NAME:  Norma Norham SCOTT               

YEAR OF BIRTH: 1893

PLACE OF BIRTH:  Lambeth, London, England

DATE OF ENLISTMENT:  29 May 1917

AGE AT ENLISTMENT:  34

UNIT:  Australian Army Nursing Service

EMBARKED: 12 June 1917

TROOPSHIP:  RMS Mooltan

FATE:  Returned to Australia – 22 February 1919

Norma Scott, a daughter of Eric Norham Scott and Alice Colquhoun Dempster was born in Lambeth, England in 1893 while her father completing his medical training. He graduated in 1896 and the family returned to Australia, their destination Queensland where Eric hailed. In 1900, the Scotts moved to Victoria and Eric went into practice with at Korumburra. By July 1906, Eric Scott was the local shire health officer but resigned his position. The family moved to Hamilton taking up residence at Hewlett House in Gray Street where Eric’s practice was also located.

Norma entered nursing and completed her training at Melbourne Hospital, passing her nursing examination in December 1915. She enlisted and found she would be going to Salonika, Greece and was part of the first contingent there.  With her was Hamilton born nurse, Edith Malcolm.

The nurses sailed on  RMS Mooltan (below). 

On arrival, the nurses went to various hospitals at Salonika with Norma reporting for duty with the No. 66 British General Hosptial on 30 July 1917.

On 1 August 1917, Norma sent a cable to her mother in Hamilton letting her know she had arrived safely.  In the meantime, her father Eric had enlisted in July 1917 and was on his way to Egypt when Norma arrived.

During her time at Salonika, Norma nursed at the No. 42 and No. 52 British General Hospitals.  It was difficult for the nurses with poor living conditions, some thought worse than France. There was very little fresh food and they lived off soldiers’ rations. To give their iron levels a boost, a weekly ration of bully beef and biscuits was issued. Winter was freezing and the summer hot with malaria was a constant risk. The nurses covered themselves from head to toe to protect against mosquitos.

In July 1918, Norma left for Egypt to nurse at the 14th Australian General Hospital at Moascar.  The war ended in November but it was 22 February 1919 before she could return home.

After the war, Norma went to South Africa and on 17 June 1925, she married Australian George Langley in Johannesburg. On 7 July 1928, she gave birth to a son John at Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia (now Kabwe, Zambia).  Norma and George and young John arrived at Albany, Western Australia on 1 March 1929 before travelling on to Melbourne.  While there, Norma attended a Military Nurse reunion at Anzac House.  Their stay in Melbourne was only brief and they continued on to Sydney.  Little is known of Norma after this time other than the death of her father in 1943 and various shipping records which show she did make further trips between Australia and South Africa.

 

ONLINE SOURCES

Australian War Memorial – WW1 Embarkation Roll – Norma Norham Scott

Australian War Memorial – Mettle and Steel: the AANS in Salonika

Discovering Anzacs – WW1 Service Record – Norma Norham Scott

Family Search – South Africa, Transvaal, Civil Marriages, 1870-1930  – Norma Norham Scott  

Newspaper Articles from Trove –  Norma Norham Scott

The AIF Project – Norma Norham Scott