Category: Nurse/Medical
Rank: Superintendent
Regiment or Ship: Bexhill War Hospital Supply Depot
Occupation: Stage actress and theatre producer
Date of Birth: 01.08.1862
Place of Birth: Manchester
Date of Death: 15.07.1924
Place of Death: Battle registration district.
Address: The Corner, Little Common, Bexhill on Sea
Photos and newspaper articles
Click on any image to see a larger version
Family Information
Parents:
Samuel Anderson Emery, Actor, and Clara Tellett, Actress.
Husband:Â Â Â Â Cyril Maude 1862- 1951, Stage actor, actor-manager, theatre owner (Haymarket Theatre, London) and stage producer.
Daughter:Â Â Â Margery Kathleen born 29th April 1889. Actress.
Daughter:Â Â Â Pamela Cynthia born 1983 died 20th October 1975.
Son:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â John Cyril born 3rd April 1901 Died 1986.
(1911 census shows Winifred and Cyril with Margery and John living in Little Common)
First World War Experience
Mrs Cyril Maude, as the local press always referred to her, helped to set up, and was Superintendent of, the Red Cross War Hospital Supply Depot in 8, Bolebrooke Road. Although in her fifties her fame as an actress and her publicity skills drew the attention of local journalists to the work and she was able to attract volunteers from the ladies of Bexhill and visitors to the town.
The Depot was linked to Queen Mary’s Needlework Guild, now the Queen Mother’s Clothing Guild, still in existence, (website qmcg.org.uk), which originally aimed to provide comforts for the troops and for their needy families in the form of items of clothing that the War Office had no funds to provide, though this soon broadened out to items such as gas masks. Much of the work of the Hospital Supply Depot was medical items such as swabs, padded splints, bandages, eye dressings, operating theatre cloths and bed linen. Clothing included anti-vermin vests and pants as well as bed jackets, night shirts and pairs of slippers. There was also a carpentry department where men made splints and crutches and other wooden equipment.
By July 1917 the Bexhill Chronicle was reporting that 24,966 articles had been sent to local hospitals and to the Central Depot for distribution at home and abroad. When the Hospital Supply Depot closed in 1919 it had provided 100,297 items and 510 workers had been registered since 1914.
Additional Information
Winifred Maude was still a leading Shakespearean and comic actress in 1914 but she made only two performances during the War and was seldom seen on stage afterwards.
Bexhill War Hospital Supply Depot
Bexhill War Hospital Supply Depot 2
Chats about the War Work Depot
Lady workers at the War Hospital