Louisa Annie Bicknell (1879 - 1915)

Biography

Louisa Annie Bicknell was born in 1879 at Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia. She was the second daughter of John Bicknell and Eliza Brook. ^[1]

Louisa initially learnt dressmaking, but changed to nursing. She trained at Mooroopna Hospital and worked initially at the Melbourne Women’s Hospital. She opened her own private hospital at Bairnsdale and nursed there for eight years. ^[2]

In April 1915 Louisa enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service as a Staff Nurse and embarked for Egypt on the HMAT Kyarra. She was stationed at Heliopolis, Cairo at the 1st Australian General Hospital. Louisa sustained a scratch on her hand while nursing wounded soldiers, and developed pyaemia, dying six days later on 25th June 1915. She was 35 years of age. She is buried in the Cairo War Memorial Cemetery.

Sources

1. ↑ Victoria Birth Index #8959/1879; registered at Elmore
2. ↑ Wikipedia profile: Louisa Bicknell; accessed 17 Jul 2020