Elizabeth lawrie smellie biography of rory

Canadian nurse

Elizabeth Lawrie Smellie, CBE, RRC (March 22, 1884 – March 5, 1968) was a Canadian nurse and the first woman to be promoted to the rank of colonel in the Canadian Army.^[1]

Early life

Smellie was born in Port Arthur, Ontario, to Thomas Smellie,^[2] Conservative Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Fort William and Lake of the Woods from 1905 to 1911, and Janet Eleanor (née Lawrie).

She trained at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore, Maryland. To her family and friends, she was known as "Beth".^[1]

Nursing career

In August 1914, Smellie applied to be a Red Cross nurse; she was told to report to Ottawa on 25 January 1915.^[3] During the First World War, she was posted at Cliveden, Lady Astor's estate, and became matron of the Moore Barracks Hospital at Shorncliffe Army Camp where thousands of Canadian soldiers were treated.

In 1917 she was decorated by King George