Local Volunteer Aid Detachment (VAD) Quartermaster and Secretary for St John’s Ambulance Nursing Division during and immediately following World War I
Jessie Thornton Rafferty was born to Thomas and Annie (nee Thornton) Rafferty on the 5 November 1891 in Paisley, Scotland[1]. The eldest daughter and one of six children that was born to the couple.
Thomas and Annie were both literate as they were able to sign their own names on their marriage certificate in 1889, but they worked very hard, as industrialisation took over slowly, many of the occupations available to people were still very physical. Life in Paisley, Scotland was no different with many women working in the textile mills, like Annie Rafferty whose occupation was listed as a ‘threadmill worker’ on her marriage certificate. Thomas worked in various roles but most often within the area of making bricks, pottery and glass. He was a ‘plumbago crucible maker’[2] when he married Annie and seems to have continued in that field in various roles even after he emigrated to Australia.
As her parents were literate, it is assumed that Jessie and her siblings were educated at least to primary school level. But the family was not immune to hard work as we have seen but also tragedy. The couple’s first child, a son named Charles, was born in 1889, only to die the same year. At the relatively young age, it would be said these days, of 41 years, Annie Rafferty died on 15 June 1908. She left behind her husband and five children, the youngest being twin girls, Maggie McKendrick and Jeanie McDonald who were just six years old [3]. Jessie was 18 years old when her mother died and she was left to take over the running of a household, looking after her father, three brothers and two sisters.
Coming to Australia
In 1911 Jessie Thornton Rafferty, her father and five siblings emigrated from Paisley, Scotland, to Perth, Western Australia. They travelled on the S.S. Osterley[4] whose top speed was about 19 knots, the trip at the time taking 45 days.
The passenger list gives the occupations of the five older members of the family as Thomas Rafferty [Manager], Thomas [Engineer], James [Engineer], Jessie [Housekeeper], Robert S. [Paper Maker]. Aged 22 by the time she arrived in Australia, Jessie is already playing the vital role of caregiver, homemaker to her father and older siblings and mother to her young twin sisters.
20 Teddington Road, Victoria Park
The Rafferty family moved into 20 Teddington Road, Victoria Park (now Burswood) soon after they arrived from Scotland. Records show that they called the modest weatherboard and iron house on the traditional quarter acre block home for more than sixty years.
Jessie and the Perth Nursing Division
Whilst official records such as electoral rolls, list Jessie’s occupation, throughout her life as ‘home duties’, she devoted herself to learning and to the field of nursing.
On the 13 November 1913 a special meeting was held at the Central Fire Station, Perth by the St John’s Ambulance Brigade Assistant Commissioner, Dr William Trethowan. A meeting of ladies who were interested in forming a Nursing Division. Dr Trethowan spoke to the group outlining the aims and objectives. A motion was put forward for the establishment of the Perth Nursing Division of the St John Ambulance be formed which was carried and so the 14 ladies present, including Jessie Rafferty were now founding members. The new Perth Nursing Division was to meet fortnightly at the fire station on Monday nights. Records show that this small gathering was the beginning of a large network of nursing Divisions across the state.
Doctors were assigned to give lectures to the members of the Perth Nursing Division and there were examinations on various topics. In order for a member to be able to wear the badge of the brigade they were required to pass three examinations, which included first aid and home nursing [5]. In late November of 1914, the Perth Nursing Division approached the Army to offer their services to the war effort but were told their services were not required. But the Division pushed on and continued to learn about what was going on in the war through lectures such as those given by Dr Gertrude Mead. Dr Mead was Divisional Surgeon of St John Ambulance and she was a great advocate and help to the Division, giving such lectures as her “Wounds of War”. Three members of the Perth Nursing Division were asked to serve overseas in 1916 for the Australian Red Cross. These nurses were Mrs L Bruce, Misses E Bower and I Evans and they served as Probationary Nurses to military hospitals in England and France. All three returned safely to Australia in 1919.
The Perth Nursing Division also formed a “Comforts Fund for soldiers at the Kalamunda Convalescent Home and the members took it in turns in visiting the Home while all contributed various items to help. In all, life was busy”[6]. Members of the Division fundraised for various causes such as International Council of Women and the French Red Cross. During the time from formation in November 1913 to August 1915 membership of the Division had grown from 14 members to approximately 40. Memberships increased most likely because of the First World War and as Donaldson mentions “during November 1915, Miss Jessie Rafferty was appointed Lady Superintendent to the Ambulance Association”[7]. Which would have lent some good publicity to the work and efforts of the Division. “Maybe to sustain interest there seems to have been Roller Bandaging Competitions and one, recorded on 3 September 1918, was adjudicated by Dr Gertrude Mead. She awarded first prize to Mrs Schwarze, a rose bowl, gifted by Mrs Parker, while the second prize was to Miss Rafferty, gifted by Dr Mead, but there is no record of what it was. Our Jessie was we then see, skilled in the practical as well as the managerial aspects of the Perth Nursing Division.
Jessie and the VADs
Despite the Perth Nursing Division’s offer of assistance being turned down by the Army in 1914, Dr Tymms the Brigade Commissioner requested in February 1916 that a Voluntary Aid Detachment or VAD be considered. By the end of the same month, the St John Ambulance Brigade formed a VAD and asked the Perth Nursing Division to be part of it. Strangely though, nothing official happened until two years later, but eight members of the Perth Nursing Division were already serving at No. 8 Base Hospital in Fremantle. By the middle of 1918 the VAD was finally official and notices went into the newspapers listing Miss Jessie Rafferty as the Honorary Secretary and for applications to join the VAD to be sent to her at her home at 20 Teddington Road, Victoria Park.
Work for members of the VAD started at 7am and was very physical work, they had undergone a course of lectures and training in first aid and home nursing but also in cooking for health, laundry work and many had also learned transport and stretcher drilling. The VADs were at first not very popular with nurses and medical personnel as VAD staff had usually only had minimal training when compared to professionally trained nurses but as the years of war crept on, and VAD staff gained more experience, their help was more appreciated by the professional end of the medical field.
With the end of the war came an influenza pandemic, and the work of Jessie and her colleagues in the Perth Nursing Division and VADs was not over. The Perth Nursing Division “volunteered their services to the Health Department and 28 members assisted subsequently in Perth and Fremantle Hospitals”[8]. It is not known for certain, but likely given where Jessie lived, that she also volunteered her time and nursing talents to those patients at the Rotunda Hospital on Albany Highway, East Victoria Park (known today as Edward Millen House). In 1919 the State Government took over the Rotunda Hospital from Nurse Elizabeth Baillie and it was administered by the Perth Public Hospital, treating 186 patients for influenza during the pandemic, of whom 16 died [9].
Jessie continued to work for the Perth Nursing Division of St John Ambulance and in their VAD up to 1921 when she resigned, no reason was recorded for her decision in the official minutes.
The Rafferty brothers also serve
Jessie was not the only member of her family to serve her country in the war effort, her three brothers James, Thomas and Robert Scott Rafferty all enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and saw action overseas. James achieved the rank of Lance Sergeant, Thomas of Sergeant, and Robert Scott of 2nd Lieutenant. Thankfully all three men survived the war, with all three brothers returning to Australia. But before James returned he married Marion Cameron, a drapery saleswoman, in the family’s home church of Martyr’s Parish Church on Broomlands Street, Paisley, Scotland.
Jessie’s brother Sergeant Thomas Rafferty enlisted in August 1916 serving with the 11th Battalion, 22nd Reinforcements in France, returning to Australia in July 1919.
Jessie’s baby brother, 2nd Lieutenant Robert Scott Rafferty, was awarded the Military Medal 'At BULLECOURT on 11th April 1917 for gallant conduct and devotion to duty during the attack and occupation of the HINDENBURG LINE. When the order to retire was given he fell back in good order with his men, but seeing a wounded officer in a shell hole near enemy wire he remained until dark and carried him into safety'[10].
Jessie and her family after the War
We know little of Jessie’s activities following her resignation from the Perth Nurses Division of St John Ambulance in 1921, but we do know that she never married and continued to live in the family home at 20 Teddington Road, and to look after her father and siblings. Robert Scott Rafferty took up farming in Bencubbin and Jessie’s other two brothers moved out and started their own families.
On the 4 August 1933, Thomas Rafferty senior died aged 70 and was buried in the Presbyterian section at Karrakatta. At this stage Jessie’s two youngest sisters, the twins, were also living at 20 Teddington Road.
In 1940 one of the twins, Jeanie McDonald Rafferty married John McIver in Paisley Scotland. The other twin sister Maggie McKendrick Rafferty did not marry and both Jessie and Maggie lived together for the rest of their lives. The occupations of both being listed on the electoral rolls through the years as ‘home duties’,
Jessie Thorton Rafferty died on the 21 December 1980 in Victoria Park, she was 89 years old. Her sister Maggie McKendrick Rafferty lived another nine years and died on 12 October 1989, she was aged 86. The ashes of both sisters were scattered on their father, Thomas’ grave at Karrakatta and two plaques mark their lives, below the headstone of their father.
The Town of Victoria Park honours the life of Jessie Thornton Rafferty, we especially note her care and commitment to her family and the dedication to, and gift of her talents to the Perth Nursing Division of St John Ambulance 1913-1921. Miss Jessie Thornton Rafferty was an amazing leader and a great female role model. We will remember her.
Footnotes
[1] Paisley is a large town 11 km West of Glasgow and 85 km West of Edinburgh in Scotland. It is situated on the White Cart river on the site of a rumoured Roman fort. Notable for agriculture for most of its history, the 19th century saw the textile trade boom in the area. Coats cottons came from this humble little town. The famous paisley shawl and paisley fabric pattern were also named for the town. The famous paisley shawl and fabric pattern were named for the town. The popularity for the pattern and shawl increased when Queen Victoria purchased some in 1842.
[2] According to A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population, 1921, a ‘plumbago crucible maker’ is a crucible maker who makes crucibles from a mixture of refactory clay and plumbago (graphite). A ‘crucible maker’ makes crucibles by throwing mixture of fireclay and grog i.e. , lumps of hard-burnt clay, broken bricks, etc., ground to a powder, with or without a further admixture of plumbago on potter's wheel (a small revolving table), and working it up to desired shape with hands; (ii) makes crucibles by pressing paste into moulds, usually of plaster of Paris, with his hands, using simple pads and other tools; touches up defects, and smooths out roughness and cracks with a knife or smoothing pad when article is partly dry; (iii) presses clay or pug into shape between top and bottom moulds in hand or machine press to form crucible pot.
[3] The twins, Maggie McKendrick and Jeanie McDonald Rafferty were born in 1902, Paisley Scotland (registration numbers: 573/12253 and 573/12254 respectively).
[4] The S. S. Osterley a 12,000 ton steamer built in Glasgow for the Orient Steam Navigation Company. It was named after the country seat of Lord Jersey and is the third of the five such steamers ordered by the company to meet the requirements of the mail contract entered into with Australia. The ship was launched on 26 January 1909.
[5] 1918 'SOCIAL NOTES.', The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), 26 March, p. 6. , viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27473233
[6] Donaldson, Ruth Gwendoline 2003, Following a Nursing Star: A History of St John Nursing in Perth 1913-1963, St John Ambulance Australia (Western Australia) Inc., Belmont, W.A., p. 7.
[7] Op cit., p. 8
[8] Op cit. Donaldson 2003, p. 14
[9] Thompson, Susannah 2013, Beyond Matta Gerup: a history of Victoria Park, Town of Victoria Park, Victoria Park, W.A., pp. 50-51
[10] Commonwealth Gazette No. 169, 4 October 1917.
References
1909 'THE ORIENT'S OSTERLEY.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW: 1842 - 1954), 23 January, p. 13., viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15031021
1913 'NEWS AND NOTES.', The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879 - 1954), 1 September, p. 6., viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26883970
1916 'TO-DAY'S FIGURES.', The Daily News (Perth, WA: 1882 - 1950), 14 February, p. 6. (THIRD EDITION), viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article80898501
1916 'WESTERN AUSTRALIAN HEROES.', Western Mail (Perth, WA: 1885 - 1954), 6 October, p. 23., viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37984824
1916 'ST. JOHN AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION.', The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879 - 1954), 24 November, p. 10., viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26998187
1918 'SOCIAL NOTES.', The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879 - 1954), 26 March, p. 6., viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27473233
1918 'Family Notices', The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879 - 1954), 14 August, p. 1., viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27486629
1918 'No title', The Daily News (Perth, WA: 1882 - 1950), 16 August, p. 2. (THIRD EDITION), viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article81367065
1918 'SOCIAL NOTES.', The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879 - 1954), 20 August, p. 6. , viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27487308
1918 'Advertising', The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879 - 1954), 14 December, p. 3., viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27499107
1919 'Advertising', The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879 - 1954), 1 February, p. 3., viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27594012
1919 'Advertising', The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879 - 1954), 6 June, p. 1., viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27606929
1920 'Advertising', The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879 - 1954), 10 January, p. 8., viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27672980
1921 'Advertising', The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879 - 1954), 25 March, p. 7., viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27959828
1933 'Family Notices', The Daily News (Perth, WA: 1882 - 1950), 4 August, p. 10. (LATE CITY), viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83402917
1933 'Family Notices', The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879 - 1954), 5 August, p. 1., viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33310599
1940 'Family Notices', The West Australian (Perth, WA: 1879 - 1954), 26 November, p. 1. , viewed 22 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47293865
Donaldson, Ruth Gwendoline 2003, Following a Nursing Star: A History of St John Nursing in Perth 1913-1963, St John Ambulance Australia (Western Australia) Inc., Belmont, W.A., p. 7.
Goodman, Rupert 1991, Voluntary Aid Detachments in Peace and War: the history of Voluntary Aid Detachments in Australia during the 20th Century, Boolarong Publications, Brisbane.
‘Paisley History’, https://www.paisley.org.uk/paisley-history/, accessed online 16/03/2021
Landgate, Map Viewer Plus, accessed online, https://www0.landgate.wa.gov.au/maps-and-imagery/interactive-maps/map-viewer
Metropolitan Cemeteries Board (Western Australia), Name Search, accessed online, https://www.mcb.wa.gov.au/research
Ministry of Labour 1927, A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population, 1921, United Kingdom, accessed online 19/3/2021, http://doot.spub.co.uk/code.php?value=103
Museum of Perth, ‘Lance Sergeant Rafferty, James’, The Soldiers of Barrack Street: Photographic Portraits by Denis Dease, online exhibition, http://www.thesoldiersofbarrackstreet.com/lance-sergeant-james-rafferty-11th-battalion, accessed 16/3/2021
Museum of Perth, ‘Lance Sergeant Rafferty, James’, The Soldiers of Barrack Street: Photographic Portraits by Denis Dease, online exhibition, http://www.thesoldiersofbarrackstreet.com/lieutenant-robert-scot-rafferty-16th-battalion, accessed 16/3/2021
National Archives of Australia; Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes ACT 2600.; Inward passenger manifests for ships and aircraft arriving at Fremantle, Perth Airport and Western Australian outports from 1897-1963; Series Number: K 269; Reel Number: 34, accessed online, ancestry.com
National Archives of Australia, RAFFERTY James: Service Number - 6810: Place of Birth - Paisley Scotland: Place of Enlistment - Perth WA: Next of Kin - (Father) RAFFERTY Thomas, Item ID 8025132
National Archives of Australia, RAFFERTY Robert Scott: Service Number – Lieutenant: Place of Birth - Paisley Scotland: Place of Enlistment - Perth WA: Next of Kin - (Father) RAFFERTY Thomas, Item ID 8024451
National Archives of Australia, RAFFERTY Thomas: Service Number - 5076: Place of Birth - Paisley Scotland: Place of Enlistment - Perth WA: Next of Kin - (Father) RAFFERTY Thomas, Item ID 8024454.
Scotlands People 2020, Birth, Death and Marriage Records, accessed online: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
State Library of Western Australia, ‘Post Office Directories’, accessed online https://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/explore-discover/wa-heritage/post-office-directories
Thompson, Susannah 2013, Beyond Matta Gerup: a history of Victoria Park, Town of Victoria Park, Victoria Park, W.A., pp. 50-51
Western Australian State Government, Department of Justice, Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, https://bdm.justice.wa.gov.au/_apps/pioneersindex/default.aspx?uid=6652-1357-6884-3383, accessed online.
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This article was first published online in Victoria Park Dictionary of Biography, Town of Victoria Park Library, 24 March 2021. Written by Rosemary Ritorto, Local History Coordinator.
Jessie Thornton Rafferty was especially remembered as the 'local focus story' that featured in the Town of Victoria Park's Anzac Day commemorations at Memorial Gardens, Albany Highway, Victoria Park on 25 April 2021.
Pick up a copy of her special commemorative booklet from the Library or download a copy to keep here:
ToVP 2021 Anzac Day Local Focus Commemorative Booklet - Rafferty, Jessie Thornton(PDF, 4MB)
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