The naming of the Covid-19 hospital newly set up in the SECC in Glasgow may have raised an eyebrow or two amongst folk who had not previously heard of Louisa Jordan. Residents of Maryhill may not have heard of her either but her place in the history of Maryhill should be remembered, especially during this time of pandemic.
The Scottish Health Secretary, Jeane Freeman stated that "She is a person who has perhaps up until now been better remembered in Serbia than in Scotland. This hospital is a fitting tribute to her service and her courage."
Nursing Sister Louisa Jordan
So who was Sister Louisa Jordan?
Louisa Jordan was born on the 24th July 1878 at 279 Gairbraid St. Maryhill. (Gairbraid St. was the former name for Maryhill Road between Garscube Road and the canal bridge.) She was the only daughter of Henry and Helen Jordan who lived at 30 Kelvinside Ave. Her father worked as a white lead and paint mixer. She had two brothers, David and Thomas.
After working as a mantle maker, Louisa went on to train as a nurse at Quarriers Home, a Bridge of Weir sanatorium, before moving to work in Shotts Fever Hospital. After qualifying she moved to work in Crumpshall Infirmary in Manchester a 1st Poor Law hospital. On her return to Scotland Louise worked in Edinburgh and Strathaven as a Queen’s Jubilee Nurse. She then was transferred to Buckhaven where she worked as a district nurse serving the Fife mining community.
Following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Louisa enlisted with the Scottish Women’s Hospital for Foreign Service in the December of that year and joined the 1st Serbian Unit under the command of Dr. Eleanor Soltau.
They set sail from Southampton in mid December 1914. By the time they arrived in Salonika, Serbia had managed to turn their fortunes around and had won the first victory of the war by pushing back the Austrian/Hungarian forces.
On arrival at Salonika the unit were sent to Kraguievac a city 100 miles south of Belgrade. Although the fighting at that time was minimal there was still a massive amount of work to be done. Serbia was well short of medical facilities and their time was spent tending to the wounded.
Typhus, a cold weather disease spread by body lice which thrived in the overcrowded, dirty conditions which were rife in Kraguievac, broke out in February 1915. By the middle of the month a typhus ward was up and running and Louisa, who had some experience having worked in Shotts Fever Hospital, was put in charge.
Also working with typhus in the wards at Kraguievac was Dr Elizabeth Ross. She was not a member of the SWH and had travelled to Serbia alone when war broke out and had been assigned the typhus wards of a Military Hospital. Louisa and Elizabeth knew each other well and when Elizabeth became ill with typhus Louise volunteered to help nurse her but sadly Elizabeth died on February 14 1915.
“We really felt we had lost one of our own” wrote Louisa. Sadly, this would be one of last entries in her diary as a few days later she died of typhus, soon after Madge Fraser and Augusta Minshull also succumbed to the epidemic.
Detail image of part of the "Women of the Empire" memorial panels in York Minster.
Photograph © Michael Newbury, May 2016.
Loiusa Jordan died of typhus in Serbia on 6 March 1915, age 36. She is buried in Chela Kula Military Cemetery, and commemorated at Wilton Church Glasgow and on the Buckhaven War Memorial.
The people of Serbia have never forgotten the remarkable courage and self-sacrifice shown by these women and today at Kraguievac they are remembered each year with dedicated ceremony. It is therefore fitting that Sister Louisa Jordan is also remembered in her home city during these difficult times.