Miss Violet Mountford Spencer
Nurse, Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), British Red Cross
Date of Birth: July 23rd 1985 (TBC)
Place of Birth: Teignmouth, Devon, England
Date of Death: June 1993 aged 97 (TBC)
VAD hat badge
Miss Violet Mountford Spencer of Revelstoke, Haldon Avenue, Teignmouth, Devon.
Birth records show that a Violet Spencer was born in the third quarter of 1895, the birth was registered in Newton Abbot, the 1911 census show Violet's place of birth as Teignmouth, Devon.
Other birth and death registration records show that Violet's father, Mountford Spencer (1854 - 1918) came from Chadderton, Lancashire, and her mother, Lucy Bourne Spencer (née Crankshaw), (1851-1956) came from Manchester, Lancashire.
Violet had four siblings, all female, Dora, Gladys, Maud and Lucie.
The 1911 census shows Violet as staying in Moretonhampstead, Devon with her brother-in-law Spencer Acklom (a Lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry), and her sister Lucie, with four servants (a live-in sick nurse, a cook, a parlour-maid and a between-maid).
A different sheet of the 1911 census shows Violet's mother living at The Hill, Teignmouth with two of her daughters (Dora and Gladys) and four live-in servants (a cook, parlour-maid, sewing-maid and house-maid).
Probate records show that Violet's father, Spencer Montford of The Hill, Teignmouth, Devonshire died on 4 November 1918. Violet's permanant address on her VAD card shows her address as The Hill, Teignmouth, later amended to Revelstoke, Haldon Avenue Teignmouth.
Violet worked full-time as a VAD nurse at No. 2 section, Exeter War Hospital, Devon from 9th May, 1917 to 5th December, 1918.
Colonel Charles Douglas Duxbury, Shaldon Veteran
A Major Charles Douglas Duxbury stayed with the Graeme family in Shaldon (shown on the 1911 census), he later re-married and his spouse was called Violet, their children were named Michael Douglas Anthony Spencer Duxbury (1924 - 1994) and Ruth Violet Duxbury (1926 – 1992).
Passenger lists show that in 1930 the family were returning 1st Class from living in Bombay, India to the address of Pall Mall, London. Violet Duxbury lived to be 97 years old and died in June 1993 in Weymouth, Dorsetshire. Charles Duxbury died in 1955 in Torbay Hospital, Devon. We have not found marriage records of Violet Spencer and Charles Duxbury to confirm this connection (they may have married in India c. 1923). The officer in the centre of the middle row of this web site's homepage image of the Shaldon Veterans is Colonel Duxbury.
Mountford-Spencer Wikitree
War Hospitals in Exeter 1914 - 1919
Wounded or sick patients were sent to the UK from overseas by hospital ships.
The interior of a coach of a British hospital train showing cots arranged down either side of the carriage leaving a wide central passageway in which the medical staff could work. © IWM (Q 33447)
Exeter was on the main Railway for the ports of Plymouth and Falmouth so patients travelled by ambulance train from to the city's hospitals.
Many of the wounded suffered from gas poisoning, blindness was one the results of the gas and men would walk in a long crocodile, each man holding on to the one in front before being taken to their VA Hospital.
Wounded men would be seen in the streets of the city, wearing their "hospital blues" blue uniforms with a red tie to distinguish them from soldiers on leave or returning to and from active duty at the front.
Wounded soldiers from Exeter Military Hospitals at Teignmouth where they were entertained by Mr. and Mrs. G. Hardy Harris. "Gazette" photos.
Over 35,000 were treated in Exeter's hospitals during the war. By the war's end there were more than 1,400 beds for patients in the city.
No. 2 Exeter War Hospital where Violet Spencer served as a VAD Nurse (Former Bishop Blackall School (a girls' school) The school merged with Hele's School and became St Peter's School (CC BY-SA 2.0) © Copyright David Smith
(Modified, cropped and changed to black and white)
Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Records
Date of engagement with VAD: 9th May, 1917 to 5th December, 1918.
Rank: Nurse.
Service rendered at:
No. 2 section, Exeter War Hospital, Devon.
Paid: £0 (worked full-time).
Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Cards
Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Card. ©2018 British Red Cross (CC BY-NC 2.0 UK)
Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Card. ©2018 British Red Cross (CC BY-NC 2.0 UK)
