The Hôpital Australien de Paris, also known as the Australian Hospital in Paris, was a French military hospital founded and staffed predominantly by Australian women during World War I.
| Hôpital Australien de Paris | |
|---|---|
 Staff of the Hôpital Australien de Paris | |
| Geography | |
| Location | 46 Rue du Dr Blanche, Auteuil, France |
| Organisation | |
| Funding | French Red Cross Society of Victoria |
| Type | World War I Military |
| Network | French Army |
| Services | |
| Beds | 21-25 |
| History | |
| Opened | 4 August 1915 |
| Closed | 18 December 1915 |
| Links | |
| Lists | Hospitals in France |
History
editAfter war broke out in 1914, Helen Sexton, who was travelling in England, offered her surgical services to the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). She offered to pay all of her expenses. However, the RAMC refused to enlist her. Sexton returned to Australia on the RMS Moldavia, arriving in early February 1915.[1] Sexton approached the Australian Government, and offered to equip a hospital unit and staff it with women. The government declined her offer. They only allowed unmarried, trained nurses to enlist. They put a notice in the newspapers stating that women doctors would not be accepted for active service.[2] She then spent four months gathering resources such as medical equipment and clothing, and raising money. Sexton recruited staff which included a nurse Susan Smith and her two daughters Alison and Lorna, who worked as cooks, and nurses Constance Blackwood, Florence Inglis, and Dora Wilson. In France they were joined by fellow Australians, Audrey and Eileen Chomley.[1][3]
A key figure in the establishment, supply and management of the hospital, was Suzanne Caubet, who was the a senior volunteer administrator, and director of the French Red Cross at the Buffon Centre, which adjoined the Military hospital Val de Grace.[2][4] Caubet was born in France, and raised in Melbourne. Her younger sister, Charlotte Crivelli, was the founder of the French Red Cross Society of Victoria, which was involved in fundraising for the hospital.[4] The French Military assigned an administrator M. de Riensi, to manage the military matters. Sexton was assigned the Medical Officer in Charge, and the Military provided three male consulting surgeons.[2][5]
When Rene G. Crivelli, Charlotte Crivelli's son, and Suzanne Caubet's nephew, was wounded while serving in a French military unit, he was treated by Sexton at the Hôpital Australien de Paris.[6]
Closure
editThe hospital closed in December 1915, and Sexton and Blackwood transferred to the Buffon military hospital, Val de Grace, where Sexton worked as a surgeon, and Blackwood as a nurse.[7][2]
Recognition
editIn 1919, Sexton, Mrs R. O Blackwood, and Mrs William Smith were each awarded a gold Médaille de la Reconnaissance française or Medal of French Gratitude for their work at the hospital, and Charlotte Crivelli was awarded a silver Médaille de la Reconnaissance française for her fundraising efforts.[8][2]
References
edit- ^ a b Sheard, Heather; Lee, Ruth (2019). Women to the front: the extraordinary Australian women doctors of the Great War. North Sydney, NSW: Ebury Press. ISBN 978-0-14-379470-7.
- ^ a b c d e "Dr Helen Sexton's Hôpital Australien de Paris, July–December 1915" (PDF). The French Australian Review. 68 (Winter 2020).
- ^ "LADIES' LETTER". The Border Watch. Vol. LIII, no. 5349. South Australia. 12 June 1915. p. 5. Retrieved 16 June 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ a b "FRANCE NEEDS HELP". Weekly Times. No. 2, 386. Victoria, Australia. 1 May 1915. p. 10. Retrieved 10 June 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "IN PARIS". The Globe And Sunday Times War Pictorial. No. 236. New South Wales, Australia. 9 October 1915. p. 16. Retrieved 16 June 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "HONORED BY FRANCE". The Herald. No. 12, 920. Victoria, Australia. 27 October 1917. p. 4. Retrieved 16 June 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Hospital work in France praised by Major Sexton". The Herald. No. 12, 546. Victoria, Australia. 16 May 1916. p. 8. Retrieved 16 June 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "French medals given". Herald. Melbourne, Victoria. 1919-11-19. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-05-01 – via National Library of Australia.