Catherine Ball was lost at sea on this day in 1917

Catherine, also known as Kate, was born in Leicester on 28 August 1889, the seventh child of John and Catherine Ball from Nottingham.  The family moved back to Nottingham sometime after 1897 where Catherine attended St. Mary’s School.

At the time of the 1911 Census, they were living at 10 Ristes Place. By this time, Catherine was working as a pattern girl for a local lace manufacturer. She also was a Sunday school teacher at St. Mary’s Church.

In 1915, she joined the Red Cross and trained at Nottingham General Hospital to become a nursing sister. She later worked at Bagthorpe Military Hospital, Arnot Hill, Mapperley Hall and Bowden hospitals in Nottingham.

Catherine joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) in August 1917. She served at Lakenham Military Hospital in Norwich until November 1917 when she was posted to Egypt.

The voyage to Egypt was on the Hospital Ship Osmanieh, leaving Southampton on 17 December 1917. The Osmanieh was built in 1906, designed as a passenger and cargo ship. Prewar, she had operated in the Mediterranean, between Alexandria and Constantinople. She was requisitioned in 1915 when she transported troops to Gallipoli. Now a Hospital Ship, she carried troops and medical personnel.

The loss of the Osmanieh was the third tragedy to occur in two days near Alexandria. Earlier, on 30 December 1917, the troopship HMS Aragon and the destroyer HMS Attack had been torpedoed by UC-34, with the loss of over 600 soldiers and crew. Approaching the harbour entrance at Alexandria on New Year’s Eve 1917, the Osmanieh struck a mine laid by UC-34 and sank in a matter of minutes.

In total, 209 lives were lost, including eight nurses, all of whom are buried in the Hadra War memorial Cemetery in Alexandria

Nursing Sister Catherine Ball, Voluntary Aid Detachment