Matron Margaret Marjory Fraser, from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, was a nursing sister working aboard the Canadian hospital ship HMHS Llandovery Castle when it was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-Boat U-86 on June 27, 1918.
The loss of Llandovery and 234 people on board would have been enough to have many Canadians up-in-arms, but once it was learned that U-86 used its guns to dispatch those in the remaining lifeboats, the event became a rallying cry for Canadian troops.
Pearl’s Service in Europe
Matron Margaret Marjory Fraser – she was known as “Pearl” to many of her peers – was the daughter of Nova Scotia’s then Lieutenant Governor. Within 2 months of the beginning of the First World War, 30-year-old Fraser had enlisted with the Canadian Army Medical Corps on September 28, 1914, and before the end of October, she was serving in England, then quickly thereafter in France as part of the No.2 Canadian Stationary Hospital (CSH).
A few interesting facts about the No. 2 CSH: it was the first Canadian unit to operate in France (even before the PPCLI arrived) and its members received a 1914 Mons Star in recognition of their service in this regard. Also, the hospital was located in Le Touquet, near Ypres, and treated Canadian soldiers wounded in the April 1915 battle that saw the enemy’s first use of poison gas; chlorine, during the Second Battle of Ypres.
During the war’s middle years, Fraser’s ability, not only as a nurse but also as a leader, was recognized by her superiors. This resulted in her being transferred to the King’s Red Cross Special Hospital in England in July 1917 and promoted to the rank of Matron, a title that she retained even as she was assigned to HMHS Llandovery Castle in March 1918. The title Matron was a term taken from the British system that ranked nurses and was relatively equivalent to the rank of Major in the fighting forces. A Matron is recognized as being the senior nurse or head of the nursing staff. Put simply, Matron Fraser was the boss.
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Article written by Julien Lehoux for Je Me Souviens.
