Louisa Jordan

Louisa Jordan was born at 279 Gairbraid Street (now Maryhill Road) in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, Scotland, in July 1878.[1][3] Her parents, both from Ireland, were Henry Jordan, a white lead and paint mixer, and Helen (or Ellen) Jordan, and among her 10 siblings (of whom 3 died in infancy) were Helen (or Ellen), David, Elizabeth and Thomas.[4][5] The family lived at 30 Kelvinside Avenue (now Queen Margaret Drive in North Kelvin).[1][4]

In 1901, she was employed as a mantle maker.[1] She began her nursing career in Quarrier's Homes, a Bridge of Weir sanatorium, before moving to Shotts Fever Hospital. She spent 5 years at the 1st Poor Law Crumpsall Hospital in Manchester, where she became sister in charge of one of the wards and gained wide general nursing experience, before moving back to Scotland, first to Edinburgh and then working at Strathaven, as a Queen Victoria Jubilee nurse. From Strathaven she was transferred to Buckhaven, Fife, where she was a district nurse.[6][7][8]

Working as a nurse in Buckhaven at the start of the First World War, Jordan enlisted with the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service in December 1914.[9]

She joined the 1st Serbian unit under the command of Eleanor Soltau. They departed from Southampton in mid-December. On arrival at Salonica, Serbia, the unit was deployed to Kragujevac. She initially treated war-wounded soldiers at the Scottish Women's Hospital.[9][1]

Scottish Women's Hospitals roll of honour

During the Serbian epidemic of typhus in early 1915, she was placed in charge of the new typhus ward.[9][1] Jordan had volunteered to treat Elizabeth Ross, who was dying of typhus, and Jordan herself died of the disease in March 1915.[7][10] An Edinburgh orderly nurse, Margaret Neill Fraser, is also reported to have died from typhus when treating the sick in Serbia at the same time.[11]

Jordan was buried at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Chela Kula Military Cemetery in Niš, where she is remembered annually in Serbia along with other nurses who served during the 1915 typhus epidemic. Her grave (D. 5), with no religious emblem, is inscribed "GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN".[12] In Scotland she is commemorated at the Buckhaven War Memorial and at Kelvinbridge Parish Church in Glasgow.[10][13] Her name is also included in a memorial panel at York Minster.[14]

In 2020, it was announced by NHS Scotland that the NHS Louisa Jordan hospital in Glasgow, an emergency critical care hospital built to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, was to be named after her.[15]

The Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman stated that "She is a person who has perhaps up until now been better remembered in Serbia than in Scotland. This hospital is a fitting tribute to her service and her courage."[9]