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5080057150000Violet Barratt - Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD)A group of Kingstown VADs, among whom is Sophia Violet Barrett, although it is not known exactly which woman she is in this photograph. (Source: Commons Licence)Sophia Violet Barrett, served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse in World War One. An Irish woman, she was born in 1884, in Glenmaddy, County Galway. Violet was the younger of two sisters. Her father, Samuel, was a Justice of the Peace. She was witness to her father’s role in keeping justice in Ireland both prior to and during the war. Perhaps this influence from her father may have had an impact on her decision to join the VAD at the onset of the First World War. Violet had returned home to Ireland for an unknown period of leave in October 1918. On her return to France, on the R.M.S Leinster, on 10th October, the boat was torpedoed on the Irish Sea shortly before 10 a.m. It is likely that it was destroyed because it was a mail ship. Violet’s body was recovered and she was buried on 14th October 1918. Her coffin was accompanied by a mounted escort of Hussars. Violet’s name is on the War Memorial at Tullow Church, Foxrock, Co.Dublin, and on the Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton for those who died at sea. She is also remembered in York Minster. What was the Voluntary Aid Detachment?The VAD was a voluntary organisation that provided field nursing services, mainly in hospitals but also at casualty clearing stations and other required areas, both in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire who were part of the war. The organisation also provided aid in other areas, such as cooking, transportation and hygiene services. Many women served in World War One as VADs. One of the most famous was the future author and pacifist, Vera Brittain. ................
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