History - Military Medal Recipients - Dr Phoebe Chapple

When the Military Medal was established in 1916, it was intended only for men until a supplementary warrant was issued three months later to include women; the medal would, ‘under exceptional circumstances, on the special recommendation of a Commander-in-Chief in the Field, be awarded to women’.

Dr Phoebe Chapple (Wikipedia)

The first woman doctor to be awarded the Military Medal was Phoebe Chapple.

Born in Adelaide, South Australia on the 31st of March 1879 to Frederic Chapple and Elizabeth Sarah Chapple, Phoebe was the sixth of their eight children and the youngest daughter. The couple had left England in 1876 when Frederic was invited to take up the position of headmaster of Prince Alfred College, a private Methodist day and boarding school for boys.

Not much is known of Phoebe’s younger years.

She entered the University of Adelaide in 1895 at the age of 16 and was awarded her Bachelor of Science degree in 1898. She then went on to study medicine and was awarded Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees in 1904.

Phoebe Chapple, graduation photo (State Library of South Australia)

Apart from Phoebe, 5 of her siblings were also awarded degrees from the University of Adelaide.

In 1905, Phoebe, now Dr Chapple, served as house surgeon at the Adelaide Hospital.

She then worked with the Sydney Medical Mission for the following two years. The mission was founded by Dame Emma Dixson, daughter of the philanthropist, Sir Hugh Dixson. It was run by women for the women of the poorer parts of the city.

In late 1907, Dr Chapple returned to Adelaide and set up in practice.

She was actively involved in women’s health issues and was appointed medical officer to the South Australian Refuge in 1908.

Dr Chapple also carried out a lot of charitable-type work for which she did not charge.

From around 1910, she acted as honorary surgeon at the Salvation Army’s maternity hospital, later becoming its honorary superintendent. The Children’s Home and the Methodist Central Mission also benefited from her services.

When World War I was declared, volunteers were needed, especially doctors. However, female doctors were turned away by the Australian forces. The only way a woman doctor could serve as an army doctor was to go to Britain.

Although unwilling to leave her parents, they were the ones who urged Dr Chapple to go.

Using her own funds, Dr Chapple left for England in February 1917.

Apart from Dr Chapple, about 15 other Australian women doctors also made their way to Europe where they served with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), ‘All Women Medical Units’ and the Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service.

By 1917, around 40,000 Australians had already died on the Western Front.

Soon after arriving in April, Dr Chapple was appointed as surgeon at the Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot where she attended to wounded soldiers arriving from France.

In November 1917, she was appointed honorary Captain in the RAMC, but her appointment was not formally gazetted (meaning it was not officially recorded in the government gazette), a situation common to all women doctors during World War I.

Attached to the British Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), Dr Chapple along with other women doctors examined the recruits and were in charge of the health of the serving women.

Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps cap badge (Hsq7278 - Wikipedia)

Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps cap badge (Hsq7278 - Wikipedia)

By late 1917, lack of medical manpower meant Britain was left with no choice but to send women to the Front although they were not intended to be near any fighting.

However, in reality, the boundaries between base and battle zone had become blurred, opening an unintentional route for women to serve where the fighting was.

Dr Chapple was one of the first two women doctors sent to the Front, which she “regarded as an honor [sic] for Australia”.

Arriving in France in November 1917, she found herself in a battle zone bombarded with near-continuous air raids.

On the 29th of May 1918, Dr Chapple was at a QMAAC – Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps (the renamed WAAC) – camp near Abbeville, which housed women working at the British hospital in Abbeville.

German planes were seen flying overhead. That night, the camp came under a bomb attack.

Three bombs were dropped. One hit a covered trench, which the women were using as a shelter.

Despite the air raids continuing, Dr Chapple worked her way through the trenches in the dark, tending to the wounded.

8 women had been killed outright with another dying later of her wounds.

Dr Chapple was one of those who survived.

Abbeville, France. 31 May 1918. Members of Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps (QMAAC) marching in the funeral procession of the women who had been killed in the air raid

For her actions during and after the air raid, Dr Chapple was awarded the Military Medal, the first woman doctor to receive such a decoration.

The medal was presented at Buckingham Palace in June 1919, and the citation reads:
‘For gallantry and devotion to duty during an enemy air raid. While the raid was in progress Doctor Chapple attended to the needs of the wounded regardless of her own safety.’

After her courageous actions, Dr Chapple was also promoted to honorary Major.

She subsequently served as a doctor at Rouen and Le Havre.

At the end of the war, she went back to England for further training.

WAACs marching in London 1918 - Thomas Frederick Scales (Wikipedia)

Dr Chapple returned to Adelaide in September 1919.

Resuming her medical practice, she also became involved in politics, focussing on women’s rights and issues.

As a representative of the Women’s Non-Party Political Association, she stood for election to Adelaide City Council in December 1919 but was defeated.

It was her one and only foray into politics and, although she remained committed to women’s issues, she preferred medical practice to politics.

She was a founder and the first vice-president, later President, of the South Australian Medical Women’s Society.

From 1910 to around 1940, Dr Chapple held the role of honorary doctor at the Salvation Army maternity hospital for unmarried mothers.

She was occasionally called as an expert witness in court cases where death had been caused by backstreet abortions.

She also worked as an Honorary Medical Officer in the night clinic at the Adelaide Hospital from 1921 to 1922, treating women with venereal disease.

During the influenza epidemic of 1931, Dr Chapple made frequent visits to the Methodist Children’s Home voluntarily and completely free of charge.

Dr Chapple travelled overseas a number of times, including travelling to Britain for King George VI’s coronation in 1937.

During World War II, Dr Chapple was active with the Voluntary Services Detachments, formed shortly after the start of World War II. Offshoots of the Australian Red Cross, these were set up with the aim of training and coordinating women volunteers as first aiders and civil defence personnel.

Although she herself tended to play down her wartime experiences, Dr Chapple was obviously proud of her wartime service; she marched every year on Anzac Day.

She continued her involvement in organisations committed to women’s welfare while still finding time to enjoy a social life, including visiting the racetrack and concerts.

Dr Chapple remained unmarried and continued to work from her private practice until the age of 85.

Dr Phoebe Chapple died on the 24th of March 1967. She was cremated with full military honours and her ashes interred at the Centennial Park Cemetery in Adelaide.

Having no dependents, her will provided a bursary to be awarded in her name to students at St Ann’s College at the University of Adelaide.

Although there isn’t much information available on Phoebe Chapple herself, from what I’ve read, she comes across as someone who never stopped being of service as a caring physician without ever resting on or using the glory of her wartime achievement to advance herself.