Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Christina Violet McCosh-Smith, known as Violet, was born on 16 September 1880 at Naseby, the fifth and youngest daughter of James McCosh Smith and Jane (Jeanie) Agnes née Lumsden. (Her birth was registered as Christina Stewart Smith.) James (born in 1839 at Brechin, Angus, Scotland) and Jane (born in 1845 at Aberdeen) married on 11 January 1871 at Old Machar, Aberdeen, Scotland. They emigrated soon after, the certificates of the Rev. J McCosh Smith, M.A. and B.D. of the Communion of the Free Church of Scotland, being laid on the table on 7 June 1871 and Mr Smith being warmly welcomed by the Presbytery of Dunedin. The Rev. James McCosh Smith was inducted as clergyman of the Presbyterian charge at Naseby (Mt Ida) in October 1871. Nine children were born to James and Jane, one dying soon after birth.

Violet was educated at the Naseby School where in the third quarter of 1891 she was one of the scholars who were at school every time the school was opened. She was awarded a first-class attendance certificate at the Naseby District High School in February 1894. She was again awarded a first-class certificate – for not having missed an attendance during the year – in January 1896. As a child, Violet regularly entered in the Mt Ida Horticultural Society’s show. In 1890 she won second prize in the (children’s) hand bouquet and in 1891 second in the (children’s) floral design. In 1892 it was second prize in the (children’s) native plants, her sister Dora winning first prize. At the Autumn 1892 show, “an extensive collection of native plants, gathered and arranged by Miss Violet Smith, formed an interesting exhibit.” At the annual show in March 1894, “the collections of Native plants were done up with great skill, Miss Violet Smith’s being worked together with quite an artistic eye”, winning her first prize (children’s). “Another exhibit well worthy of mention was a collection of ferns by Mrs M’Cosh Smith.” At a concert in aid of the library fund of the Presbyterian Church Sunday School, held on 26 November 1897, V. Smith contributed to the item “Joy bells”. At a welcome social for a volunteer in the South African War, held in the Presbyterian Church in July 1902, Miss V. Smith sang “The Swallows”. At the meeting of the Mt Ida Social and Debating Club on 30 June 1903, Mrs V. Smith gave a solo, her sister Anne acting as accompanist. She sang “The Swallows” again at the annual social of the Presbyterian Church in October 1903, and she gave an item at the entertainment in the Naseby Town Hall in connection with the visit of the official organiser of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in May 1904. At the annual social of the Presbyterian Church in October 1904, Misses Forgie and V. Smith sang the duet “He wipes the tear from every eye”.

The doctor reported at the August 1903 meeting of the Naseby Hospital trustees that Nurse C. Guffie had left for her new sphere and the new probationer (Miss V. Smith) had taken up her duties on the 17th. It was at Naseby Hospital that Violet received her training and gained her nursing certificate. She passed the State examination in June 1907. Miss V. McCosh Smith, Naseby Hospital, wrote to the Hawera Hospital Board in August 1907, applying for the position of charge nurse in the Hawera Hospital. The application was to be “kept in mind”. In about 1908 Nurse Violet McCosh Smith, from Naseby, moved from Dunedin and took up a position on the Masterton Hospital staff. On 16 January 1912, she was granted extra leave of absence by the Masterton Hospital Trustees, on account of illness in her family. This may have been after her father’s health broke down. Come July 1912, Sister McCosh Smith resigned from the staff of the Masterton Hospital to take up a similar position at Timaru. “Sister McCosh Smith, who has been for 4½ years on the nursing staff of the Masterton Hospital, and who was recently appointed to a similar position in the Timaru Hospital, has been presented by the staff of the local institution with a handsome travelling rug. During her stay in Masterton, Sister McCosh Smith has been held in high esteem by her companions, by the patients, and by the public generally. All will join in wishing her much happiness and success in her new sphere of labour.”

So, from August 1912 Violet McCosh Smith was on the staff of the Timaru Hospital. In November 1914 she took a holiday in Central Otago, surely to visit her family. She had been sister-in-charge of the men’s surgical ward at the Timaru Hospital for two years when she left for Trentham in the first week of July 1915. She had been fortunate enough to gain an appointment on the permanent staff of the New Zealand hospital ship. On a Saturday afternoon in early July 1915, Mrs Walton, Wai-iti Road, gave a pleasant “At home” for Nurses Smith (Violet McCosh-Smith) and Brown, who were leaving New Zealand as nurses for the Imperial Government. Nurse Smith was going to France, where she was quite at home, having spent much time near Liege, and being a fluent French and German scholar. Nurse McCosh-Smith was on the staff of the Timaru Hospital when she left for Trentham. There she gained an appointment on the permanent staff of the New Zealand hospital ship.

Violet M’Cosh-Smith, Naseby, Timaru Hospital Staff, was one of 69 nurses selected for service in the military hospitals who left on 10 July 1915 in the Hospital Ship. In addition, Nurse Violet M’Cosh-Smith (Timaru) had been selected for the staff of the hospital ship. This was the first voyage from New Zealand of Hospital Ship No. 1, the “Maheno”. On enlistment, she named her father as next-of-kin – Rev. James McCosh Smith, Becks, Otago Central. In September Nurse McCosh Smith left the staff of the hospital ship and was transferred to the passenger nurses. She had been very sea-sick and had not felt well since being on the boat.

Staff Nurse Mc Cosh-Smith embarked on the Marquette on 19 October 1915. The staff of No. 1 New Zealand Stationary Hospital was aboard the British transport Marquette which was torpedoed and sunk in the Aegean Sea on 23 October 1915. Ten New Zealand nurses and some male members of the hospital staff were among the missing, believed to be drowned. Fortunately, Nurse McCosh Smith of the Army Nursing Service was among those saved. The Defence Minister was informed that the New Zealand nurses saved from the transport Marquette had been supplied with the immediate necessities of life. They were not in need of financial assistance, each having received £50 to replace her kit. Nurse V. M’Cosh Smith and four others were not immediately fit for duty and, on 15 November 1915, went to the convalescent home at Luxor, Egypt until well. As of December 1915, she was on duty at the Convalescent Home at Luxor. Kai Tiaki of 1 April 1916 gives a more accurate picture of what happened to many of the nurses on that terrible day of the “Marquette” disaster. Sister Sylvia Brown, who for some years worked in the Waipuhuna and Timaru Hospitals and who left for England in September 1915 to offer her services during the war, wrote in December 1915 – “I have heard often from my friend, Sister McCosh Smith at Port Said. She is enjoying the work so much.”

When Sister Agnes Allan was en route to the 32nd General Hospital at Amara, Mesopotamia, where she had been detailed for duty in 1916, she stayed at the Khedivicall Hotel where she found Sister McCosh Smith and four other New Zealand nurses. As of 10 August 1916, there were more than 300 New Zealand trained nurses on military service, either in England or within the jurisdiction of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. V. McCosh Smith was with the Hospital Trains in Egypt, where she had taken up duty on 21 April. She had been seconded for duty in Egypt and went to the 15th General Hospital at Alexandria, Egypt on 26 May 1916. A July 1916 return of members of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service, though far from complete, lists several hundred nurses on service. Staff Nurse Violet McCosh-Smith was at the 15th General Hospital at Alexandria. Violet McCosh-Smith was to be an Army Nursing Sister, one of a large group of nurses so promoted (New Zealand Gazette, 27 July 1916), as announced in General Orders.

It was reported in London on 10 July 1917 that Sister McCosh-Smith and four others of the New Zealand Nursing Service were mentioned in General Sir Archibald Murray’s latest despatches, as recorded in the London Gazette of 6 July 1917. This recognition was for Gallant or distinguished conduct in the field on 18 May 1917. General Sir Archibald Murray was Commander in Chief, Egyptian Expeditionary Force. And in September 1917 she received her promotion in the N.Z.E.F. Under date of July 26, 1918, a London correspondent wrote that Staff-Nurse V. McCosh-Smith, who had been serving in Egypt, had resigned from the N.Z.A.N.S. at her own request, to be married. She was discharged on 5 May 1918 in Egypt and struck off the strength of the N.Z.E.F., being paid in full. News of her marriage, to George Rain Little, was duly reported in the July 1918 issue of Kai Tiaki — On 24th April, by Rev. G. J. Chree, B.D., at St. Andrew’s Church, Cairo, 2nd Lieut. Little, General List, to Christina Violet (Sister, N.Z.A.N.S.), daughter of Rev. James McCosh-Smith, M.A., B.D., Otago Central, New Zealand. Sister McCosh-Smith left New Zealand in 1915, and has been on service in Egypt, latterly in charge of hospital trains, up to the date of her marriage. She was one of the sisters rescued from the torpedoed transport “Marquette.” She is shortly arriving in New Zealand. Sister Elizabeth Wilson, also a survivor of the “Marquette” disaster, wrote from Ismailia where she was still at the stationary hospital, that she had had two days leave to go to sister M'Cosh Smith’s wedding, which took place at St. Andrew's Church, Cairo.

Indeed, Staff-Nurse V. McCosh-Smith, 22/141 (Rev. J. McCosh-Smith, Becks, Otago Central) returned to New Zealand by Draft No. 172 (“Moeraki”) which arrived at Wellington on 27 August 1918. She may have been granted her passage without pay. The deep snow which had lain at Becks for some days in August was probably still evident when Violet arrived home. Her father, who had been an indefatigable and much-admired worker in the extensive Presbyterian charge of Naseby for 38 years, had taken a holding on the subdivided Blackstone Hill Station when he could no longer continue in his ministry, his son managing the place. James McCosh Smith died on 2 May 1918 at Blackstone Homestead, Becks. All the more reason for Violet to visit her family.

Her address was initially given as C/o Mrs McCosh-Smith, 28 Whitby Street, Mornington, Dunedin (her mother), but in November 1923 it was amended to 7 Upper Constitution Street, Dundee, Scotland. At 29 September 1920, it had been care of Mr G. R. Little, National Bank of Scotland, Kilmarnock, Scotland. For her service in the Balkans (Salonika) and in Egypt, Violet was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Mrs C. V. Little acknowledged receipt of two Oak Leaf Emblems on 30 November 1920. Mrs. Little (Sister Violet McCosh-Smith) had a little son, a healthy baby boy, born on 12 February 1919 at Nurse Cupple’s, Dunedin. He was named George Allan Little. Mrs. Little hoped as soon as possible to join her husband, Major Little, in Scotland.

Violet Little maintained her registration after the war, her name - McCOSH-SMITH Violet (Mrs Little), Nurse - recorded in the NZ Government Gazette of 1933. Her mother, Mrs Jane Agnes Smith, died on 29 November 1936 at Dunedin, where she had gone to live with two unmarried daughters after her husband’s death. She was buried with her husband in the cemetery of “dear old Naseby”. In September 1916, Mrs M’Cosh Smith gave £1 to the Becks Patriotic Association (Women’s Branch) for Christmas gifts for soldiers at the Front, as part of a dominion-wide project. Each parcel would contain one woollen comfort — a pair of socks, or a balaclava, or a scarf, — a plum pudding, a .tin of condensed milk, and a tin of sweets, and would be completed by the addition of various odds and ends of a kind that were always acceptable to the soldier on active service.

Christina Violet Smith or Little died on 17 July 1959 at Taybank Bay Road, Wormit, Fife, Scotland, aged 78 years. Her son, a bank clerk, confirmed her death. George Rain Little had died on 24 May 1952 at the same address, his widow (Christina Violet Smith or Little) confirming his death. They were buried at Vicarsford Cemetery, Forgan, Fife, Scotland. Te Papa/Museum of New Zealand holds a linen cloth embroidered with the names of medical staff, nurses and crew of H.M. New Zealand Hospital Ship “Maheno” on her first voyage. There among the names is V McCosh Smith.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database[09 January 2014]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5553 0107322) [12 January 2014]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [18 January 2024]; Evening Star, 7 June 1871, 10 & 28 August 1918, Mount Ida Chronicle, 16 January 1890, 15 January 1891, 1 October 1891, 14 January 1892, 17 March 1892, 16 March 1893, 10 February 1894, 29 March 1894, 30 January 1896, 27 November 1897, 11 July 1902, 3 July 1903, 28 August 1903, 30 October 1903, 27 May 1904, 21 October 1904, 5 November 1915, 4 & 10 May 1918, Hawera & Normanby Star, 20 August 1907, Kai Tiaki: the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, 1 January 1909, 1 October 1915, 1 January 1916, 1 April 1916, 1 July 1916, 1 October 1916, 1 January 1917, 1 October 1917 [x 2], 1 July 1918 [x 2], 1 April 1919, New Zealand Times, 29 July 1912, 8 July 1915, 11 October 1915, 20 November 1915, 30 December 1915, 21 September 1916, 12 August 1918, 25 & 28 September 1918, 2 October 1918, Wairarapa Age, 17 January 1912, 24 July 1912, 12 August 1912, Timaru Herald, 14 November 1914, 10 July 1915, 3 & 17 November 1915, Otago Witness, 7 July 1915, 27 September 1916, 22 May 1918, 17 July 1918, 14 August 1918, North Otago Times, 12 July 1915, 4 November 1915, Poverty Bay Herald, 3 & 20 November 1915, Wairarapa Daily Times, 17 November 1915, Free Lance, 19 November 1915, Ohinemuri Gazette, 22 November 1915, Press, 21 September 1916, 31 August 1917, 4 May 1918, Star, 21 November 1916, 23 September 1918, Otago Daily Times, 4 May 1918, 12 August 1918, 20 February 1919, Evening Post, 6 July 1915, 10 August 1918, 23, 25 & 27 September 1918, New Zealand Herald, 12 August 1918, Dominion, 12 August 1918 (Papers Past) [19 January 2014; 02 & 08 September 2014; 25 August 2015; 05 November 2015; 17 April 2017; 12 & 19 October 2019; 13 January 2020; 17, 18, 19 & 20 January 2024]; UK Probate Indexes (per ancestry.com.au) [5 November 2015]; 18 January 2024]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [05 November 2015; 18 January 2024]; Person search (Museum of New Zealand/Te Papa Collections Online) [05 November 2015]; Vicarsford Cemetery, Scotland headstone image (Find a Grave) [17 January 2024]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

• McCOSH-SMITH Violet - newspaper clippings (pdf, 252.1 KB updated 15-Mar-2024)

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