Florence Maud Nichols

Rank:

Nursing Sister

Unit at enlistment:

Canadian Army Medical Corps, No. 3 Canadian General Hospital

Force:

C.E.F.

Volunteered or conscripted:

Volunteered

Survived the war:

Yes

Cemetery:

Paris Cemetery, Paris, Ontario

Commemorated at:

Paris Presbyterian Church

Birth country:

Canada

Birth county:

Brant

Birth city:

Paris, Ontario

Address at enlistment:

Paris, Ontario

Next of kin address:

Banfield Street, Paris, Ontario

Trade or calling:

Nurse

Religious denominations:

Presbyterian

Marital status:

Single

Age at enlistment:

Image gallery:

Letters and documents

Miscellaneous

BX June 24, 1916

Canadians Are a Cheerful Lot – Miss Florence Nichols, Paris Nursing Sister, is Home on Sick Leave – Bed Linen Needed

(By a Staff Reporter)

PARIS, June 23 – “The Canadian wounded are always in cheerful spirits. They are never otherwise – they were not even in the Salisbury mud.” Miss Florence Nichols of Paris, who for almost two years was on active service as a Red Cross nursing sister, and who is now on furlough at her home here, was the speaker. She expects to return for overseas service in about two weeks.

Miss Nichols was very reticent as to her own work at the front, vouching little more than that she had been at Salisbury camp when the first contingent had been there, and had spent seven months nursing in France at the base hospitals. Following this she was transferred to England, where she nursed both Canadian and British soldiers who were for the most part convalescing.

Miss Nichols during her work in England, after being behind the firing line, nursed several Brant County men, including Corp. Greentree and R. Parker, two Paris men, who have since returned home invalided out of service as being unfit for further privations, and Corp. George Patte of the 19th Battalion, son of J.W. Patte, Brantford. She found him a happy-go-lucky young man, the life of his ward, always looking on things in the most cheerful light.

She reports that the soldier boys stated that they were all well fed, but they always relished any little luxuries from home, for such are scarce at the front. They were well fed was proved, she thought, by their appearance when on furlough, except, of course, when they had been wounded or ill, when naturally their physical appearance would not be so good.

The Red Cross, she stated, had plenty of supplies, but there was always room for more. Bed linen especially was desirable, in her experience, owing to the needs for frequent changing of the bed clothes with wounded men. There was never too great a supply of bedding, and she was sure that further supplies would be welcomed by every nurse at work, no matter where.

BX September 13, 1960

Miss Florence Nichols

PARIS – Miss Florence Nichols of 1A Grand River Street North, Paris, died at the Willett Hospital Sunday after a lengthy illness. Born in Paris, and graduated from Hamilton General Hospital School of Nursing she was one of the first nursing sisters from this district for the First World War. A member of the Paris Presbyterian Church, she is survived by one sister, Mrs. W. (Metta) Miller, New Jersey, and two nephews. Funeral service was held from Bruce B. Smith’s funeral home today at 2 p.m. Rev. Walter Kennedy officiated. Interment in Paris Cemetery.