new zealand society of genealogists nelson branch est...

New Zealand Society of Genealogists NELSON BRANCH

est. 1973

WORLD WAR ONE COMMEMORATION PROJECT NELSON NURSES of WORLD WAR ONE Biography of Marietta Victorina van AERDE

Belgium Red Cross Nurse Full Name: Marietta Victorina van AERDE Birth: 2 December 1888 or 1889, Antwerp, Belgium Marriage: Charles Augustin SOMERS, George Edward DIXON, Henry Stanley HULL Death: 1 July 1980, Motueka, Nelson

Marietta taken 1916

Prepared by: Cheryl Carnahan Date Completed: Jan 2014

Marietta Victorina van Aerde

New Zealand Society of Genealogists NELSON BRANCH, WORLD WAR ONE NURSES COMMEMORATION PROJECT, 1 August 2014 Marietta Victorina van Aerde page 2 of 14

Marietta Victorina Somers nee van AERDE1

In a newspaper dated 2 October 1916 is a photo of Maria Somers with the report

Sister Maria Somers, a brave Belgium Nurse known as “The Angel of Antwerp”, has been presented with two medals in recognition of her saving of the lives of three Royal Marines recently. One medal, the Order of King Leopold 11 was presented to her by King Albert of Belgium, while the other, the Militaire war cross, was conferred on her by General Konings of the Belgium Army.

Reported in an unknown newspaper dated 2 October 1916.



Chronology

2 December 1888 (or 1889) Born Antwerp, Belgium 28 Oct 1908 Baptism or birth of son Victor Aldolphus François Somers 1914 On the staff of a hospital in Antwerp, Belgium Aug- Oct 1914 Rescued three British marines from a burning hospital in Antwerp; shot in the

neck, whipped, stabbed, cut, starved, and imprisoned by German troops 1916 Awarded L”Ordre de Leopold 11 and Militaire War Cross 6 February 1919 Married George Edward Dixon in Essex, England 9 May 1922 Passport states travelled to UK on Tainui 1922 NZ passport application 1922 Immigrates to New Zealand 1923 Husband George Dixon dies about March 1923

2.

1924 Remarries to Stan Hull

Origins

Marietta Victorina van Aerde was born in the suburb of Berchem Antwerp, Belgium, one of four children born to Frans Joename van Aerde and Celestine nee Parfondevaux on 2 December 1888 or 1889. The other children were Terrese, Seraphine and Pauline and a brother Alexander. Frans, her father’s occupation was given as a gentleman on Maria’s marriage certificate

3.

Nothing further has been discovered about her early life

4.

Nursing Training

Nurse Edith Cavell a London trained nurse, set up the only school of nurse training in Belgium in Brussels in 1907. Nurses were not accepted into the training programme if they were married. The nurses were required to sign on for five years; 3 years for training and two for nursing in the service of the School. Edith based her School on the teaching and practice of her old Matron in England, Eva Luckes, and turned to her for support

5. Knowing that Edith Cavell set up the first school of nursing in Belgium in 1907 it

is almost certain that Maria was not a trained nurse, but a Red Cross nurse. Maria’s son Victor was born in 1908, and we presume Maria was married to Charles Somers at this time, thus making her ineligible for training at the only school of nursing in Antwerp. The photo is of Maria in a Red Cross uniform. Maria however is recorded as a friend

6 of Edith Cavell

7 who was shot by the Germans in October 1915 for

helping English airmen escape Belgium to safety. Maria, in her written notes says she was nursing in the same hospital as Edith Cavell, but when war broke out Maria was transferred to Antwerp.

First Marriage

Maria married Charles Somers, probably in Belgium and had a son born 24 October 1908, named Victor Adolf Franscois Somers

8. Maria’s first husband Charles Somers was killed within two weeks of enlisting

for WW19.

The War Years

IN THE HANDS OF THE HUN NURSE'S TERRIBLE ORDEAL10

. Christchurch, September 26. After rescuing three "British marines from a burning hospital in Antwerp, and being, shot in the neck by Germans, Madame Marie Dixon, nee Somers, a Belgian nurse, who was known as "the angel of Antwerp," and who is now in Christchurch, escaped with her rescued soldiers to Ostend, returning to her hospital at Antwerp. She was taken by the Germans and subjected to such brutalities as only Huns would mete out to women, being whipped, stabbed, and cut, half starved, and imprisoned. She came to the Dominion by the" troopship Corinthic as the bride of a New Zealand soldier. Staff-sergeant G. E. Dixon, of Christchurch. The Belgian lady recounted to a Sun reporter a story which, in itself, is as great an indictment of German brutality as the epic of Edith Cavell who, by the way, was a friend of Mrs Dixon. Her story is fully authenticated. She recounts one experience she had near Ostend. "I was paraded



before the Commandant, who demanded to know where the four boys (the British soldiers I. had been succouring') were. 'I do not know,' I replied. 'They were not Belgians,' he said, 'but British.' If you do not speak and tell me I will whip you until you do.' 'If you want to know,' I replied, 'They were British - ' 'Gott strafe England,' he said. 'If it had been Belgians it would have been different, but British. You dirty hound. You shall suffer. Where are they? I give you two minutes time to think it over.' Another Uhlan general stood over me with a horsewhip. I became afraid. 'Gnadige fraulein, will you speak now?' he asked. .'No,' I replied. They tore the clothes off my back and pushing me into the centre of the room, whipped me unmercifully. I. fainted. On coming to they asked: 'Are you satisfied now?' 'No.' I replied, 'I will never tell you.' They dragged the diamond ear rings I was wearing from my ears, tearing the lobes as you see, and tore the rings from my fingers. They rushed me into a cell until I should decide to tell. 'Please don't think,' I said, 'that I shall ever tell, because I won't. Kill me.' 'No,' said the general, 'you shall suffer like a dirty swine. A long time after he said: If you do not tell what you know we will drown you, saying which he smashed the water pipes running over the top of my cell and allowed the water to pour in. In, Belgian houses we have, however, water meters after the style of your English gas meters, and at length I was able to turn off the water from running in, not before it had come up as far as my knees. I stayed in this water for a day and night without food, when my tormentor reappeared and said that he had changed his mind. Would I now become a Red Cross' nurse and render assistance to German wounded? 'I never will be a nurse for murderers,' I replied. He merely laughed and said: 'If you don't want to be a nurse will you go to Berlin as my wife?' 'You and the money you stole from the Belgian people could not tempt me,' I said. He came to the edge of the water and tried to embrace me, but I struggled and repulsed him, shielding my face with my right arm. The man then drew a short sword he was carrying and slashed me through the hand and cheek, knocking out one of my teeth. You can see the marks here and here. I reeled back, and as I turned from him he stabbed me in the back with his sword. I still suffer from the effects of that thrust. He left, me dying, and I stayed in that water-logged cellar for nine clays, existing on rice and water. One sentinel was sorry for me. He had married a British woman in Belgium, and his sympathies were not with the Germans. One night he gave a fellow sentry a bottle of champagne, making him drunk, and gave me the man's overcoat, enabling me to escape."

Maria on the right with her son Victor and her two sisters (Seraphine and Pauline)

Possibly take about 1914.

Nadine Shuttleworth, grand daughter of Maria.



We take up Maria’s story again. The sentry said “You are safe, there is a train starting

from Dueiguan” I had not had a wash with soap or combed my hair for a fortnight, and of course was barefooted. The goods train loaded with old clothes, kit bags, horses and cows was just starting when I slipped aboard. Ultimately I arrived in Ghent which was occupied by British soldiers. At that time I did not speak English and all I could say was “M’s’ieu one Belgium Blessee Germans”. “Hello boys” the Tommies said “We’ve got a German spy”. A Lieutenant came up and I told him I had no passports. I only had a German pocket book which I had picked up on the trip. I told the Colonel, before whom I was taken, that I had rescued three British marines from Chathams but I was again placed in gaol. This time, however, my wounds were well looked after. The English later received confirmation of my story, and all came and congratulated me. They told me my boys were on their way to Blighty [England]. They were very kind but it was decided I must leave because of the bombing. They equipped me with a complete soldier’s uniform, boots, legging, tunic and cap. I started off to walk to Ostende from Ghent, walking with a party of refugees for 11 days and nights, arriving at Calais instead of Ostende.

Outside Calais I collapsed and an old woman taking me for a soldier said “You poor boy, you are badly wounded” and took off my hat to attend my bandaged head. When my hair fell down she “got the wind up” and thought I was a German spy.

Maria was taken to the Commissaire at Calais who communicated with the British Government. Within a few days Maria was in Guy’s Hospital in London where she remained as a patient for 9 months. Maria says “Colonel Campbell of the Royal Marines and Lady Lyttelton often came to see her and a sum of money was given by the Royal Marines towards her expenses”.

The Royal Marines in Belgium On 2 August 1914 the Belgian government refused the passage of German troops through Belgium to France and on the night of 3/4 August the Belgian General Staff ordered troops to obstruct a German advance. The German army invaded Belgium on the morning of 4 August. By the evening it was clear to the Belgian High Command that the troops were in the path of a very large invasion force. On 5 August the Battle of Liège began. The Germans began a siege of the fortress, which fell on 16 August. With information that five German corps and six reserve corps were in Belgium and with no support from the French army the Belgian field army was ordered to withdraw towards Antwerp on the evening of 18 August. On the night of 25/26 August, the city of Antwerp was bombed by a German Following early defeats as the German invasion of Belgium occurred, and cut off from the rest of the Allies by the German advance, the majority of the Belgian army fell back towards the fortified port of Antwerp during late August 1914. Belgian troops were also withdrawn from a number of smaller ports along the Belgian coast bringing Allied concerns that if these ports were occupied by Germany, they could provide a base for naval forces in the Channel. Further south, the main French and British force was retreating into France. Admiralty planners decided to use the Belgian Channel ports as a base to attack German supply routes on land, and used the Royal Marine Brigade as the basis for a landing force. Three battalions [Chatham, Portsmouth & Plymouth] were send to Flanders. However, the rapid retreat had caused the British Army to rethink its overall strategy, and it was decided that British supplies would have to be brought through ports in Western France, which meant that the Navy was no longer able to support their troops. The commanders decided to continue the defence of Antwerp. The British began to retire but the orders failed to reach all of the 1st Naval Brigade, only one battalion of which withdrew. The 1st Naval Brigade reached the Scheldt at midnight, only to find that the bridges were being demolished and under a German shrapnel bombardment. The British moved on to Sint-Gillis-Waas, where information arrived that the Germans had cut the railway at Moerbeke. The British commander Commodore Henderson, decided to head for the Dutch border to the north when c.1,500 men, half the original complement were interned and about forty stragglers managed to sneak along the border and escape.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Gillis-Waas



Early on 9 October German troops summoned the Military Governor, to surrender. During the afternoon, under threat of a resumption of the bombardment, the civilian representatives signed a capitulation of the city. The last c. 30,000 men of the Antwerp garrison surrendered and the city was occupied by German The British sent a naval divisional with a marine brigade composed largely of pensioners and 2 brigades of woefully inexperienced naval reservists. More substantial reinforcements failed to arrive in time. The city capitulated on 9 Oct.1914 but many of its defenders escaped. During the war Maria received letters for the men she rescued as well as very grateful wives of these men.



Letter Albert E Hockley11

A Cricklewood Bus

Cricklewood Bus 1912 Cricklewood Bus under fire

12

During the War, over 1000 B-type buses were commandeered for military service. Some were used as troop transport, often with their London drivers, on the Western Front in France and Belgium. Others were adapted for use as ambulances, lorries and even a mobile pigeon loft. Many of these buses never returned to the streets of London. Maria received a letter from Florence Hockley wife of Albert Hockley whom she helped escape dated 27 October 1914 thanking her for her kindness to her husband after he was wounded at Antwerp. A letter was also received from Harriet Pallister thanking her for all her kindness to her dear husband when he was wounded at Antwerp. No mention of her husband’s christian name but there are records for a William Pallister a Royal Marine who fought in WW1. No extra information was found on the file regarding whether he was in Antwerp. The Royal Marines

13 were Albert Edgar Hockley, Richard….., William……., and Frederick who was never

seen again after Maria gave him 20 francs to buy food while in Antwerp. Maria must have replied to Albert Hockley’s letter as here is his reply.



Letter Albert E Hockley

11 January 1915 Dear Madam, One of the English marines that you courageously and tenderly cared for in Antwerp (Belgium) belongs to our Chatham battalion. The battalion has put me in charge to thank you for aid and charity with regards to one of our comrades. The officers and the rest of the personnel have chosen Christmas to send you a present. We would be pleased to know what would be your preference. The next line is a bit hard to read, but it asks what bank would be preferable to leave the present. But most of all we hope you have totally recovered and are in great health. Please accept my sincerest greetings, Unable to read signature



Below is another version of her exploits as recorded in the Royal Magazine in 1914.



Medals Awarded

In October 1916 I received from His Majesty King George L”Ordre de Leopold II, the only order of this class bestowed upon a woman during the war

14.

Order of King Leopold 11 with palm Belgian 1914-18 War Cross

Second Marriage

George Edward Dixon’s war record [No 12153] reports he suffered multiple gunshot wounds on 19 July 1918 in France, following which, he was sent to No.1 NZ General Hospital at Brockenhurst on 30 July. George, a New Zealander, had been also suffering from gas poisoning

15. He was transferred to NZ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CDG_14_18.jpg



Convalescent Hospital Hornchurch on 25 September 1918. He was subsequently discharged from Hornchurch to duty at Torquay, south England. Maria was nursing wounded servicemen at NZ Convalescent Hospital Hornchurch, where she probably met George. Marietta Victorina Somers nee van Aerde married George Edward Dixon on 6 February 1919 at the Register Office, Romford, Essex

16.

205 Boomhaerd St Antwerp the address given on her marriage certificate to George Dixon 1919

17

Maria made a passport application to enter New Zealand. This records that Maria stood 5 foot 5½ inches tall, eyes were grey, nose and mouth small, chin round, hair dark, complexion fair and her face was round. She had a scar on her left cheek, ? right neck and was described as a British subject. Passport includes details of her son Victor born 28 October 1908, aged 14 [son by first marriage].The passport also says she had travelled to UK and Belgium on the ship Tainui

18 from NZ. Maria’s NZ passport was

granted on 11 April 1922. She is described as aged 33, profession; a wife, her husband George was born in Christchurch on 2 December 1888 and she gave her maiden name as Van Aerde. It appears that Maria made the passport application in NZ to enable her to return to Belgium to collect Victor as she and George arrived in NZ on the ship Corinthic arriving in NZ 25 September 1919. The ship sailed home via the Panama Canal, arriving in Wellington. The passengers, “comprising 404 troops, 358 wives and 78 children, was accorded the usual hearty reception on the wharf by next-of-kin and friends, and by the Patriotic Society’s band, which played lively airs. Members of the Voluntary Motor Corps were also prominently in attendance, placing their cars and their services at the disposal of the returned men and their wives and families”

19.

Son Victor Frank Dixon aka Victor Adolf Frans Somers After Maria Somers nee van Aerde, remarried to George Dixon, Victor Somers her son, who had been living in NZ since 1922 eventually applied for a New Zealand certificate of naturalisation in June 1946, by which time he had changed his name by deed poll to Victor Frank Dixon. He stated he was born in Berchem, Antwerp, Belgium on 28 October 1908. His parents were Charles Augustus Somers a Belgium, and Maria Hull formerly Somers [formerly Dixon] a British subject, formerly Belgium. Victor’s World War 2 record is another story! He was called up by the Belgium Free Air force and returned to England by boat and served with them all the war, attached to the RAF as a gunner

20. Victor

was a newspaper compositor of Avon and St Albans Christchurch. George Dixon was discharged from the army 22 October 1919, no longer fit for service, probably due to gunshot wounds to the thigh. His war file notes his death on 14 May 1923 from pneumonia and pericarditis

21.



Third Marriage

Maria married Henry Stanley Hull in 192422

. Stan Hull and Maria were custodians of the Shirley Golf Club in Christchurch. During the 1940’s they lived in New Brighton and at some stage in the late 1950’s moved to Motueka. Stan Hull was also a war veteran, but I was unable to locate a war file on him. 90

th Birthday

On 27 January 1979, the Nelson Evening Mail reported Stan and Maria Hull were both residents of Wakatu Lodge

23, where Maria was having her 90

th birthday.

With her husband, Mr Stan Hull, members of the Motueka RSA, and patients and-staff of Wakatu Lodge, Mrs Hull marked her birthday. Mrs Hull is now a patient at the lodge and her husband, who celebrated his 87th birthday on Boxing Day, came from Ward One of Nelson Hospital to join in the festivities. Mrs Hull holds a place of honour with the Motueka RSA for her courage during the First World War. She holds the Order of Leopold II with an Albert Palm and the Belgian Croix de Guerre for bravery. Mrs Hull was born in Antwerp in 1889, and was married with a six-year old child, Victor, when war broke out in Europe. Her first husband, Charles Somers immediately enlisted and was killed in action a fortnight later. Mrs Hull joined the staff of a hospital in Antwerp and when it was evacuated, stayed behind to help four wounded British sailors to safety. Food was short, and to feed the sailors Mrs Hull asked for bread from a local bakery. Her request met with a refusal. She was told all bread was being given to German troops, so she stole some. Mrs. Hull then helped the sailors to safety in a cellar, under enemy fire and suffered burns to her face and hands. The next morning the group found safety in a nearby convent. Mrs Hull returned to Antwerp, anxious for the safety of her son and parents. While there, she was reported to German authorities by the wife of the baker from who she stole bread. She was taken into custody and questioned by German officers. When she would not tell them the whereabouts of the British sailors, she was stripped, and lashed with a heavy whip. Still she would not talk. On the third day she was interrogated again and when she refused to talk, the German officer lunged at her with his bayonet. Covering her face with her hands, she was badly cut on her hand and her left cheek and eye. Turning away from the officer, she was bayonetted in the bock and fainted. However, a German guard took pity on her and freed her. The British later honoured her for her courage during her escape from Antwerp and capture by the Germans. Mrs Hull moved to England and spent several months in Guys Hospital, London, recovering from her ordeal

24.



Maria Hull 90

th birthday

Henry Stanley Hull died on 7 March 1980 in Motueka aged 88

25.

Maria Hull died a few months later on 01 July 1980 aged 91 and is buried in Motueka Cemetery RSA Section

26.

.

Sources

Nadia Shuttleworth of Morrinsville NZ, granddaughter of Maria and George Dixon. National Archives, Kew, England. Further information held at the NZSG Nelson branch library, 67 Trafalgar Street, Nelson. POBox 1879, Nelson

Helene Wray for translating documents

Further Reading

Edith Cavell by Diana Southami ISBN 978 1 84916 359 0 Lady Under Fire On The Western Front The Great War Letters of Lady Dorothie Feilding edited by Andrew & Nicola Hallam. ISBN 978 1 84884 322 6

Endnotes

1 http://ihm.nlm.nih.…

2 Probate, Christchurch Archives Agency CAHX Series CH171

3. Information from Nadia Shuttleworth of Morrinsville 1919 marriage to George Dixon in England. family search and Ancestry.com cannot find Maria or her sisters and brothers birth certificates Civil Registration 1609-1909 Antwerp, Belgium.

4 www.familysearch.org and www.ancestry.com.au Nothing found

5 Extra information regarding Eva Luckes held at NZSG Nelson branch library ”Ancestors Attic”.

http://ihm.nlm.nih.gov/images/D05419



6 Newspaper article held by grand daughter Nadia Shuttleworth, written after Maria emigrated to NZ.

7 Edith Cavell was a British nurse famous for treating countless soldiers, no matter their nationality, and helping as many as 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during World War One. When Brussels fell to the Germans in November 1914, Cavell walked away from her British Secret Intelligence Service recruitment to hide wounded Allied soldiers and sneak them out of the country to safety.

The soldiers were given fake identification and hidden until they could make it to the Dutch frontier.In August 1915, Edith was betrayed by German collaborator Gaston Quien.German soldiers arrested Edith for treason and subjected her to a court-martial. Cavell admitted that she had personally harbored about 175 men in her home and helped them to escape. Her actions went directly against German military law.

Despite international pressure for mercy, she was sentenced to death and executed by a 16-man German firing squad on October 12, 1915.

Edith Cavell's remains were brought back to Britain after the war, and she had a memorial service in Westminster Abbey on 15 May 1919.

8 Baptism Certificate held stating baptised 28 October 1908

9 Nelson Evening Mail 27 January 1979. Heroine braved German torture.

10 Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 3851, 1 October 1919, Page 4

11 https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/ records Albert Edgar Hockley Royal Marines Light Infantry Plymouth Division No 10885 & 422

12 Imperial War Museum The First World War in photographs by Richard Holmes ISBN 10 1 84442 319 0 page 59.

13 Imperial War Museum The First World War in photographs by Richard Holmes ISBN 10 1 84442 319 0 page 59. The British sent a naval divisional with a marine brigade composed largely of pensioners and 2 brigades of woefully inexperienced naval reservists. More substantial reinforcements failed to arrive in time. The city capipulated on 9 Oct.1914 but many of its defenders escaped.

14 I am not sure if these are the correct photos for the medals she received

15 Nadia Shuttleworth granddaughter in email to Cheryl Carnahan 25 Jan 2014

16 Marriage certificate and NZDF 25518486011401310 National Archives, Wellington, NZ

17 Boomgaardstraat 205, 2018 Antwerpen, Belgium. Google earth 2013

18 This may have been to collect her son Victor.

19 HOME AGAIN. Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 72, 23 September 1919, Page 7, (http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast ), viewed 17 August 2013

20 Nadia Shuttleworth granddaughter in email to Cheryl Carnahan 25 Jan 2014

21 NZSG Indexed Probates - DIXON George Edward: Place Ch'ch: Occupation Clerk: Death Date: Court: Christchurch: Agency CAHX : Series CH 171: Accession Probate Number 12684 Filed Date 12 Mar 1924: Type Will: Left everything to his wife Mariette. Further enquiries to Archives NZ - Christchurch

22 NZSG Kiwi Index v.1.0 CD. Folio no.03061 and www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home

23 a home for the aged requiring some nursing care

24 Nelson Evening Mail 27 January 1979. 25A Memoriam notice was published in the Nelson Mail 7 March 1980, 1981 pg 28. NZSG Nelson library Ancestors Attic

26 Motueka cemetery. Block RSA, Plot 172, row 1.

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