Georgina Pope

Georgina Fane Pope was born January 1, 1862 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The daughter of William Pope, a Father of Confederation, she was a product of P.E.I gentility and could have doubtlessly had a comfortable marriage and became an island socialite.[1] However, she instead traveled to New York, where she trained as a nurse at Bellevue Hospital. Afterward, she became the superintendent of the Columbia Hospital for Women, at Washington D.C., where she opened a school for nurses.[2]

Statue of Pope in Ottawa

In October 1899, after completing nursing studies at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, she volunteered for nursing service in the Second Boer War. Placed in command of the first group of nurses to go overseas, she served for more than a year in South Africa. For the first five months she and four other volunteer nurses served at British hospitals north of Cape Town. After, Pope and another sister proceeded north to Kroonstad where, despite shortages in food and medical supplies, took charge of a military hospital and successfully cared for 230 sufferers of enteric fever.

On September 21, 1901,[2] Pope, along with two other nurses, Deborah Hurcomb and Sarah Forbes, received medals for their war service from the Duke of York, later King George V, during his tour to the Outposts of the British Empire.[3] She returned there in 1902 with the Canadian Army Nursing Service as senior sister[2] in charge of a second group of 8 Canadian nurses. She served at a hospital in Natal until the end of the war in May that year. On October 31, 1902,[2] she became the first Canadian to receive the Royal Red Cross, awarded to her for meritorious and distinguished service in the field.

In 1908 she was appointed first Matron of the Canadian Army Medical Corps.

In 1917, aged 55, Pope, although in poor health went to work near Ypres and served for the remainder of World War I until 1918.

Pope served in England and France during the First World War.

Georgina Pope died June 6, 1938. She was granted a full military funeral. Georgina is one of fourteen figures from Canada's military history commemorated at the Valiants Memorial in Ottawa.

In 2012 Canadian artist Laurie McGaw designed a five dollar coin in honour of four nurses. Georgina Pope stands in the foreground of the coin in front of three others. The coin is made of fine silver and is 99.99% pure, and its production was limited to 10,000.

• Toman, Cynthia (7 March 2016). "Georgina Fane Pope". The Canadian Encyclopedia (online ed.). Historica Canada.
• Collections Canada: Georgina Pope Government of Canada Archives
• War Museum of Canada: Georgina Pope War Museum of Canada