Sister Mary Winifred

Sister Mary Wilfred was born Emilie Smith in Jamaica in 1868. She entered the Congregation in 1899 making her final profession in 1902.  She would have been around 50 years old when the hospital opened, one of the older VADs.  She died in Southam in 1943.

   We don’t know what Sister Mary Wilfred looked like but she was a dedicated individual to take on training and extra commitments in her late 40s. Could this slightly careworn but kindly-looking nun be Sister Mary Wilfred?

   Every six weeks a new convoy of 53 soldiers arrived and each group were photographed on the Grange steps. Postcards were then available for the men to send home. This image below shows two VAD Sisters along with the professional nurse (centre) and three other VADs.