Staff Nurse Ida May Graham in her uniform as a member of the Australian Army Nursing Service.
Image courtesy Inverell Family History Group.
Connection to the Hunter Valley – Staff Nurse Ida Graham was a graduate of Newcastle Hospital. She qualified for membership of the Australasian Trained Nurses’ Assocation in 1908.
Service – Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS)
Service location – Egypt
Medals – British War Medal and Victory Medal
Ida Graham married Clarence Moore at St Stephen’s Church, Phillip Street, Sydney on 3 July 1920. According to his service record Moore had been admitted to No 14 Australian General Hospital in Port Said suffering from malaria in May 1918, when Ida was working at this hospital. See also information provided below by Patricia Neal. Ida died following the birth of her second child in 1924.
Headstone of Ida Moore nee Graham, Presbyterian section Inverell Cemetery.
Image courtesy Ann Hodgens.
References:
National Archives of Australia B2455 GRAHAM I M; B2455 MOORE C S
Nominal Roll of the First AIF Australian War Memorial 133, 20-086
Embarkation Roll of the First AIF Nurses (July 1915 – November 1918)
Sydney Morning Herald, 25 December 1908
Inverell Times, 30 July 1920 & 28 November 1924
Kirsty Harris, More than Bombs and Bandages – Australian Army nurses at work in World War I, Big Sky Publishing, Newport, 2011 (Ida “Mary” Graham)
Do you know more?
© Christine Bramble 2013
Great War Nurses from the Hunter 
On a recent trip to Condoblin my cousin had a book:-
– INTERRED AT INVERELL -150 years of Inverell Cemetery,
by Inverell District Family History Group 2013.
page 29 showed
MOORE Ida nee Graham 1884-1924 -Nurse, wife, mother -Nurse Royal Newcastle Hospital doing ARMY service – at 33 travelled to the Middle East in 1917. Ida met her future husband while working at the Government Hospital in Suez.
It goes on to give a description of her marriage in 1920 in Sydney -details of her gown and those of her sisters -the bridesmaids; reception at the Hotel Metropolitan and honeymoon in Blue Mountains; her going to live in Inverell and of her death shortly after the birth of her 2nd child.
. The History Group describe the headstones with details in similar fashion of wedding dresses etc. eg marble headstone etched in … whatever etc.
I can send you a copy from the book if you have not seen it.
Best wishes
PATRICIA NEAL
Thanks, Patricia – I will update Ida Graham’s details accordingly. How sad that she survived the War but did not survive to bring up her children. I am going to Inverell next month to a Family History Group seminar on WW1 so may be able to pick up a copy of the book when I’m there. Are you a descendant?
Christine
No I am not a relative, just a researcher, who stumbled upon your interest. My trip to Condoblin was my cousin’s idea for me to get away for a few days following the very recent sad death of my brother who had lived all his life in the home we were born in and had shut us out of the place after mum died 20 years ago. He was a hoarder and there is so much nostalgia, mess, dirt, tears etc to go through.
Now back to the Inverell book. Knowing my interests, my cousin had bought a lot of small books for me to read to her whilst travelling, hence the Inverell Cemetery book.
The headstone.looks interesting and how wonderful that you will be in the area.
Sincerely Patricia
Dear Patricia,
I am so sorry to hear about your bereavement. I lost my mother last year (not unexpectedly as she was 90 and not in good health, but it was a blow) and know how harrowing it is to go through the accumulation of a person’s – and a family’s – life when clearing out a house. How lucky you are to have such a thoughtful cousin to help you through this.
Best wishes, Christine
Thank you very much for your kind wishes. My brother wanted to go and surprisingly died with a smile on his face. It’s the mess he’s left behind, that I have to get back into. Yes, I am lucky to have family and good friends and count it a blessing. Let me know how you get on at Inverell. Perhaps they have more on Nurse GRAHAM. Good Luck Patricia
Just found this……Ida Graham was my Great Aunt (my Father’s Aunt on his Mother’s side)….interesting to know what happened to her. I live in Sydney and her family lived in Manly. My Father is 92 and the last surviving of his generation in his family as far as we know.
My name is Robin Leslie PATTERSON. I am the only Grandson of Ida Graham. My Mother, Enid May MOORE, was her second Daughter and she passed away in 2002,
I also served in the Australian Army for 22 plus years and served in Vietnam in 1970 – 1971.
I have the Army records for Ida Graham.
My enquiry is relative to the book or information relating to other search results by other people and would like to include them in our family tree. A few years ago I went to Inverell and found her grave which was “untidy” and I subsequently cleaned it up as best I could.
Any help would be most welcome especially extracts from her family tree.
Regards
Rob Patterson
0417278470
email robpatterson60@yahoo.com.au