uniforms

The primary role of a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) member was that of nursing orderly in hospitals, carrying out menial but essential tasks - scrubbing floors, sweeping, dusting and cleaning bathrooms and other areas, dealing with bedpans, and washing patients. They were not employed in military hospitals, except as ward and pantry maids; rather, they worked in Red Cross convalescent and rest homes, canteens, and on troop trains. The role of VADs did not significantly evolve between the wars. VADs in the Second World War were given more medical training, but they were not fully qualified nurses. They worked in convalescent hospitals, on hospital ships and the blood bank as well as on the home front. In 1943, the government created the Australian Women's Auxiliary Service (AWAS) to control the large numbers of VADs employed by the military. In 1967, the VAD movement became known as the Voluntary Aid Service Corps (VASC). Source: www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/vad

Bizarre story ... ... In Watty Cox’s Irish magazine for February 1816 there was a vivid account of the punishment of a woman at Geneva Barracks in 1798. Mrs O’Neill travelled from Co Antrim to see her son who was imprisoned at the barracks. By bribing sentries she was permitted an interview but as soon as mother and son saluted each other, she was ordered into the presence of Colonel Scott and his wife. The couple subjected her to a rigorous examination and then handed her over to highlanders for a “blanketing”. Blanketing was a common punishment where the soldiers would grab a blanket, strip the victim naked and hoist them in the air repeatedly. Mrs O’Neill suffered this indignity for more than 20 minutes. She implored soldiers to leave some clothes on but when Colonel Scott saw this departure from custom his wife encouraged him to cut off her clothes with his sword. Locals saw her naked body repeatedly rising and falling above the walls of the barracks. Afterwards the woman was taken to Passage East where she died the next day. The fate of her son was not recorded. ... From - woollydays.wordpress.com/2016/06/27/the-story-of-new-gene...

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Geneva Barracks at wikipedia. The barracks gradually fell into disuse in the years following the end of the Napoleonic Wars and were finally closed in 1824.

Marked as In Ruins on the 1830s OSI 6".

Google maps aerial view.

She was the last sail only warship designed and built by the U.S. navy and is still afloat as a museum ship in Baltimore, Maryland. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constellation_(1854) Interesting part of the Wikipedia article is: After returning to New York, she was modified to carry a large cargo of food and other supplies to Ireland for the relief effort for the 1879 Irish famine. To accommodate as much food as possible, some of the ship's guns were removed, along with some of her ballast. She was able to carry more than 2,500 barrels of flour and potatoes. She left the United States in March 1880 and arrived in Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland on 20 April, where she sent the food ashore, took on ballast, and returned to the United States, arriving in June.

28 April 1880 was a Wednesday ...

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Some nice engravings here which lead me to believe the moody looking chap front and center is Prince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, also the Duke of Edinburgh. Would Captain Potter be the happy chappy to the left with the sword? www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explor...

Read All About It! Via Trove ... " ... The American frigate Constellation, with supplies for the suffering Irish, arrived at Queenstown on the 20th ult. Her cargo was distributed at different stations on the south and west coast of Ireland by British gunboats. The Duke of Edinburgh visited the vessel on the 25th. Addresses were presented to the captain and officers by the Cork branch of the Land League, the people of Queenstown, and by the Nationalists. Captain Potter refused to receive the address of the people of Queenstown until the political passages were expunged. His wishes were complied with. He received the address of the Nationalists, with the name of Doran at the head of the list of signers, on the assurance that it contained nothing of a political nature, but it concluded with the words, "God save Ireland." Captain Potter, on reading it, was taken by surprise, and curtly replied, "Thank you," which disappointed the deputation. After some opposition, in consequence of the famine-stricken condition of Ireland, the citizens of Queenstown decided to give a banquet to the officers of the frigate. The Cork Yacht Club gave a luncheon to the Duke of Edinburgh on the 26th, at which Captain Potter was present. The officers of the frigate were also honoured on their visit to Dublin; an arch of flags, in which the stars and stripes predominated, was thrown across the street in front of the Mansion-House. Captain Potter was presented with the freedom of the city. ..." From - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/160133841?searchTerm=c...