Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine ‘Anglo-Egyptian War’ R.R.C. group of three awarded to Nursing Sister Rebecca Burleigh, Army Nursing Service, later Naval Nursing Service, who was Mentioned in Despatches

Royal Red Cross, 1st Class, V.R., silver-gilt, gold, and enamel; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, undated reverse, 1 clasp, Suakin 1885 (Nursg. Sister. R. Burleigh.); Khedive’s Star, dated 1884-6, unnamed as issued, nearly extremely fine (3) £800-£1,000

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

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R.R.C. London Gazette 23 October 1885.

M.I.D. London Gazette 25 August 1885.

Rebecca Burleigh was born in Carrickfergus, Ireland, on 6 December 1845, and entered the Military Nursing Establishment at Netley Hospital on 1 February 1884. Posted to Egypt from 26 March 1884 to 3 June 1884, she embarked for a second period of service aboard the Hospital Ship Ganges on 25 February 1885. Moored off the Port City of Suakin in north-eastern Sudan, Burleigh was soon caring for wounded and sick men, many of whom were struck down by dysentery. Catering to nearly 300 casualties in 90 beds and 200 swinging cots, the work was hot and the facilities basic; hoisted aboard ship, many men succumbed to infection and heat stroke. The valuable work of the nursing staff was later immortalised in a series of engravings entitled ‘With Sir Gerald Graham at Suakim, on the Hospital-Ship “Ganges”’, which were published in The Graphic.

Returned home to England in the summer of 1885, Burleigh soon began to suffer from illness herself and was sent on one month’s sick leave. Recovered, she served for almost a year at Chatham from 12 September 1885 to 2 August 1886, before taking up appointment as Nursing Sister with the Naval Nursing Service at Haslar on 4 June 1887. Raised Head Sister on 1 May 1890, she returned to Chatham until discharge on 31 March 1895.