ONE of the last military funerals of the First World War was for a young nurse from Clayton-le-Moors, who succumbed to Spanish flu in 1918.

She was 28-year-old Margaret Alice Baron, who lived at 14 Adelaide Street.

Her name is recorded in the memorial doors near the Seven Sisters window in York Minster, which honours the women who gave their lives in the war and includes Edith Cavell, the British nurse who smuggled more than 200 soldiers out of occupied Belgium before she was executed in 1915.

Her story has been told by her great niece, author Janet Reeves, originally of Accrington.

Janet said: “I grew up with the story of great aunt Maggie volunteering to go aboard a quarantined ship to nurse sailors and soldiers with influenza.

“Along with other medical personnel, she nursed day and night, with hardly any rest until, worn out, she succumbed to influenza herself and died in the military hospital at Deal.

“Her mother prevented the soldiers from firing a military gun salute over her daughter’s grave at the funeral, saying there had been too much shooting already in the war.”

Margaret belonged to the nursing division of the Accrington branch of the St John Ambulance Association and who, according to newspaper reports of the time had ‘recorded splendid service in the care of the sick and wounded soldiers ever since the commencement of the war’.

A weaver, she had certificates in first aid and sick nursing.

When Elmfield Hall opened as an auxiliary military hospital, she was one of the nurses who responded to the appeal by Dr Clegg for service and ‘no member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment was more loyal or self sacrificing in her work’.

She later volunteered for general service and for some time worked in Dover, before being transferred to Deal, where she later died.

Her body was sent home by train and was met at the railway station by the VAD nurses of the 240th division, who later attended her funeral at Church and Clayton-le-Moors cemetery, which was conducted with full military honours. Mourners, carrying wreaths and including Dr Clegg, walked behind Margaret’s coffin, which was borne on a gun carriage, covered with the Union Jack and escorted by uniformed soldiers.

The route from her home to the cemetery was lined by hundreds of sympathetic spectators.

The service was conducted by the vicar of All Saints Church, where Margaret worshipped, and the Last Post was sounded in her honour.

Her gravestone was inscribed with the words “She hath done what she could”.

n From motorcycle riding medics pioneering front line care to the only British woman to serve as a soldier during the First World War, IWM North, in Manchester, is sharing stories from its collections during March.

Ground breaking and radical women will be remembered across @IWMNorth using the hashtag #100YearsOfWomen.

A century on from the war, objects on display at IWM North also reveal unique stories of women on the front line.

These include courageous Edith Cavell and Flora Sandes, the only British woman to serve as a soldier during the conflict.

Then there’s Mairi Chisholm and Elsie Knocker, the motorcycle riding medics who pioneered frontline care.