Lady Sybil Grey

Lady Sybil Grey OBE (15 July 1882 – 4 June 1966) was a British philanthropist and Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse.

Lady Sybil Grey OBE
Grey in 1915
Born	(1882-07-15)15 July 1882 Northumberland, North East England
Died	4 June 1966(1966-06-04) (aged 83)
Education	Newcastle Royal Infirmary
Spouse(s)	Sir William Middleton, 3rd Baronet
Children	2
Parent	Albert Grey (father)

Early life

Grey was born as the second daughter to Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey, and his wife Alice Holford, the daughter of Robert Stayner Holford. She was raised in Northumberland.^[1] During her time in England, she competed at rifle ranges and horse racing.^[2] In 1904, her family moved to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada where her father would serve as the Governor General of Canada.^[3]

Career

In 1906, Grey and 15 Ottawa women cofounded the Ottawa chapter of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE), a patriotic club to support Canadian troops fighting overseas during the War.^[3] Another part of her efforts during the First World War was serving as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse at a hospital in Northumbria.^[4] She transformed her family home in Northumberland into a hospital to look after 400 patients during the war.^[5]

In October 1915, Grey moved to Russia to establish an Anglo-Russian Hospital with Lady Muriel Paget, which would go on to treat 8,000 Russian soldiers over two years.^[5] She co-founded the Red Cross hospital with Lady Muriel Paget from 1915-1918, despite The British Journal of Nursing (BJN) dismissing their efforts due to their lack of experience.^[6] In the first year the hospital was open, the admitted few injured and wounded men, but experienced an uptake in February 1916.^[7] During her stay at the Russian field hospital, she suffered a facially injury as a result of a hand grenade. However, she continued her nursing efforts and eventually spent nearly a year in France leading the Women’s Legion.^[8] However, by 1917, she returned to England to stay with her dying father and worked at the Dorchester House.^[1] Grey once again returned to the front line of the war efforts soon after and married Lambert Middleton.^[9]

She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire at the 1918 Birthday Honours for her efforts during the war.^[10][11]

Further reading

• Lady Sybil: Empire, War and Revolution
• The Forgotten Hospital

References

1. "THIS MONTH IN HISTORY - LADY SYBIL GREY". livingnorth.com. July 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
2. "Lady Sybil Grey". Dauphin Herald. Manitoba, Dauphin. 7 September 1916. 
3. Janet Uren (7 January 2020). "Continuing a legacy – 113 years at IODE Laurentian Chapter". ottawalife.com. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
4. "Lady Sybil Grey: a lady in the line of fire". historyextra.com. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
5. White, Vikki (11 November 2018). "How aristocrat joined Red Cross in WW1 by transforming family home into hospital". Mirror. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
6. Lyons, Izzy (8 March 2018). "War efforts of two aristocratic women have been "hugely overlooked", says British Red Cross". Telegraph. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
7. "Lady Sybil Grey: Empire, War and Revolution" (PDF). aahn.net. 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
8. Rae, Helen (27 May 2014). "Historic Northumberland woman will feature in special BBC World War One project". Evening Chronicle. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
9. "Fascinating story of the life and times of Lady Sybil Grey". Northumberland Gazette. 26 December 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
10. "No. 30730". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 June 1918. p. 6701.
11. Fraser, Alexandra (19 November 2019). "Ten stately homes which became hospitals during the First World War". countrylife.co.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2020.