A minute paper regarding a nurse who enlisted in the First World War under her maiden name.
About this record
Elsie Cook used her maiden name, ‘Sheppard’, to enlist as a nurse in the First World War because nurses had to be single or widowed to serve. Her husband, George Sydney Cook, also served and, after he was shot, Elsie joined the Red Cross to care for him. He was the son of Joseph Cook, Australia’s Prime Minister from 1913 to 1914.
