Frances Cluett (June 25, 1883 – November, 1969) was an army

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

and educator from

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, noted for her service during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and especially for her many letters back home beginning in 1916 that conveyed the eye-opening experiences of a young woman leaving home for the first time and explaining in vivid detail the horrors of

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. Cluett was born in

Belleoram Belleoram () is a village on the shores of Fortune Bay in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The community sits on a narrow strip of land hemmed in between the bay and steep hills that rise behind it. Belleoram has a large harbour ...

, and during the war served in the Volunteer Aid Detachment in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Cluett's two dozen letters give a detailed account of her departure from St. John's, travels to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, and of her amazement at the horrors of the

front line A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an armed force's personnel and equipment, usually referring to land forces. When a front (an intentional or unin ...

. These letters are currently housed in the

Centre for Newfoundland Studies The Centre for Newfoundland Studies is a division of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Libraries, which is completely devoted to the collection and storage of Newfoundland and Labrador related books, documents, articles and maps. Founded in ...

at the

Memorial University of Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland, also known as Memorial University or MUN (), is a public university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook, elsewhere in Newfoundland and ...

, and are in the process being published to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the battle at Beaumont Hamel in which so many Newfoundland men lost their lives. Cluett wrote of her time spent attending countless soldiers at the 10th General Hospital in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population ...

. Cluett was a spirited woman with a strong devotion to church and family — she describes in her letters the terror and awful suffering and yet it never dampens her spirit, which is best summed up in the last line of her expressive

Easter Sunday Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel P ...

letter, perhaps the darkest she wrote: ''Nothing would induce me to give it up.''

References

External links

Volunteer Aid Detachment
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cluett, Frances 1883 births 1969 deaths Canadian women in World War I Newfoundland people of World War I People from Newfoundland (island) People from the Dominion of Newfoundland 20th-century Canadian women

See also

References

External links