Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Alice Clara Searell, born on 18 January 1883 at Christchurch, was the second daughter of Richard Trist and Mary (née Ellis) Searell (or Trist Searell). Alice was educated first at Mrs Coleman’s Private School, transferring to Christchurch Normal School in February 1892. She was back at Mrs Coleman’s School in 1898, receiving prizes for first in Latin and second in science. Her sisters Ethel and Gladys also featured in the prize list. At an exhibition of a varied collection of works of art and industry, held in October 1889 in the Durham Street Wesleyan schoolroom, Alice Searell was awarded an extra prize in the children’s plain sewing category and second prize for fancy work. At the closing of the Band of Hope annual musical and elocutionary contests at the beginning of October 1897, the trophies (mostly in the form of books) were presented. Alice and her older sister Edith, of Durham Street Methodist, were recognised for their piano duet, Class C. Edith was also recognised for her piano solo, as was their youngest sister Gladys. Miss Alice Searell, who was knocked down by a restive horse whilst riding her bicycle on the Papanui Road in November 1897, though much bruised, was progressing favourably. Was this Alice Clara or her aunt, Harriet Alice Searell, known as Alice?

Among the nurses who passed the preliminary State examination in anatomy and physiology in June 1908 was Miss Alice Searell, eighteenth equal in the order of merit: In 1909, she was one of six nurses trained at Timaru Hospital who were successful in passing the State examination (June 9th and 10th) of nurses for registration. Miss Alice C. Searell, late of the Timaru Hospital, was appointed nurse in the Southland institution in August 1909. “She has passed all the examinations with very great credit, and her addition to the already capable staff should prove acceptable.” She was appointed District Nurse from Southland Hospital in October 1910. “Staff-Nurse Searell, of the Southland Hospital, who was some months ago appointed District Nurse for Southland, will take up her duties on the 25th inst. A telephone is being connected with her house in Yarrow street, and she will be at the call of those requiring her services. Medical men or the public seeing the necessity for the nurse’s services will communicate at once with the nurse or the Board’s office in Tay street. Her services will be free to those unable to pay, and later on free medical attendance will also be given to charitable aid cases who are unable to attend at the Hospital. The public are asked to do all they can in assisting the nurse in her work, and promptly notifying urgent cases. Nurse Searell’s long experience and training both here and at Timaru, where she passed highly successful examinations, will fit her for the work she has undertaken. As convenient she will also attend urgent outlying cases, and instruct the residents in attending to cases.”

In July 1914 at Invercargill, Nurse Searell, representing the Territorials, came third in the Carnival Queen election. In mid-August, “the members of the Territorial Queen Carnival Committee waited on District Nurse Searell, the Territorial Candidate, and presented her with a beautiful enlarged photo of herself as Britannia, Queen of Nations, which position Nurse Searell occupied during the recent Carnival. It is interesting to note the results of this committee, which was formed to further the return of the Territorial Queen. Nurse Searell has offered her services as nurse in the expeditionary force, and the committee are at present arranging concerts to raise funds to assist the force.” For more than four years, District Nurse Searell had been very busy and her work very valuable and much appreciated amongst the poorer classes in town, particularly in winter. In January 1915, A. C. Searell subscribed £1.1s to the fund to establish a base hospital at the Trentham military camp. A week later she gave the same to the Southland Motor Ambulance fund. Early in February 1915, Miss A. Searell, N.Z.R.N., communicated with the Officer Commanding R.N.Z.A Depot in Wellington, partly regarding her brother’s application to enlist, and also regarding her situation. Lewis Trist Searell had volunteered and in February 1915 was in Egypt. “Kindly pardon me for mentioning another subject. I am a registered Nurse and on Aug 14th offered my service to the Defence Department at In’gill. They in turn sent my name on to Wellington. Can you inform me if my name was sent to the Matron-in-Chief from there. We understand that Southland is not represented by her Nurses and naturally feel slighted. Trusting for a reply at your earlier convenience.” There being no record of Miss Searell’s offer of service, the Matron-in-Chief (N.Z. Army Nursing Service Reserve, C/o Department of Public Health, Wellington) was asked to communicate with her.

In February 1915, Nurse Alice Searell, from Timaru, was selected for the first contingent of fifty New Zealand nurses to be sent, under the direction of the British War Office, for service at the front in the Army Service Corps. “Nurse Searell will be greatly missed, for she is doing valuable work amongst the poorer classes in town, and her services have been greatly appreciated, particularly in winter time.” [Southern Cross. 20 Feb 1915.] Nurse Alice Searell was the guest at several farewell functions at Invercargill in March. The members of the Invercargill Girls’ Hockey Club presented to her as a token of their good wishes, a pair of field glasses. She had been associated with the club for some years and has been a very valuable member, “but is now compelled to relinquish that association as her services have been accepted by the Defence Department, and she is shortly to leave for the front.” The hope was expressed that she “would in due time return to her many friends in Invercargill.” At the annual meeting of the Southland Ladies’ Hockey Association a few days later, it was recorded that “Southland loses an enthusiastic and capable player by the departure of Nurse Searell, who is leaving to do military hospital work with the troops on active service abroad. Miss Searell has been in the first rank of players for years past, has won representative honours on several occasions, and has captained the Southland team in interprovincial contests. The good wishes of the Association and of all players go with her on her noble mission.” Next, she was entertained by the Territorial officers. To the toast proposed, Nurse Searell replied in a short, but very appropriate speech, which was loudly applauded. Nurses Searell and O’Shea were the winners of a guessing competition, the replies being military terms. Songs and a recitation were contributed and at the conclusion of the very pleasant gathering cheers were given for Mrs Searell and Nurse Searell.

“Wherever her higher officers put her, her thoughts will stray back to this part of the world, and she feels sure that your thoughts will be with her and that when she comes back you will be here to welcome her.” These words were uttered by Dr Ritchie Crawford on the Invercargill railway station on 26 March 1915 when about one hundred and fifty people had gathered to bid au revoir to Nurse Searell, who left by the second express en route for the front, where she was to enter upon her duties as a nurse with the troops. Colonel Henderson said that when the Defence authorities asked for applications for the positions of nurses there was a very large response from the ladles engaged in that profession. Out of the nurses to be appointed Southland’s quota was three, and Nurse Searell was the first to go to the front. The token of the Territorial forces’ esteem took the form of a purse of sovereigns. He asked that God’s blessing would rest on her and assured her that when she got back she would receive the warmest welcome. The Mayoress presented Nurse Searell with a cheque from the Patriotic Committee and a cushion from the ladies’ committee. At the call of Colonel Henderson cheers were given for the first nurse to leave Southland for the seat of war.

Attesting on 6 April 1915 at Wellington, Alice Searell was engaged in district nursing at Invercargill, was single and of Church of England affiliation; she named her mother as next-of-kin – Mrs Mary Searell, Invercargill. Mrs Searell was later C/o Mr H. Featherstone, Manager Bak of N.Z., Kaikoura (her son-in-law). Alice Clara Searell was medically examined on 6 April 1915. Just 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighing 117 pounds, she was of dark complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. Her sight, hearing, colour vision, heart and lungs were all normal, her teeth good. She had not been ill except for fever (scarlet?), was free from skin disease, and was vaccinated. In good bodily and mental health, she was fit for active service. Nurse Alice Clara Searell embarked with the New Zealand Army Nursing Service Corps on 8 April 1915 at Wellington per the “Rotorua”, on her way destined for London, England, for Active Service Abroad. In mid-May 1915, Nurse A. C. Searell of Timaru and Invercargill, and others of the nursing service were among the callers at the High Commissioner’s offices in London.

Before long, she was stationed at No. 15 General Hospital, Alexandria. I believe Nurse Searell is at Alexandria in one of the hospitals, wrote a Southland letter-writer in October 1915, and also a Christchurch Bandsman. Another Southland serviceman wrote from the General Hospital at Alexandria, under date 7 December 1915 – “I struck it very lucky when I came in here, for who should be in charge of the tent I am in but Nurse Searell from Invercargill. She knows a lot of the boys at our camp.” Mrs Searell received word at the beginning of February 1916, that her daughter, Nurse Searell, had left Alexandria for England in the hospital ship “Gascon”. She left on duty on the “Gascon” on 20 October 1915 and again on 21 March 1916. The mid-1916 return listed Sister A. C. Searell as serving on the Hospital Ship “Gascon”. Alice Clara Searell was to be Sister as of 17 April 1916; 22/42 Staff Nurse A. C. Searell to be Sister from 1 July 1916 to complete establishment; and then an Army Nursing Sister, one of a large group of nurses so promoted (dated 27 July 1916), as announced in General Orders. 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. A. C. Searell was at the 31st General Hospital, Port Said, from 23 June 1916. On 30 September 1916, she embarked at Alexandria on Hospital Ship “Braemar Castle” for Mudros for transfer to Hospital Ship “Brittanic”.

Writing to her people in late 1916, Sister Searell stated that she had just been transferred (11 October 1916) from Port Said to the No. 1 N.Z. General Hospital at Brockenhurst, and “was feeling considerably cooler than at her previous station, where the temperature was frequently 120 degrees in the shade. Having been taken on Strength at Hornchurch, she was detailed “On Command” to Brockenhurst on 12 October. On her voyage Home Sister Searell was a passenger, at different times, on quite a number of boats, no less than three of which were torpedoed soon after the Sister left them.” The New Zealand troops who were the inmates of the No. 1 New Zealand General Hospital at Brockenhurst on Christmas Day, 1916, had no reason to complain of the treatment meted out to them whatever may have been the fate of their comrades who partook of Christmas dinner in the front-line trenches. Writing to her mother, Mrs Searell, of Yarrow street, Sister Searell, of Invercargill, encloses a copy of the menu for Wards 1 and 2 at the hospital; and a glance down the list should serve to convince anxious and worrying mothers that their boys were well cared for on Christmas Day. . . . . . The dining ward was prettily decorated in imitation of a New Zealand Christmas Day and numbers of the men declared that the Yuletide of 1916 was the happiest which they had ever spent. It was in February 1917 that Mrs R. Trist Searell had word that Nurse Searell had been transferred to No. 1 N.Z. General Hospital, Brockenhurst. In her letter, Alice suggested that “larger bed-jackets would be very much more convenient, with dome fasteners down top of sleeve and shoulder or under sleeve and under arms.” They were also short of white caps for head cases. Probably “you have people who have made dozens of them. They have several seams to give them shape, are split up for a few inches at the back, and a strip of calico is attached to act as a bandage to keep the cap firm on the head. These are also most convenient for stumps.”

On 19 July 1917 Sister Charistina Gibbon, of Riverton, and Captain T. Fergus were married at St Columba’s Church, Kensington, England, Sister Searell being bridesmaid. A sister of Nurse Alice Searell, Mrs Edith Walton, who was residing in Northumberland, was also present at the wedding. A photograph belonging to Mrs Searell which excited a great deal of interest could be seen in the window of the Red Cross shop in Dee Street, Invercargill, in early August 1917. It was of the staff of No. 1 General Hospital, Brockenhurst, and included in the very large group were two Invercargillites – Dr Hogg and Nurse Searell. Alice herself was admitted to the 1st New Zealand General Hospital at Brockenhurst, from the staff, on 6 September 1917, afflicted with dyspepsia; she was discharged to sick leave on 16 September and returned to duty at Brockenhurst on 27 September. She was a sister at the N.Z. General Hospital, Brockenhurst, when her brother, Driver Lewis Trist Searell, was transferred there in November 1917. Lewis who had embarked with the Maid Body in October 1914, had been gassed. Towards the end of 1917, she wrote home of her experiences in air raids in London. “It is pitiful to see the poor people, in the underground tubes, and when the alarm is given there is a great rush to cover. The raids are only hardening the people up to making them more determined than ever to see it through.” Sister Alice Searell was in Ireland sometime in mid-1918 with a party of nurses on holiday leave. Going into an hotel for dinner, they saw two N.Z. soldiers’ caps in the hall. Curious to find out who were the owners, they discovered they were two Invercargill men. They had a pleasant reunion, spending a good time in the “Old Dart”. Nurse Searell was still on Strength at the NZ General Hospital when she was admitted to hospital again on 17 October 1918, then boarded for 14 days sick leave from 26 October. Final leave from 18 January 1919 to 31 January was extended to 7 February when she returned to duty at No. 1 NZ General Hospital.

Come mid-March 1919, after an absence of four years and having done hospital work in more than one institution in England, Sister Searell was preparing to leave for New Zealand on duty on the “Ionic”, which was due about the 23 April after leaving London on 14 March. Examined on board the “Ionic”, she was suffering from no disability due to Military Service. She had seen service in Egypt and on board several transports, and for the last two years had been attached to the Brockenhurst Hospital staff. Her mother went up to Dunedin to meet her. “Sister Searell has done noble work at the front, and her many friends are proud and glad to welcome her back.” 22/42 sister Alice Clara Searell, A.R.R.C., Rotorua Military Hospital, was discharged on 1 February 1920, being Struck off the Strength of the N.Z. Expeditionary Force and reposted to the N.Z. Army Nursing Service, being transferred to the Active Territorial List. She was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

On 26 June 1919, Sister Searell left Invercargill to take up duties at the Military Hospital, Dunedin. In March 1920 she left for Rotorua to take up military duties. An investiture was held at Government House on 9 June 1920, when a large number of officers and sisters were invested by His Excellency, the Governor-General with their decorations, Sister Alice Clara Searell recognised with the Royal Red Cross, 2nd class (A.R.R.C.). After the investiture Her Excellency Dame the Countess of Liverpool entertained the sisters at morning tea. The award of the Royal Red Cross in recognition of valuable nursing services in connection with the war was notified in London on 31 July 1919. Alice acknowledged receipt of the Decoration and understood “that in the event of it being lost, stolen or destroyed, the cost of replacement will not be a charge against the public.”

A very successful military plain and fancy dress dance was held at the King George Hospital, Rotorua, in October 1920. The second prize winner for the ladies was Sister Searell, “Hot-water bag” – green body and rubber-coloured funnel with a stopper on the head. As from 1 September 1920, Sister Alice Clara Searell, A.R.R.C., was promoted to the rank of Charge Nurse on her appointment as Assistant Matron, King George V Military Hospital, Rotorua. She had been recommended for the position of Assistant Matron in August. A member of the N.Z. Army Nursing Service and Temporary Reserve, she was transferred to the Reserve at 20 October 1921. In late 1924, Sister Searell, A.R.R.C., was appointed Acting-matron for three months, of King George V. Hospital. Then in January 1925 she was appointed matron. Matron Searell represented Rotorua Hospital at the conference in June 1927. In 1928 Miss Searell subscribed to the Nurses’ Memorial Fund. In the same year, she showed the same kindness and care for her little hospital patients as she had shown to her patients as a district nurse prior to the war and to the many she cared for during her war service abroad. She responded so nicely to a newspaper correspondent’s idea for helping the little ones. Appointed to the Active List on 6 February 1928, 22/42 Miss A. C. Searell, A.R.R.C., matron, King George V Hospital, Rotorua, was to attend the Narrow Neck Cam from 6 to 11 February inclusive, and would be issued he necessary Railway Warrant. As of 25 January 1929, Sister A. C. Searell, A.R.R.C., from the Reserve List of the N.Z. Army Nursing Service was to be Sister. She had to apologise when a meeting of trained nurses, interested in forming a branch of the N.Z. Trained Nurses’ Association was held in the Recreation Room of the Waikato Hospital’s New Nurses’ Home on 27 November 1929.

In May 1933, Miss Alice Searell was found taking part in a play reading (“Sweet Lavender”) for the reading circle of the Rotorua Women’s Club. Alice also played bridge, winning second prize at a bridge party in early March 1934. A jolly dance, bridge and “500” party were organised by the staff of the King George V. Hospital - Miss A. C. Searell to the fore – in mid-March 1934, “to return the many hospitalities received by the staff, and also as a fitting farewell ceremony before the hospital passes into the hands of the new management at the end of the month.” A few days later, a bridge party was given in honour of Miss Searell who was leaving Rotorua soon. An out-of-doors afternoon tea party was given by Miss Searell and a friend at the Nurses’ Home, King George V Hospital, tea being served under the trees among flowering shrubs. Miss Searell was the winner of a novel drawing competition at another afternoon in her honour. And a tennis party was given in the Government Gardens in honour of Miss A. C. Searell. Come the end of March and Miss Searell left Rotorua for Auckland. Her position as Matron and her address as King George V. Hospital, Alice C. Searell applied for enrolment in the New Zealand Army Nursing Service on 14 December 1933. She noted in a letter dated 30 October 1933 that she had not applied for enrolment in the new service, “as I thought I was still in the service – having recently been on duty in the Territorial Camp at Narrow Neck.” She did not know, therefore, what status she held. She had had 3 months sick leave in 1932 and was now feeling very well after an operation. “Having reached retiring age for Assistant Matrons, a position of Matron only is now open to me.” If she was considered eligible for a Matron’s position, she wanted to get the necessary information for the qualifying examination.

The New Zealand Gazette of 16 August 1934 recorded that Miss A. C. Searell, Sister, A.R.R.C. (N.Z. Army Nursing Service), had been transferred to the Reserve List, effective from 23 April 1934. It was notified on 5 November 1934 that Miss A. Searell had obtained 136 marks (exceptional merit) in the examination for the N.Z. Army Nursing Service, and her enrolment had been accepted. She was appointed Military Matron at the Public Hospital, Auckland, in April 1935. On 22 June 1939, Alice Searell was posted to the Retired List, with permission to retain her rank and wear the prescribed uniform.

An article in the Rotorua Daily Post of 4 November 1961 was headed “Alice Searell Returns After 27 Years”. “A little old lady wandered wide-eyed through the Rotorua Hospital this week. . . . . . For her, the visit was the highlight of her holiday in Rotorua, and a memory she will treasure. . . . . . .” Since her retirement, Alice had led an active life – a member of the Returned Sisters Club; holding bridge parties at her home, and gardening. On 30 October 1963, (Sister) Alice C. Searell wrote from 7 Tirohanga Ave, Remuera to Army Headquarters in Wellington. Will you kindly assemble miniature medals of the following: - Royal Red Cross, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal. Enclosed were Postal Notes to the value of £1.12.6 (which covered the individual costs and registered mail). Yours faithfully. PS Am I asking too much for you to make this urgent? Thanking you. Alice Clara Searell died on 28 July 1975 at Auckland, of Caughey Preston Home, Remuera, Auckland, aged 92 years, and was cremated at Purewa. Alice outlived her three sisters and one brother. She had drawn up her Will in 1971, appointing her niece, Sarah Isobel Hawkins (née Walton) and an Auckland solicitor as executors and trustees. Her niece, however, died 3½ weeks before Alice. Her nephew Trist Lee Walton swore as to Alice’s death date and place. Alice made monetary bequests to Tristine Mary Boyce (niece, née Searell), to Sarah Isobel Hawkins (niece, now deceased), to Lewis Trist Searell (presumably her brother who died in 1974), and to the Returned Army Nursing Sisters Association Incorporated (for general purposes), to St Aidans’s Church (Remuera, for general purposes). Residue was to be divided between Joan Blanche Reddell (niece, née Featherstone), John Featherstone Reddell (presumably son of Joan) and Sarah Isobel Hawkins. She directed that her body be cremated.

Her only brother, Lewis Trist Searell, who also served in World War One, died on 4 May 1974, his ashes interred at Pyes Pa, Tauranga. Their father, Richard Trist Searell, died very suddenly on 14 August 1909 at Invercargill. He was very well known in music circles there, and nation-wide, especially as the organist of St Paul’s Methodist Church and as conductor of the Municipal Band. He had just started to conduct the band at a practice when he sat down and almost immediately fell back unconscious; he died instantaneously. He was buried in the Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill. It was about August 1909 that Alice moved from Timaru to Invercargill. Mr and Mrs Searell and some of their family had moved from Christchurch to Invercargill in about 1906. In the early 1920s Mrs Mary Searell and her youngest daughter, Gladys, moved to Auckland. Mary died on 2 July 1926 at the Remuera home of her daughter Edith Walton and was buried in Purewa Cemetery. At this time Alice was at King George V. Hospital, Rotorua. Mrs Searell had been an ardent supporter of the Red Cross Society and the Plunket Society. Gladys who lived with Alice in Auckland in the 1940s, died in 1948 and was buried with her mother. All four Searell daughters are buried in Auckland.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [09 January 2014]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives ref. AABK 18805 W5553 0102946) [21 October 2016]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Collections – Record number 0529248) [25 April 2024]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [23 April 2024]; School Admission record (Canterbury Branch NZSG) [29 July 2014]; Purewa Cremation record [29 July 2014; online 23 April 2024]; Lyttelton Times, 23 October 1889, 25 November 1897, 16 August 1909, Press, 21 September 1916, 5 May 1925, Star, 25 June 1908, Kai Tiaki: the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, 1 July 1909, 1 April 1915 [x 2], 1 July 1915, 1 July 1916, 1 October 1916, 1 July 1917, 1 October 1917, 1 April 1919, 1 April 1920, 1 July 1920, 1 January 1925, 1 April 1925, 1 October 1925, 1 July 1927, 1 January 1929, 1 November 1929, Timaru Herald, 8 July 1909, 30 March 1915, Southland Times, 17 August 1909, 17 October 1910, 26 January 1915, 4 February 1915, 23, 25, 27 & 29 March 1915, 7 July 1915, 31 December 1915, 21 January 1916, 9 February 1916, 13 December 1916, 21 February 1917, 16 March 1917, 7 August 1917, 11& 28 April 1919, 27 June 1919, 13 March 1920, 10 July 1926, Otago Witness, 18 August 1909, 7 May 1919, Southern Cross, 21 August 1909, 1 & 15 August 1914, 20 February 1915, 23 October 1915, 10 March 1917, 29 September 1917, 17 November 1917, 29 December 1917, 26 October 1918, 8 March 1919, 12 & 26 April 1919, 28 February 1920, Lake County Press, 13 August 1914, Sun, 17 February 1915, Ashburton Guardian, 17 February 1915, Otago Daily Times, 17 February 1915, 1 March 1915, 9 April 1915, New Zealand Times, 7 April 1915, 24 November 1915, 21 September 1916, Star, 2 October 1915, 21 November 1916, Evening Star, 23 September 1916, Dominion, 20 November 1916, Evening Post, 14 April 1919, Auckland Star, 25 October 1920, 11 May 1921, 26 January 1925, 3 July 1926, Stratford Evening Post, 21 January 1925, NZ Herald, 16 April 1926, 2 February 1928, 13 October 1928, 6 May 1933, 5, 17, 24 & 26 March 1934 (Papers Past) [15, 16, 17, 19 & 20 April 2017; 27 December 2017; 12 & 19 October 2019; 23 November 2021; 22 & 23 November 2023; 23 & 24 April 2024]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [29 July 2014; 23 April 2024]; Probate record (Archives NZ Collections – Record number P2910/1975) [25 April 2024]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

• SEARELL Alice Clara - newspaper clippings (pdf, 251.6 KB updated 16-May-2024)

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