A rare ‘Boxer Rebellion’ R.R.C. Pair awarded to Nursing Sister Marion J. Hislop, Indian Army Nursing Service

Royal Red Cross, 1st Class, V.R., silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; China 1900, no clasp (Nursing Sister M. J. Mislop [sic]. I.A.N.S.) good very fine (2) £1,400-£1,800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Norman Gooding Collection.

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R.R.C. London Gazette 13 December 1901:
‘In recognition of their services to the sick and wounded during the operations in China.’

Marion Jeanette Hislop was appointed Probationer at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London from November 1884 to November 1887, and took her first appointment as Sister at the Great Ormond Street Hospital For Sick Children from June 1889 to October 1890. Appointed to the Indian Army Nursing Service in October 1891, she served as Deputy Superintendent at the Sister’s Quarters of the Station Hospital in Allahabad, subsequently boarding the transport Palamcolla and sailing for Hong Kong for service during the Boxer Rebellion. The Nursing Record and Hospital World offers a little more information regarding this period:

‘Five of the Sisters of the Indian Army Nursing Service are at present serving in China. They are Senior Nursing Sister Marion Jeanette Hislop, and Sisters Agnes Mary Waterhouse, Louisa E. Lingard, Clara Lucy Cusins, and Christian Frances Hill. Their service are, no doubt, much appreciated by our sick soldiers. We hear very little of the nursing arrangements made for the care of our sick and wounded in China, and the news that five experienced Sisters of the Indian Army Nursing Staff are on duty there, is welcome, even though their services may be but as a drop in the ocean.’