Victory Medal

This Victory Medal, 1914-1919, was awarded to Sister E M Fairchild for her service during World War I with Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service.

Establishment

The Victory Medal was awarded to all ranks of the Allied fighting forces, civilians under contract, and those employed in military hospitals who served in a theatre of war between 5 August 1914 and 11 November 1918. It was always issued with the British War Medal, never alone.

Details

The Victory Medal is made of a gold-coloured metal (lacquered bronze) and was issued with a double-rainbow patterned ribbon. Each medal was inscribed around the rim with the recipient's name and service number. The front, or obverse side, depicts the figure of Athene Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, with her left arm extended and her right hand holding a palm branch. On the reverse side is the legend 'THE GREAT/ WAR FOR/ CIVILIZATION/ 1914-1919' surrounded by a wreath.

Edith Fairchild

Edith Fairchild was born in Auckland on 17 July 1870, the third daughter of Captain John Fairchild and Mary Fairchild. She trained as a nurse at Addenbrokes Hospital, Cambridge, for three years and was appointed a staff nurse in Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service in 1904. She served for sixteen years, working at various military hospitals in England and South Africa.

During the First World War Edith was posted to a base hospital in Boulogne, France, and was attached to one of the ambulance trains bringing the wounded from the front. Other postings were at the Military Hospital at Le Havre and the Belmont Hospital in Surrey. She was promoted to Acting Matron in 1916 and awarded the Royal Red Cross (First Class) in 1918.

Edith developed deep-seated varicose veins because of the stress and strains of her nursing duties, and in 1920 was deemed to be ‘permanently unfit’ for service. She retired with a disability pension and continued to live in England until about 1929, when she decided to move back to New Zealand and be nearer her relatives. Edith died in Greytown on 8 October 1944, age 74.

For more on Edith, see:

• Fairchild, Edith Maud, Online Cenotaph, Auckland Museum website.
• Fairchild, Edith Maud, Probate, Archives New Zealand, R23159709.
• Fairchild, Edith, Nursing Service Record, The National Archives, Kew, WO 399/2619.
• ‘People Talked About’, The New Zealand Graphic, 28 January 1905.
• ‘Personal’, Feilding Star, 5 June 1915.
• ‘Royal Red Cross’, Kai Tiaki: The Journal of the Nurses of New Zealand 11, no. 4 (1 October 1918).