Collection relating to Bessie Pocock

Studio portrait of Matron Bessie Pocock. Anne Mary Pocock was born into a farming family on 20 July 1863 in Dalby, Queensland. Known as “Bessie”, she worked for some years as a domestic servant in Grafton. Following the death of her fiancé she commenced nursing training at Sydney Hospital, aged 27. On completion, Pocock joined the hospital staff. In 1899 she joined the New South Wales Army Nursing Service Reserve (NSWANSR) and was one of 14 NSWANSR nurses, led by Matron Ellen (Nellie) Gould, to serve in South Africa with the New South Wales Army Medical Corps. They arrived in 1900 and Bessie was posted to No. 2 British Stationary Hospital in East London, South Africa. It was housed in an old Agricultural Show building where conditions were primitive. In her diary, Pocock wrote: “just 3 huge rooms, 2 with boards on the floor ...We had about 500 patients in a very little time ... It was very hot here, the building all covered with corrugated iron, flies very bad, everyone required mosquito nets.” (AWM PR05050)
Pocock went on to serve closer to the front, first in Johannesburg, then at Middleburg in the Transvaal, where she was Sister-in-Charge. Here she treated wounded and ill soldiers until she herself contracted typhoid in May 1902. She was invalided to Britain. For her service in the Boer War, Pocock was Mentioned in Despatches and received the Queen’s and the King’s South Africa medals. She attended the coronation procession in London on 9 August 1902.
Pocock returned to Australia in 1903 and was one of the Boer War nurses who joined the Australian Army Nursing Service Reserve (AANSR) in the lead-up to the First World War.
With the outbreak of the First World War, Pocock again enlisted, initially serving with No 2 Australian General Hospital. She served in Cairo and Ismailia then became matron on the Hospital Ship Assaye off Gallipoli. She went on to serve in France, Belgium and England. On 2 May Pocock was awarded the Associate Royal Red Cross for her nursing service; she was later twice mentioned in despatches.
Arriving back in Australia in 1919, Pocock returned to her role as matron at Gladesville Hospital in Sydney, before opening a private hospital Ismailia in Chatswood. In her retirement she remained an active member of both the Australasian Trained Nurses’ Association, of which she became a life member, and the AANS. Pocock never married and lived with her nieces until her death on 16 July 1946.

• Collection relating to Bessie Pocock
• Collection relating to Bessie Pocock
• Collection relating to Bessie Pocock