Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An Order of St. John group of six awarded to Nurse Mary E. D. Burkitt, Voluntary Aid Detachment, later St. John Ambulance Brigade

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Serving Sister’s shoulder badge, 1st type (1892-1939), silver and enamel, circular badge with with enamel cross with heraldic beasts in angles raised above the background, on lady’s bow riband; 1914-15 Star (M. E. D. Burkitt. V.A.D.); British War and Victory Medals (M. E. D. Burkitt. V.A.D.); Coronation 1911, St. John Ambulance Brigade (Nurs. Sister M. E. D. Burkitt.); Service Medal of the Order of St. John, silver, with two Additional Award Bars (6291 A/Sis M. E. D. Burkitt. Balham & Streat. Nsg Divn. No. 11 Ds. S.J.A.B. 1975 [sic]), the unit and incorrect date to last re-engraved, light contact marks, nearly very fine and better (6) £260-£300

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

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Mary Emily Dorothea Burkitt was born in Castle Connell, Limerick, Ireland, in 1879. A resident of 8 Woodfield Avenue, Streatham, she attested for the Voluntary Aid Detachment and served with the Order of St John at Moka Hospital in St Malo from 29 October 1914 to March 1915. Returned briefly to England, she embarked for France on 13 May 1915 and served until December 1916 at No. 3 General Hospital at Le Treport. This was followed by a third term as a nurse in France from 20 March 1917 to March 1919, before release from service.

Appointed Serving Sister in the St John Ambulance Brigade on 23 June 1939, it seems likely that Burkitt witnessed further service during the Second World War; her home borough of Streatham was particularly hard hit during the London Blitz, with particular emphasis on the railway line. Worse was to come on 3 August 1944, when 12 people were killed by a V1 flying bomb in the Pendle Road area. Surviving the attentions of the Luftwaffe, V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets, Burkitt died on 1 January 1951 at Limes Nursing Home, Streatham Hill.