larger accommodation at Beechland House in nearby Newick and Frances went with them.

 

She does not re-appear in local newspapers or in hospital archives for another year, but it would appear that she had spotted an opportunity to return to more of a leading nursing role.

On June 22^nd 1917, The Sussex Express announced: “OFFICERS’ NEW CONVALESCENT HOME AT CHAILEY”.  The article ran: “A new convalescent hospital known as Brook House, Chailey, the residence of Lieut M R Robertson, was opened last week for the accommodation of wounded officers attached to the Flying Corps.  The commandant is Miss Blencowe of Bineham, Chailey and the Matron, Miss Jackson, a lady of wide experience.  The work in connection with the establishment is purely voluntary and many local ladies have offered their services.  Brook House lies in ideal grounds, is embowered in trees and can accommodate between 25 and 30 officers.”  It was a position Frances would hold for the next seven months.

 

In October 1917, Frances Blencowe’s unswerving dedication to nursing was publicly recognised.  The Sussex Express for October 6^th reported that, “This week Miss Blencowe’s name appears in the list of nurses who have been mentioned to the Secretary for War for valuable services rendered in nursing the wounded.”  A photo of Frances accompanied the article.

An undated photo but almost certainly taken in France between 18th October 1918 and 1st May 1919 when Frances Blencowe worked as a "General Service Member" at the Anglo-Belge Hospital at Villers-Coterets, France.  She appears in this photo, second from left on the back row.  The woman seated on the front row, third from right, bears a striking resemblance to Miss Emily Morris Marshall, Matron of Hickwells and Beechland House, and it is possible that she went to France at the same time as Frances.  Click the photo for an enlarged version.

 

Red Cross archives do not detail how Frances occupied herself between February and September 1918, but by October 18^th she had again left England.  This time her destination was France and the Anglo-Belge Hospital in Rouen where she worked as a General Service Member.  She remained there until well after the armistice, returning to England in May 1919.

 

At the village peace celebrations on 19th July 1919, “a sumptuous dinner” was provided for 114 returned soldiers and sailors.  The concluding toast of the evening was left to Joseph Wright.  It was he who had lent his property – Hickwells – to Sussex 54 VAD in 1915 and his toast focused on the work of the British Red Cross Society.  He coupled with his toast, the name of Frances Blencowe and her work at home, in France and in Serbia.  In her response, noted in Chailey’s parish magazine, Frances “said she was sure she was speaking not only for herself, but for all VADs in the parish when she said that the services which had been rendered with a glad heart would always be at the disposal of the sick and wounded, as she felt that ‘once a VAD always a VAD’”.

 

In 1921, Margaret Cotesworth resigned as Commandant of Sussex 54 VAD and Frances immediately took over.  By the end of that year she commanded a strength of 40 women and had held six classes in First Aid.  Her sister-in-law was also still active.  The Sussex Branch Report for 1923 notes Mrs J Blencowe of North Hall, East Chiltington as Vice President (1924) of the Plumpton and East Chiltington centre.

 

Three years later, the 1926 Sussex Branch report records that Sussex 54 VAD, still under the care of its Commandant, Frances Blencowe is responsible for the Medical Supply Depot situated at The Green, Chailey and adds that it ‘has now been working for nearly five years.’

 

It is uncertain when Frances retired from nursing.  In later life she moved to the Pound House, Chailey, opposite the entrance to The Hooke, and passed away there in 1952. 

 

Frances was the last of the family of John George Blencowe.  An obituary published shortly after her death (source and date unknown) paid tribute to her work with the British Red Cross Society and the East Sussex County Nursing Federation.  The obituary continued: Miss Blencowe was also an ardent church worker, taking part in the work of the Sunday School and Mothers’ Union (as enrolling member).  She was also a member of the Parochial Church Council and was their representative on the Diocesan Council.

 

During her nursing years Frances took photos at Netley, Hickwells, Beechland House, Brook House and in France; many of these photos appearing on this page and elsewhere on this website.

 

Sources and Acknowledgements

 

·         1871 Census of England and Wales

·         1871 Census of England and Wales

·         1871 Census of England and Wales

·         1871 Census of England and Wales

·         England and Wales, Civil Registration Index: 1837-1983

·         British Red Cross Archives, Grosvenor Crescent, London

·         Sussex Daily News 1914-1918

·         Sussex Daily Express 1914–1918

·         British Red Cross Committee, Joint War Committee Reports 1914-1919

·         Dr John Blencowe

·         Mr Rob Tillard, Frances Blencowe’s nephew, has researched the Blencowe family in depth and I am grateful to him for providing me with information on his relatives, for allowing me to borrow his aunt’s photo albums and for giving me a guided tour of Chailey.