Autumn 2020Data Science Projects

Data Science Project: Canadian Nurses of the First World War

Posted digitalww
By Ashely White (Autumn 2020 student)

See the mapping project Canadian Nurses of the First World War here.

Excerpt from student reflection:

“How often were the Canadian nurses of the First World War traveling, and on which fronts did they primarily serve?” With this overarching question in mind, I was able to look within the Canadian military history database, and found that it contained documentations of where the nursing units traveled, from here, I chose the two most detailed documentations, plotted them, and created my map.

Through my research and map-making, I learned how often these nursing units travelled throughout the war. Starting this project I had the misconception that nursing units would stay and serve in one or two hospitals for the duration of their deployment, so, while I was reading these Canadian documents, I was surprised to learn that sometimes units would break off, some groups of nurses would travel to other countries: the units weren’t always together throughout their deployment, and they weren’t stationed in the same hospital for duration of their service. Something else that I learned through this research is just how many volunteer nurses there were in the First World War. Around 74,000 volunteer nurses, and about 10,000 trained nurses served in this war (Hallett 21). Canada itself trained and contributed around 1,700 women as volunteer nurses (Quiney 107). From starting my research by reading accounts of just four women who served, to being able to truly understand how many nurses served, along with the fact that these women were travelling practically everywhere, has definitely opened my eyes to the vastness of nursing within the First World War, and how vital these women were to saving as many lives as they did. Overall, I’m glad that I chose this topic to research because it brought a new perspective and sense of appreciation for the women that served in the war. Just the two units I mapped traveled to over 10 different countries between the two of them, and did so over the course of four years. This was truly an eye-opening opportunity: to be able to map these nurses and research the statistics of how many people served on the front lines of the war has helped me grasp the importance of the women in the First World War.

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