Miss Freda Mary Player
Nurse, Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), British Red Cross
Date of Birth: 20th October 1895
Place of Birth: Teignmouth, Devon
Date of Death: 1950
Buried: Teignmouth Old Cemetery, plot II56
VAD hat badge
Miss Freda Mary Player of Brockley, Teignmouth, Devon.
Freda was baptised on 14th January 1896. Her mother is Louisa Ann (nee Thomas) and her father is George.
The family were living at 15, Wellington Street, Teignmouth, in 1901. Freda has one sister Susan Louisa and George's mother in law, Susan Thomas, is living with them.
Susan Louisa is also a nurse.
Susan Louisa Mummery nee Player
Freda, Susan and George had moved to 38 Bitton Street, Teignmouth, by 1939. George has been widowed and is a 'Retired Coal Merchant'.
Freda and George are buried in the same plot, II56, in Teignmouth Old Cemetery.
Victoria Hall V.A. Hospital, Dawlish
Germany declared war on France in WW1, and to attack France whilst avoiding French fortifications the German Army crossed Belgium, they did so by force and invaded Belgium on August 4th 1914.
Almost 9,000 Belgian civilians were deliberately killed by the Germans. An estimated 1.5 million Beglian civilians left their country and 150,000 of those people sought refuge Britain.
Many of the soldiers of Belgium's small army were injured or killed and 25,000 wounded men came to Britain to convalesce.
Fugitives from Antwerp following the occupation of the city on 10 October by German forces.© IWM (HU 52449)
The patients and refugees were shipped across the Channel and were allocated housing in towns and villages including Teignmouth, Shaldon and Dawlish.
The Dawlish V.A. Hospital and Belgian Nursing Home was opened in the Dawlish Victoria Hall to help treat the Belgian refugees.
Approximately 35 people from the local area became engaged with the Voluntary Aid Detachment and worked at the hospital as Nurses and in other supportive roles.
In 1915 a new hospital was opened in Dawlish and the Victoria Hall VA Hospital closed.
More about the Belgian refugees in Teignmouth and Shaldon
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"hundreds of thousands of refugees, their goods on barrows and hand-carts and perambulators and wagons, moving with infinite slowness out into the night, two unending lines of them, the old men mostly weeping, the women with hard drawn faces, the children playing or crying or sleeping.
That's what Belgium is now: the country where three civilians have been killed for every one soldier… It's queer to think one has been a witness of one of the greatest crimes of history. Has ever a nation been treated like that? And how can such a stain be wiped out?"
Rupert Brooke, Poet describing the scene in a letter home
(He saw action near Antwerp)
Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Records
Date of engagement with VAD: November 1914 to September 1915.
Rank: Nurse.
Service rendered at:
Voluntary Aid Hospital / Belgian Nursing Home, Dawlish, Devon. November 1914 - September 1915.
Number of hours served: 864 (worked part-time).
Paid: £0.
Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Cards
Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Card. ©2018 British Red Cross (CC BY-NC 2.0 UK)
Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Card. ©2018 British Red Cross (CC BY-NC 2.0 UK)
