Jean Elizabeth Girvan Sword
Jean Sword was born November 23, 1892 in Bognor, Ontario. She was one of six children born to William Sword and Maria Jane Allison. By the time of the 1911 Census, the family had moved to Owen Sound where Jean attend high school at the Owen Sound Collegiate Institute.
Jean received her nursing training at the Owen Sound General and Marine Hospital training school. It was hard work, with long hours on the wards with classroom training after that. The nurse interns lived at the hospital which also involved them performing menial tasks. Jean graduated in the Class of 1914.
When war was declared in 1914, there was a rush of nurses applying for the coveted Nursing Sister positions offered to Canadian graduate nurses. Jean and several of her classmates all volunteered. She was 21 years of age. Jean attested into the Canadian Army Medical Corps in September 1914 at Valcartier, Quebec and arrived in the UK with the 2nd General Hospital of the 1st Contingent where she was attached to the Duchess of Connaught’s Red Cross General Hospital at Clivden, Taplow. She was posted to France in 1915 and following several sick furloughs she subsequently served at a number of medical facilities including Monks Horton Convalescent Hospital Westenhanger, 9th Special and 12th General Hospitals in Bramshott, 5th General Hospital Kirkdale and the 11th General Hospital Shorncliffe.
It is uncertain exactly where she met John Pollands Girvan, (see write up on John) but it was likely when they were both furloughed, he himself convalescing from wounds and stress. Upon their return to England from Canada the couple were married in London in 1918, shortly before John was to take command of his Battalion.
Jean was awarded the Royal Red Cross 2nd Class Medal in June 1918 and on July 18, 1918 she was granted permission to resign her appointment.
Following the war, the couple returned to Canada taking up residence in Toronto where John rose through the ranks of the Canadian Postal Service and maintained his affiliation with the Canadian Military. In 1946, the couple purchased property in Georgetown “Wildwood Lodge” where they raised two sons (John and Ken, both Veterans of WW2) and where they resided until their passing…John in 1961 and Jean in 1962.
Jean is buried alongside John in Greenwood Cemetery, Georgetown.
Truly a Canadian Hero Information taken in parts from the following websites: The Great Canadian War Project, They Served For Us, Grey Roots Museum and Archives , 49th Highlanders Museum and Vital Collections.
