Red Cross uniform: stockings

Dorothy Etta Robins (1915-2003, New Zealand) wore these stockings as part of her Red Cross uniform during the Second World War (1939-45). She was born in Wellington and brought up in Kelburn.

She passed three certificates with the New Zealand Red Cross. She achieved her first certificate (in home nursing) as a teenager in 1931. In 1941, she passed senior examinations in first aid, and hygiene and sanitation. She was probably a Voluntary Aid for the Wellington branch of the Red Cross during the war.

Many women took first aid, home nursing and Voluntary Aid Detachment courses with the Red Cross and St John societies to support the war effort at home.

The uniforms of Red Cross Voluntary Aids consisted of a navy cape lined with red and an indoors dress was a white linen smock with a Red Cross on the sleeve and a white veil, also with a Red Cross.