RRC

Born

1865
Mean Meer, Bengal, India

Occupation

Nurse

Summary

Elizabeth Nixon was one of the first twelve nurses from the New South Wales Army Nursing Service Reserve (NSWANSR) to sail on the Moravian with the 2nd Contingent of the New South Wales Army Medical Corps (NSWAMC) on 17 January 1900 to South Africa to serve in the Boer War. Unlike many of the more than 60 Australian nurses who went to the Boer War, she did not have to pay her own passage. She was awarded the Royal Red Cross medal on 27 September 1901 for her outstanding work with the wounded and those who succumbed to tropical diseases and was Mentioned in Dispatches on 10 September 1901. The King of England, Edward VII, presented her with her medal at St James' Palace on 12 March 1902. She was one of three Australian nurses who were awarded the medal for service in the Boer War.

Sources used to compile this entry: Bassett, Jan, Guns and brooches : Australian Army Nursing from the Boer War to the Gulf War, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992, 261 pp. p. 10.; Goodman, R.D., Our War Nurses: The History of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps 1902-1988, Boolarong Publications, Brisbane, Queensland, 1988, 294 pp. p. 3..