FANY Names

First Aid Nursing Yeomanry - Names

Clara Dale Crooke

Email in from Robert on 18 Jan 2018 about Clara Dale Crooke

G'day.

I thought I would drop you a line to talk about an Australian women called Clare Dale Crooke. A number of months back I was lucky enough to find her WW1 medals listed for sale on a Canadian site. I've been collecting medals for sometime now and like many collectors I tend to follow a couple of loose themes including medals to Bandsmen, Musicians, Drummers and the like because I was a musician in the Australian Army for a number of years and medals to nurses. Because after leaving the Army I became a Registered Nurse. So when I found Clare's medals I was thrilled, firstly because they where the first medals I had come across to a member of the F.A.N.Y. and secondly because she was an Australian.

During my research I came across your rather impressive site and noted that you did indeed have Clare listed as on your site as a member of the FANY under C.D.Crooke however she wasn't listed under the Australian members. Not surprising because she did spend a large part of her life living in Britain.

Clare was born on the 20th of January 1868 into a rich rural family on the Holey Plains estate near Rosedale in Gippsland Victoria. Her family took up a large squatting run there in the 1840's building the existing Homestead in the 1880's. The estate is still intact today and still owned by the Crooke family. She was baptised on the 1st of April 1968 in the Christ Church in South Yarra. So I thought for the sake of accuracy I would let you know so she can join her fellow Australian FANY members on your site. She was still serving during WW2 when she died on New Years Day 1942 in Botleys Park Hospital.

I did do a write up on Clara for the British Medal Forum and just in case you feel like a short read here is a modified version of it:

G'day all.

I thought I would share with you all one of my recent finds, a War, Victory and First Aid Nursing Yeomanry Medal to:

C.D. CROOKE F.A.N.Y.C

105 Clara Dale Crooke

Medals to nurses and related areas are one of my main themes, due mostly to the fact that after I left the Australian Army where I served as a Bandsman I became a Registered Nurse. I have a number of modest though interesting groups to nurses, this however is my first medals to a member of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry Corps.

Clara Dale Crooke was born into a rich rural family on the Holey Plains estate near Rosedale in Gippsland Victoria. Her family took up a large squatting run there in the 1840's building the existing Homestead in the 1880's. The estate is still intact today and still owned by the Crooke family.

Clara, sometimes Clare – mostly in the press, was born on the 20th of January 1868. Though her age and birth date did prove to be rather fluid over time. By the time of her death in 1942 her real age was 21 years older then her stated or official age.

I've been lucky in that Clara rates over two dozen entries in the local press though despite this her early years are a little hard to trace. She went to a good school in Melbourne where she became known as a talented singer. She is noted as being a member of the Melbourne Hound Club and taking part in a hunt for a stag in 1887 when she was only 11 years old. Most of the other press clippings are from between the Wars and are found either in the Social Pages listing Clara among the guests of parties, or discussing her attendance and what she wore at the Melbourne spring racing carnival. Several times it is mentioned that she is back for a visit from Britain where she is now living.

I'm not sure when Clara first joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry however her Medal Index Card has her entering the French theatre of war in January 1916 and notes her service number of 105. She served right through until April 1919 being listed as a Driver/Chauffeuse.

After the war she remained in London living at 22 Kensington Palace Mansions Kensington, making regular visits back to Australia. The passenger manifest of her trips indicates that she was indeed a women of independent means. More often then not under the heading of “Occupation” there would be a blank space or the word Nil. Twice, in 1932 and 1935, she listed her occupation as F.A.N.Y. Her given age, as relating to her Birthday, does vary widely over the years.

A couple of weeks after returning from London late December 1937 a short article appeared in the paper The Argus regarding her work as a member of the FANY which by this time had become known as the Women's Transport Service. (FANY)

“The Argus Tuesday 4 January 1938

Voluntary Ambulance Corps

Voluntary training in ambulance work In England was described by Miss Clara Crooke, of Melbourne, who has been away for two years. A sister of Mr. Edward Crooke, of The Holey Plain, Rosedale,

Miss Crooke was an ambulance driver during the war. While in England She took up her activities again with the Women's Transport Service, a voluntary ambulance corps that has, been in existence since 1907. She attended several training camps. which are held each year near. Aldershot. The trainees are taught various aspects of first-aid work, mechanics, and methods of dealing with gas attacks. The corps has a membership of about 700, Miss Crooke said, including many young girls who are extremely efficient at the work. Miss Crooke was the only Australian at the camp. She explained that anyone who wishes to do so may join. Australians could do written tests, and, If they ever went to England, they would be eligible to attend camp. The Red Cross Society, whose headquarters are in Grosvenor crescent, London, organises the corps.

Miss Crooke also visited Belgium, which she found a delightful country and cheap for Australians because of the favourable rates of exchange.”

I like the reference to exchange rates.

The 1939 Register shows Clara back in Kensington living off “Private Means” with the side note detailing her as an “Officer F.A.N.Y.” Her birth year is given as 20th of January 1889, not 1868. So Clara in reality was 71 years old not 50 as declared and was still actively serving with the FANY.

Unfortunately the next time my research turns up anything on Clara is concerning her death on New Years Day 1942. According to a coroners finding reported on in the Surrey Advertiser and County Times, 10th of January 1942, Clara was visiting residents in a London nursing home on Christmas Eve when she slipped and broke her right thigh bone. She was admitted to St Georges Hospital later being transferred to Botleys Park Hospital where she died a week later from pneumonia.

Clara Dale Crooke did die on the 1st of January 1942 just weeks short of her 74th birthday, though just like her age there seems to be some confusion around her date of death. Because she was serving with the FANY when she died she is remembered by the CWGC and is buried in the Chertsey (St Stephen's) Church Burial Ground. However for some reason they list her death as occurring on the 1st of April not January. Every other reference to her death, press reports in Britain and Australia and Probate notices has her death occurring on New Years Day 1942.

It wouldn't be the first time the CWGC details aren’t quiet right and I do intend to contact them to correct the record.

Clara is remembered along with the other 51 casualties of the Women's Transport Service during WW2 on a Memorial at the “FANY church” St Paul’s Knightsbridge. Her name rests alongside some very well known and very brave FANY casualties of the war.

I was also lucky enough to come across a few nice photos of Clara, including a great one of her standing next to her battered ambulance with her pet dog in France.

Hope you find this information useful, Clara appears to have been quite a remarkable women and someone who is certainly worth recognizing and remembering.

Regards;

Robert.

Clara Dale Crooke

Death: Apr. 1, 1942, England

CROOKE, CLARA DALE Volunteer

Regiment/Service: Women's Transport Service (F.A.N.Y.)

Service No: 105

Burial:

Chertsey Cemetery

Chertsey

Runnymede Borough

Surrey, England

Plot: Plot G. Row 4. Grave 271.

The Argus Tuesday 4 January 1938

Voluntary Ambulance Corps

Voluntary training in ambulance work

In England was described by Miss Clara Crooke, of Melbourne, who has been away for two years. A sister of Mr. Edward Crooke, of The Holey Plain, Rosedale,

Miss Crooke was an ambulance driver during the war. While in England She took up her activities again with the Women's Transport Service, a voluntary ambulance corps that has, been in existence since 1907. She attended several training camps. which are held each year near. Aldershot. The trainees are taught various aspects of first-aid work, mech-

anics, and methods of dealing with gas attacks.

The corps has a membership of about 700, Miss Crooke said, including many young girls who are extremely efficient at the work. Miss Crooke was the only Australian at the camp. She explained that anyone who wishes to do so may join. Australians could do written tests, and, If they ever went to England, they would be eligible to attend camp. The

Red Cross Society, whose headquarters are in Grosvenor crescent, London, organises the corps.

Miss Crooke also visited Belgium, which she found a delightful country and cheap for Australians because of the favourable rates of exchange.