Constance, Agg’s Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service Reserve badge, number 483.
 

Constance was born in the July quarter of 1869 and baptised in September 1869 at St Bartholomew Hyde’s Church in Winchester.¹  She was the third of eight siblings born to her parents William a retired army colonel, and his wife Beatrice, who had been born in Jamaica.²

Constance aged 26 years, entered into the prestigious Nightingale Nurse training School at St Thomas’s Hospital London on 24^th June 1897.⁹  She left after one year having completed her training to join St Thomas’s Hospital staff; this was a common  length of training at this time.³  St Thomas’s was for many years known for its desire to select nurses from ‘suitable social backgrounds’; Constance’s father’s army rank was obviously of suitable social status.⁴  Many years of the Nightingale Nurse Training School records are missing, and the information in those that have survived is scant, the information about Constance is better than some who trained before or after her.

On 6^th June 1899 Constance was appointed Sister Florence; nine months later on 14th April 1900 she went out with the Army Nursing Service to South Africa, returning in April 1901.⁵  Her South Africa medal, which she received from HM King Edward VII at Marlborough House was not with her Princess Christian badge.⁶  Constance left St Thomas’s in July 1904 when she married aged 34, Arthur Edwin Boycott and in 1906 Constance had a son, John Agg Boycott.⁷ Constance died in Cirencester in 1967; her son died 17 years later; it is thought that she has living descendants.⁸

References

1.The GRO Birth Registers and baptismal Registers accessed via www.ancestry.co.uk; FreeBMD.co.uk, both accessed on 7th January 2015.

2. The National Archives, the England and Wales censuses for 1871, 1881, and 1891, accessed via ancetsry.co.uk on 7th January 2015.

3. London Metropolitan Archives, H1/ST/NTS/C1/3, p 101.

4. LMA H1/ST/NTS/C1/3, p 102.

5. LMA H1/ST/NTS/C1/3, p 102.

6. www. boerwarnurse.com, accessed 7th January 2015.

7. www.freeBMD.co.uk, accessed 7th January 2015.

8. www.freeBMD.co.uk, accessed 7th January 2015.

9. London Metropolitan Archives, H1/ST/NTS/C1/3, p 101.

 © Sarah Rogers, 7^th January 2015.