Category: Nurse/Medical
Regiment or Ship: Dames des Cantines Anglais (French Red Cross)
Date of Birth: 1894
Place of Birth: Abinger, Surrey
Date of Death: 28.07.1917
Place of Death: Paris, France
Place of Burial / Memorials:
1. St.James Church Abinger,Surrey. (Grave) 2. War Memorial in same churchyard 3. St.Stephen’s Church Memorial Bexhill.
Address: ‘Whincote’ The Down, (Now 1, Heatherdune), Bexhill
Photos and newspaper articles
Click on any image to see a larger version
Family Information
1891 +1901 + 1911 Census
Father: George b.1848 Abinger, Surrey d.1914 Mother: Elizabeth b.1855 Framfield, Sussex d.1925
Siblings:
Amy b.1881 Abinger, Surrey
William b.1883 Abinger, Surrey
George b.1885 Abinger, Surrey
Ruth b.1887 Abinger, Surrey
Elizabeth b.1890 Abinger, Surrey
Mark b.1897 Abinger, Surrey
First World War Experience
French Red Cross cantineer, France (via womens emergency corps).Early in 1917 Grace went to France to work for the French Red Cross as a ‘Dames des Cantines Anglais’ (Cantineer)(2). Her service however was brief as she died in Paris of an illness in July.
Medaille des epidemies which was placed on her coffin by the French military authorities.
Additional Information
1. The King family were clearly long term residents of Abinger Hammer, Surrey. There are many buried in the same area in St. James Churchyard including Grace and her parents.
2. Grace’s Father died in 1914 and it would seem that shortly after that the family, or at least some of them, came to Bexhill. Certainly Ruth, Elizabeth,Grace , Mark and their Mother(who originated from Framfield, Sussex) did.
3. Grace’s death and will are reported in the Bexhill Observer as is her sister Ruth’s marriage
Her brother William is recorded as a JP and records show her brother Mark was a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards, in WW1 and was awarded the DSO.
4. Her inclusion on the St.Stephen’s War Memorial is unusual as First World War Memorials do not usually include women. She is one of two women commemorated on Bexhill memorials.
References used
1. Census 1851-1911 + St. James Church ABINGER website which lists graves and monuments.
2. Bexhill Observer August 11th 1917 page 32 P1070504
Bexhill Observer October 6th 1917 page 40 P1060494