Dr Laura E. FORSTER

1916 Group photograph of doctors, nursing sisters and Russian soldiers at Zaleschiki, Galicia.

AWM Photo H18592

Zaleschiki, Galicia. A group of British Nurses and other medical personnel outside a small hospital.

AWM Photo H18586

Forster, Laura (1858–1917)

from Sydney Morning Herald

16 May 1917, p 7

News has been received in Sydney of the death on February 11, at Zaleshchiki, in Galicia, of Dr. Laura Forster, daughter of the late Mr. William Forster, who was a member of the New South Wales Parliament from 1856 to 1880, holding the office of Premier from October, 1850, to March, 1860, and subsequently various portfolios. Dr. Forster's death is stated to be due to heart failure after an attack of influenza. She was educated in Sydney, and took her medical degrees at Berne, Switzerland. Her brother, Mr. C. E. Forster, resides at Point Piper, Sydney, and her aunt, Miss Forster, at Darling Point; and Mrs. Kater, wife of Mr. H. E. Kater, M.L.C., is a sister.

Soon after the outbreak of the war Dr. Forster joined the staff of the Belgian Field Hospital, which was in Antwerp. At the time of the bombardment they had to leave at very short notice, the wounded being removed in motor buses. They travelled at night time without lights by a circuitous route to Ghent, which again they had to evacuate hurriedly and move on to Ostend, where the wounded were taken on board a steamer and conveyed safely to England. After this trying experience Dr. Forster decided to go to Russia, where for several months she was doing surgical work in the largest hospital in Petrograd. Thence she went on to the Caucasus, doing surgical work tor the Russian Red Cross, and later on she reached Erzerum, where for a time she was in charge of a hospital. Finally she returned to Russia and took charge of a hospital at Zaleshchiki.

Newspapers articles

• is at the front with a British field hospital, West Australian, 23 November 1914, p 6 Dr. Laura Forster, sister of Mr. W. T. Forster, barrister, of Perth, and youngest daughter of the late William Forster, of Sydney, is now at the front in the British field hospital with an ambulance corps. The members of the statff are voluntary workers, and the outfit was purchased with money collected for the purpose in London. There are also at the front with their regiments two half-brothers of Mr. W. T. Forster (Captains Cyril Forster and Lionel Forster. A nephew (Stanley Forster) has started with the Australian troops for the war.
• The British Nursing Journal Volume 58, 20th January 1917 (p50) ... doctor, on a tributary of the Volga, where Dr. Alice Benham treated not only refugees, but peasants of many races and creeds, who crowded in daily from the surrounding districts. When she had t o give up her voluntary service in September, Dr. Laura Forster took over the hospital, and she will carry it on until Russian medical help is available. Dr. Mabel May is also conducting'a similar, though larger, hospital in a remote and untended district, and with Dr. Muriel Kerr, is looking after 40 in...
• The British Nursing Journal Volume 59, 27th October 1917 (p269) We are indebted t o Miss Eileen Cordner for the information that the funeral in Russia depicted in this journal last week was that of a medical woman, not a trained nurse. She writes that Dr. Forster, who contracted influenza and died from heart failure after a week`s illness, had undoubtedly overtaxed her strength. She was in the retreat from Antwerp, then went to Russia where she worked in Russian hospitals in Petrogtad, for over a year. She helped for a short time in a maternity barak in that city, then went with a Russian unit to the Caucasus. After this, she definitely joined the N.U.W.S.S. units working for some months in a large district beyond the Volga ; at the end of December, she took up work at Zaleschilry and died on January 29th, Miss Cordner writes :-“ She was beloved by all of us nurses, who had the good fortune to work under her.
• Sydney Morning Herald, 16 May 1917, p 7
• Sydney Morning Herald, 5 July 1917, p 6
  • WOMEN'S CORNER. Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15950, 11 July 1917, Page 2

References

Medical Women at War 1914 - 1918 - Pages 168 & 169

https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/pubmed-central/medical-women-at-war-1914-1918-jvPseJhBDH/9

Great War Forum - Entry by Frev on Dr Laura E. Forster

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=145018

The forgotten Australian women doctors of the Great War by Heather Sheard

http://theconversation.com/the-forgotten-australian-women-doctors-of-the-great-war-38289

'Forster, Laura (1858–1917)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/forster-laura-17879/text29468, accessed 20 March 2015.

http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/forster-laura-17879