Louisa Hanson

Above: The Gables, Station Road, Ossett. (Photograph courtesy of Neville Ashby)

In 1910 the Land Valuation record shows that he owned all five of the houses. By this time Emma’s only son, Charles K. Hanson was 8 years of age but there is no sign of him in 1901. Emma’s husband, William Hanson, is similarly absent and it has not been possible to locate a U.K. record of him after the birth of Charles in 1893.

In 1911 William A Kendall was living at Middle House, Denby Dale, the home of his brother in law. This appears to be a temporary arrangement, perhaps to do with William’s business, because his sister, Emma Hanson, was still living at William’s six roomed home at The Gables, Ossett . In her brother William’s absence in Denby Dale, Emma appears to have insisted that she be properly recorded on the Census only as the Head pro tem of the household.

Her son, Charles Kendall Hanson, 17 years of age and an architectural student, and daughter, Gladys, aged 22, an elementary school teacher, are also living at The Gables (probably the dwelling closest to the camera in the above photograph). They are described as Nephew and Niece. Louisa Hanson is not in the household and it has not been possible to locate her elsewhere in 1911. She would be 23 years of age by this time and perhaps she was already elsewhere working as a nurse.

In 1901 and 1911 the children’s mother, Emma Hanson, describes herself as married, but there is no sign of her husband in either of those years. His absence suggests that Emma and her children had been abandoned. Their success, even at this early stage of their lives, with all of them working in or towards a life in professional employment, displays their fortitude, and that of their mother and their uncle. There was much more to come from Louisa and Charles.

On Thursday 24th December 1914 the “Ossett Observer” published “Our Roll of Honour List of Ossett and Horbury men who are serving their country.” Despite the headline referring to the men serving their country, the listing includes the name of one woman; Nurse Louisa Hanson, The Gables, Station Road; Red Cross Society in France.  Many women went to France during the Great War to serve in French military hospitals, and most were sent out under the auspices of the British Committee of the French Red Cross.

Little information about these women appears to have survived, but it is known that Louisa Hanson served at the No.2 Stationary Hospital. These Hospitals were large facilities, often centred on some pre-war buildings such as seaside hotels and were part of the casualty evacuation chain, further back from the front line than the Casualty Clearing Stations. They needed to be close to a railway line, in order for casualties to arrive (although some also came by canal barge); they also needed to be near a port where men could be evacuated for longer-term treatment in Britain. Many of these Hospitals were assisted by voluntary organisations, most notably the British Red Cross.

Nurse Louisa Hanson was serving with the Red Cross Society in France from a very early stage in WW1 and it is possible that she served at one of two Stationary Hospitals. The No.2 Stationary Hospital was located in Nantes between September and November 1914 before it was relocated to Outreau until September 1915 and finally to Abbeville where the Hospital remained until January 1920. The second possibility for her placement was the 250 bed, No2. British Red Cross Hospital at Rouen from September 1914 which also appears to have been known as the No.2 Stationary Hospital.