Grace Wilson: The Matron Who Ran a Hospital of Tents on Lemnos
Updated: Sep 29
NURSING HISTORY · THE NURSES WHO CAME BEFORE US
In August 1915, Grace Wilson came ashore on the Greek island of Lemnos to run the nursing side of a military hospital that barely existed. Wounded and sick men from Gallipoli were arriving faster than tents, beds or water could be found for them. Within days, her nurses were caring for hundreds of patients, many of them lying on the ground.
Matron Grace Wilson went on to lead the nursing staff of a hospital that grew to 2,000 beds, to lead the army nursing reserve between the wars, and to return to uniform in 1940. Every fact below is drawn from her Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, the Australian War Memorial collection and the Department of Veterans' Affairs records listed at the end.
Record at a Glance
Name: Grace Margaret Wilson, CBE, RRC
Born: 25 June 1879, South Brisbane, Queensland
Died: 12 January 1957, Melbourne, aged 77
Training: general nursing certificate, Brisbane, 1908; midwifery training in London
First World War: principal matron, No. 3 Australian General Hospital, on Lemnos, in Egypt, in England and in France; temporary matron-in-chief at AIF Headquarters, London, 1917 to 1918
Between the wars: matron-in-chief of the Australian Army Nursing Service reserve from 1925; matron of two major Melbourne hospitals
Second World War: matron-in-chief with the Second AIF in the Middle East, 1940 to 1941
Honours: Royal Red Cross, 1st class (1916); four mentions in despatches; CBE (1919); Florence Nightingale Medal (1929)
Before the War
Grace Wilson was born in South Brisbane on 25 June 1879, the eldest child of John Pearson Wilson, a clerk, and his wife Fanny, both born in Scotland. She was educated at Brisbane Girls' Grammar School and entered nursing as a probationer in Brisbane in 1905, gaining her certificate in 1908.
She then went to London, trained in midwifery and worked at a London hospital for neurological patients. In July 1914, weeks before war was declared, she was back in Brisbane as matron of the hospital where she had trained.
From Brisbane to Lemnos
Wilson joined the Australian Army Nursing Service in October 1914 and was made principal matron of the 1st Military District. On 15 April 1915 she transferred to the Australian Imperial Force as principal matron of No. 3 Australian General Hospital, and in May 1915 she sailed with the unit from Sydney.
The hospital was first bound for England. It was then redirected to Lemnos, the island base behind the Gallipoli campaign, to take casualties from the August offensive. On the voyage, Wilson learned that one of her brothers had been killed at Gallipoli.
A Hospital of Tents
No. 3 Australian General Hospital was set up at West Mudros, commanded by the Sydney surgeon Colonel Thomas Fiaschi, with Wilson in charge of the nursing staff. It began with about 80 nurses. As the unit came ashore, the wounded were already arriving.
What Wilson found in early August 1915 was a hospital in name only. There was little equipment, few tents, few mattresses, no beds, and only spirit lamps to cook and heat with. Water was the constant shortage. One staff nurse recorded an allowance of a gallon of water a head per day, and that it did not go far when you also did your own washing.
"All we can do is feed them and dress their wounds. They beg to be washed, but we have no water." Grace Wilson, diary, 11 August 1915
She reorganised the nursing work around what the unit actually had. According to her Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, by 13 August the hospital was caring for 900 patients. The Department of Veterans' Affairs account describes an average of around 1,000 patients held from September onwards, and a hospital that included an X-ray department and an operating theatre.
Dysentery was so common among patients and staff that the nurses nicknamed it 'Lemnositis'. Paratyphoid, jaundice and scurvy were also common. When winter came, strong winds repeatedly damaged the tents and the hospital took in soldiers with frostbite and gangrene. Her biographer records a mortality rate of 2 per cent across this period.
Her nurses noticed. Sister Frances Selwyn-Smith wrote: "At times we could not have carried on without her. She was not only a capable Matron, but what is more, a woman of understanding." Sister Young described her as "a dear to the nurses and such a fighter."
If you have read our story of Alice Ross-King, you will recognise the pattern: Australian nurses in the First World War were often asked to build a working hospital first and nurse in it second.
Egypt, England and France
In January 1916 the hospital left Lemnos for Abbassia in Egypt. Wilson was mentioned in despatches three times that year and in May was awarded the Royal Red Cross, 1st class. In October 1916 the unit moved to Brighton in England, and in April 1917 to Abbeville in France, where it opened with 1,500 beds and grew to 2,000.
In September 1917 she was appointed temporary matron-in-chief at AIF Headquarters in London, relieving Matron Evelyn Conyers. She valued the experience but chose to go back to her hospital at Abbeville in April 1918. She was mentioned in despatches again in December 1918 and appointed CBE on 1 January 1919. After the hospital was dismantled in May 1919 she served briefly at an auxiliary hospital in Kent, reached Queensland in January 1920, and left the AIF that April.
Building Nursing at Home
From November 1920 Wilson was matron of a Melbourne children's hospital, where she improved conditions for nurses and secured nominal wages for trainees. She resigned two years later after disagreements with the hospital committee and bought a private hospital in East Melbourne.
In August 1925 she became matron-in-chief of the army nursing reserve, and in 1929 she received the Florence Nightingale Medal. In January 1933 she became matron of one of Melbourne's large public hospitals. There she set up a training school committee, appointed tutor sisters and introduced an orientation course for probationers. In 1937 she led the Australian Army Nursing Service contingent at the coronation in London.
When the Second World War began she was called up for full-time duty. She joined the Second AIF in September 1940 and served in the Middle East until ill health forced her home in August 1941. From September 1943 she was executive officer of the nursing control section of the Manpower Directorate in Victoria. She was also, at one time, president of the Royal Victorian College of Nursing, where she helped establish postgraduate courses.
On 12 January 1954, in London, she married Robert Wallace Bruce Campbell. She died in Melbourne three years later to the day, on 12 January 1957, and was farewelled with full military honours.
Timeline
1879: born in South Brisbane, 25 June
1905 to 1908: nurse training in Brisbane
July 1914: matron of the Brisbane hospital where she trained
October 1914: joins the Australian Army Nursing Service
15 April 1915: principal matron, No. 3 Australian General Hospital, AIF
August 1915: arrives on Lemnos; 900 patients by 13 August
January 1916: hospital moves to Abbassia, Egypt
May 1916: Royal Red Cross, 1st class
1916 to 1917: Brighton, England, then Abbeville, France
September 1917 to April 1918: temporary matron-in-chief, AIF Headquarters, London
1 January 1919: appointed CBE
1925: matron-in-chief, Australian Army Nursing Service reserve
1929: Florence Nightingale Medal
1940 to 1941: Second AIF, Middle East
1957: dies in Melbourne, 12 January
Where the Record Differs
Arrival on Lemnos: her Australian Dictionary of Biography entry and the Lemnos Remembrance Trail say early August 1915; other secondary accounts give 8 August.
Her brother's death: secondary accounts place it at Quinn's Post; the Department of Veterans' Affairs film transcript renders it as Queen's Post. We have not been able to confirm his name from a primary record, so we have not named him.
Her husband's name: the Australian Dictionary of Biography gives Robert Wallace Bruce Campbell; some Department of Veterans' Affairs pages give Robert Wallace Bruce. We have used the biography's version.
The cover photograph: the Australian War Memorial catalogue dates A05331 to May 1915 but places it on Lemnos. The hospital did not reach Lemnos until August 1915, so we describe it as taken on Lemnos in 1915.
Sister Selwyn-Smith's words appear in slightly different forms across Department of Veterans' Affairs sources. We have quoted the Lemnos Remembrance Trail version.
Why We Tell This One
The hospital on Lemnos ran an operating theatre in a tented camp where water was rationed by the gallon. Everything a modern theatre takes for granted, from reliable water and light to sterile supply and a bed for every patient, had to be found, rationed or improvised. The clinical work only held together because someone was organising the people and the supplies around it.
That is still the job of perioperative leadership.
A nurse unit manager or theatre manager today spends much of the week on staffing, supply, standards and looking after the team so the team can look after patients. If that is the direction you are heading, our guide to moving into an ANUM or Clinical Nurse Manager role sets out what each role involves.
Her later work matters too. Tutor sisters, a training school committee and an orientation course for new probationers were her answer to a question every theatre still asks: how do you bring new staff up to standard safely? Structured orientation into perioperative practice asks the same question today.
Her story sits alongside other Australian military nurses in this series, including Nellie Gould and Alicia Mary Kelly. To see where perioperative nurses are needed now, browse current theatre nursing jobs in Australia.
Thank you, Grace, for your service.
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If you would like a confidential conversation about your next career move, contact Paul on 04 355 83849 or email paul@carejobz.com
