Grace Lauritta Lauritz
From Our Contribution
 | |
| Personal Information | |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | unknown |
| Place of Birth | Mildura, New South Wales |
| Death | 1962 |
| Place of Death | Sydney, New South Wales |
| Age at Enlistment | 28 years, 5 months |
| Description | 5' 7" (1.70m) tall; weight 118 lbs (53.5 kg); fair complexion, dark eyes, fair hair |
| Occupation | Staff Nurse |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Address | Armadale, Western Australia |
| Next of Kin | Father Mr John Lauritz |
| Military Information | |
| Date of Enlistment | 16 Nov 1917 |
| Rank | Sister |
| Unit/Formation | Australian Army Nursing Service |
| Date of Embarkation | 23 Nov 1817 - 11 Dec 1917 |
| Ship Embarked On | SS Canberra |
| Date of Return | 24 Apr 1918 - 12 May 1918 Cape Town |
| Ship Returned On | HMHS Assaye |
| Date of Return | 20 May 1918 - 6 Jun 1918 |
| Ship Returned On | HMNZT Tofua |
| Fate | Returned to Australia (Medical) |
| Monument | none presently |
| Medals | British War Medal |
Pre War
Trained before enlisting at the Perth Public Hospital. Employed as a Sister at Fremantle Public Hospital.
Gave Armadale as her home address.
War Service
Originally offered her services on 13 Jun 1917, but not taken on until 1 week before she was allocated to a ship in November 1917. Enlisted at No 8 Australian General Hospital in Fremantle.
Posted to the Bombay Brigade, but developed cholera and was admitted to hospital the day of her arrival. Invalided home on 24 Apr 1918 to Australia via Cape Town on HMHS. Assaye. In Cape Town she was admitted to hospital before being provided more comfortable digs - spending most of her stay in the Cadarga Hotel
Discharged (medical) at 5th Military District on 5 Aug 1918.
Casualty List 378 - Western Australia.....Ill....Staff Nurse Grace Lauritta Lauritz, Armadale, dangerously...[1] The West Australian 28 May 1918 p.5 LIST "D.".
The following have been listed for return to Australia and are actually enroute from abroad. No further information can be supplied excepting the approximate time of arrival, which will be published shortly before disembarkation. The list is as tabled and is open to correction on account of mutilations in cabling and other causes. Owing to short notice received, Base Records were unable to advise relatives of the undermentioned.-Major H. F. Darling, Lieut. T. Morris, S/Nurse G. L. Lauritz......[2]
Post War
1920 Post Office Director contains an entry for her sister , a hairdresser in Armadale; 1925 electoral roll has father John in Thomas street, a barber, with mother Rose. Rose died in 1933 aged 69, but John was still in Armadale in the 1936 Electoral Roll. By 1943 John has moved to Victoria Park.
WANDILLA PASSENGERS The following passengers will take their departure by the SS Wandilla, which sails at noon tomorrow for the East:-....Mesdames..Lauritz.[3]
Married D'Arcy LACEY in Katoomba in 1922. In Dec 1924 with an address of 389 Glebe Point Road, Glebe Point, as Mrs Grace Lacey, she applies for her medals. By Jan 1925 her address was in North Sydney.
Notes
John Wentworth Lauritz, her brother (aged 27) died in Armadale 23 Jun 1916 aged 27.