Ethel Lote (née Nutting; 28 November 1920 – 11 June 2024) was a British

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

nurse and yoga instructor. After the war, she became a dental nurse and founded the Dental Nurses Society.

Early life

Ethel Nutting was born on 28 November 1920 in

Walsall Wood Walsall Wood is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands county, England. It is located middway between the towns of Aldridge and Brownhills, as well as Walsall and Lichfield. History In the late-18th century and ...

, Staffordshire. Her father was a coal miner while her mother was a music teacher. Lote had always aspired to be a nurse, inspired by her mother, Ellen Cross, who served as a nurse in London during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. She joined

St John Ambulance St John Ambulance is an affiliated movement of charitable organisations in mostly Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries which provide first aid education and consumables and emergency medical services. St John organisations are primari ...

while she was still at school as well as working as a first aider at the local Crabtree electrical factory on Saturdays. She left school aged 14 to work in a leather factory. When she was 17, Lote became a probationary nurse.

Career

Lote worked as an ARP volunteer before the beginning of

and subsequently joined the Civil Nursing Reserve as a nursing auxiliary when it was founded in 1939. During the war, Lote was based at Burntwood Military Hospital, a collection of ten huts each containing forty beds located in the grounds of a psychiatric hospital, where she worked 12-hour shifts. The hospital received the first convoy of evacuated soldiers from

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

, Lote later remembered "they were still in the uniforms, just how they had been picked up from the beaches. We had the first 100 patients. It was terrible, I'd just started training as a nurse, to see these men and their injuries, a lot of them were burned or had shrapnel wounds." When invited by a doctor to witness an autopsy to further her medical knowledge, she encountered Albert Lote, a superintendent with St John Ambulance after the lights failed during an air raid. While they both held a candle for the doctor to inspect the corpse, she recalled "we looked across the body at each other and as we looked into each other's eyes, we fell in love". They got engaged in October 1939, with the wedding originally scheduled for February 1940 or 1941, however Albert was called up into the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

and served abroad for five years, during which they did not see each other. They eventually married on 10 March 1945 during one of Albert's brief leaves. Ethel arrived late for the wedding as she had just finished a night shift. After the war, the Lotes moved to

Aldridge Aldridge is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands, England. It is historically, a village that was part of Staffordshire until 1974. The town is from Brownhills, from Walsall, from Sutton Coldfield and from ...

, where Ethel became a health visitor and then a dental nurse.

Later life

Whilst on a training course, Lote accidentally walked into a yoga lecture. Intrigued, she researched into it and then decided to join the All India Board of Yoga. She began teaching yoga classes in the 1960s. In the 1990s, Lote also began learning

tai chi is a Chinese martial art. Initially developed for combat and self-defense, for most practitioners it has evolved into a sport and form of exercise. As an exercise, tai chi is performed as gentle, low-impact movement in which practitioners ...

and started to run classes combining the two. Lote officially retired from teaching classes when she was 88, but continued practicing yoga and tai chi until she was 95, when she fractured her femur and could no longer get her foot over the back of her neck. She celebrated her 100th birthday in November 2020, and attributed her longevity to her practice of yoga and tai chi. Lote also received letters from

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

and

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh (born Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones; 20 January 1965) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, the youngest sibling of King Charles III. Sophie grew up in Brenchley, ...

upon reaching the milestone. Lote died on 11 June 2024, at the age of 103. She was survived by her two sons. Her husband Albert died in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lote, Ethel 1920 births 2024 deaths British military nurses British tai chi practitioners British women nurses British yoga teachers People from Walsall Wood English women centenarians People from Aldridge