Meeting to remember women in foreign medical missions in Serbia during the Great War

Date: Sunday, 7th February 2021
Time: 17:00 - 18:00
Virtually by Zoom: Joining instructions will be provided to those registering for the event (email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

In the time of the Covid pandemic the seventh annual commemoration will focus on those women who died in Serbia, in 1915 nursing Serbian sick and wounded soldiers and civilians during the horrific typhus pandemic.

The Divine Liturgy on the 6th of February 2021, at St Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in London, will be followed by Zadusnice (Requiem), attendance dependent on Covid regulations. We will remember those heroines who sacrificed their lives - Dr Elizabeth Ross(First Reserve Military Hospital, Kragujevac), nurses Louisa Jordan, Augusta Minshull and Bessie Sutherland,orderly Margaret Neill Fraser (Scottish Women's Hospitals) and two members of Mabel Stobart's Field Hospital in Karagujevac - nurse Lorna Ferris and orderly Mabel Dearmer.Their graves are in Kragujevac and at the Military Cemeteryin Nis.

Last year, Glasgow’s emergency coronavirus hospital was named after a Scottish Women's Hospitals' (SWH) nurse - Sister Louisa Jordan. Not many people in Britain, or even Scotland, know who Sister Louisa was. She joined the SWH’s First Serbian Unit with other 40 women, mostly from Scotland. Amongst them was the famous Scottish and British golfer, Margaret Neill Fraser, and several doctors and nurses from Glasgow University - the youngest being Dr Katharine MacPhail.The unit arrived at Kragujevac, a key military location near Belgrade, on the 6th of January and although the hospital was set up to provide 100 beds, immediately it had to admit 250 patients and soon after 650. The magnitude of the disaster was evident everywhere. Kragujevac essentially became one large hospital, as did Valjevo and many other Serbian towns in the spring of 1915.

Only a month after her arrival, on the 14th of February, and on her 37th birthday, Dr Elizabeth Ross died, followed by Sister Louisa Jordan, Madge Fraser, Augusta Minshull and Bessie Sutherland. In the spring of 1915 famous Serbian painter Nadežda Petrović, died of typhus in Valjevo. That was just a month after she had painted Valjevo hospital tents. The same tragic fate was shared by many Serbian nurses and doctors, like Draginja Babić, one of the first Serbian female doctors who died in Valjevo in February 1915.

In July 1915 when Lorna Ferris and Mabel Dearmer died in Kragujevac, everybody was shocked as they thought the epidemic had ended.Lorna was a young nurse, while Mabel had been a children's author and illustrator. The latter's husband, Percy Dearmer, came as a chaplain with the Stobart's hospital at the same time as her. Both of their sons were on the fronts and Mabel was adamant that she wanted to help the war effort and join the hospital. She joined the brave Stobart's team as an orderly.

Dr Elizabeth Ross, Lorna Ferris and Mabel Dearmer are buried in Kragujevac where, every year, on 14th of February people in Serbia organize a commemoration for them and all the other women who were in Serbia during the Great War. We remember them all, not only those who died in Serbia, but those who supported Serbian people during the war - like Dr Elsie Inglis and Evelina Haverfield. Even after the Great War, Dame Louise Leila Paget and Dr Katherine MacPhail, as well as otherscontinued their support.

In their desire to help the war effort, to prove their worthiness and gain the right to vote after the war, Dr Elsie Inglis united suffrage and surgery. The hospitals were sent where they were most needed and showed what women were able to achieve in the most challenging situations - as doctors, nurses, orderlies, ambulance drivers, or as soldiers, like Flora Sandes. She was the only British woman officially to serve as a soldier in WWI, but in Serbia Milunka Savić and other women soldiers were already established and well-known for their bravery.
Admirable histories of these brave, determined and altruistic women and Serbia are woven closely together. We will always remember them.

Registration for Event: You will not be able to attend the event unless you have registered that you wish to attend. To register for this event please email Zvezdana Popovic on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.