Beschreibung:

A Great War Civil O.B.E. group of three to Mrs A.D.K.Anderson, Royal Red Cross,The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E., 1st type, Civil Division; Defence Medal; Voluntary Medical Service Medal, with four bars (Amy D.K.Anderson.). Mounted as worn and housed in box with gold lettering of A.D.K.A. embossed on the lid. The suspension loop on the first slightly bent, otherwise extremely fine. (3)FootnotesO.B.E. London Gazette 1.1.1918. With a copy of Waverley Abbey Military Hospital, Farnham, Surrey, as given to Colonel Anderson from Farnham. This booklet has a number of black and white photographs of the facility during WW1. Mrs Amy Anderson became the Commandant of Red Cross Detachment No. 56 in Surrey Division before the war. During the war, the family gave up Waverley Abbey the family home to the government for it to become the Waverley Abbey Military Hospital. It opened in September 1914, thus becoming one of the first country houses to be converted into a military hospital. Amy was appointed as Commandant of the hospital, with her daughters becoming nurses: Misses Amy, Elizabeth, Anne and Margaret. Miss Amy went on to work at the Astoria Hospital in Paris in 1916 until the end of the war. Miss Elizabeth was awarded the Royal Red Cross, 2nd class, for her nursing service during the war. The Andersons' son fought in WW1 becoming Second-Lieutenant Rupert Darnley Switheen Anderson and by 1934 he was a Lieutenant-Colonel. The Anderson family saw more than 1,000 wounded soldiers each year that the military hospital was open, seeing around 5,000 soldiers throughout the entirety of the war. They were visited by members of the royal family in 1916, 1917 and 1918. Whilst Amy was Commandant of Waverley Abbey, Rupert fought in and survived the war. He served as a Major in the 5th Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment and also in the Royal Air Force during the end of the war. He was awarded an O.B.E. in WW1 for his services to the Territorial Army and the Air Force. In January 1918, towards the end of the war, Amy Anderson was also appointed an O.B.E for her help in the upkeep of Waverley Abbey and for her service towards the soldiers that stayed there. In 1919, when the war had ended, Waverley Abbey Hospital was closed. It had been open for 4 and a half years under the care of the Anderson family and to celebrate, they hosted a farewell dinner for the hospital staff. Later that year, Rupert conveyed a part of the Waverley estate to Horace Trimmer, downscaling due to most of his daughters (and his son) marrying and leaving home. By 1931 Amy and Rupert had downscaled even more, expressing in a letter to Lord Farrer of Abinger that 'one cannot afford that kind of amusement' and that they were not 'justified with a large family' any more. Throughout his time in Waverley Abbey, Rupert became integral to the Farnham community. He was the President of the Tilford Institute, Chairman of the managers of the Church of England School, Vicar's warden and he founded Loyal Rupert Anderson Lodge of Oddfellows. Amy Anderson was also at the forefront of town affairs becoming chairwoman of a committee advocating the use of Farnham castle for the Bishop of the Diocese in 1930. Major Rupert Darnley Anderson died on the 23 December 1944, aged 85, from natural causes. He was cremated and his ashes were buried in Tilford churchyard. Mrs Amy Anderson died on the 25h August 1951, aged 84.