ROSS Norah Martha

(Served as Norah Campbell-Noble) Nurse, Army Nursing Service, UK, WW1

24068, Legion of Frontiersmen, New Zealand

CITATION

Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (Civil)

Gazetted June 1954, p3300

For services to the community.

Legion Long Service & Efficiency Medal

Approved 10 October 1965

Sister Ross joined the Legion of Frontiersmen in 1921.  From that time until the present she has maintained a most definite interest in all Legion affairs.

Prior to the outbreak of World War II, Sister Ross took over command of the local unit which was known as the Woman’s Auxiliary, Legion of Frontiersmen (WALF).  Her command of the unit extended throughout the period of its existence from 1938 until 1945.  Under her control the formation rose to a strength of 120 members.  With the introduction of the Emergency Precautions Scheme (EPS) the members of the unit were seconded for the active duty with the New Zealand Police Department.

Sister Ross has perpetuated the memory of the WALF by means of contributions to the Dunedin YWCA Royal Building Fund and Life Membership, in the name of ‘R’ Squadron, in the Maori Education Foundation.

During the First World War, Mrs Ross served as a Sister and acting Matron with the British Expeditionary Force in Northern France, and at Woolwich.  For her service she was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm and stars.

In local civic affairs Sister Ross has served as a Justice of the Peace for 33 years and as a member of the Otago Hospital Board for 25 years.  In various capacities she has served the community on the Home Economics Association (Otago University), President of the League of Mothers, President of the Dunedin Citizens’ Day Nursery and Rest Room Committee, Associate of Children’s Court, Unemployed Women’s Committee and the Society for the Protection of Women and Children. 

Sister Ross is the holder of the King George VI Jubilee Medal and was created a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 1954.

AWARDS

Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (Civil)

British War Medal

Victory Medal

Jubilee Medal 1935

Croix de Guerre, France

Palm, and 2 Stars

Legion of Frontiersmen Pioneer Axe [1966]

Legion of Frontiersmen Long Service & Efficiency Medal [1965]

Red Cross Award

Justice of the Peace

Royal Free Hospital Nurses League Badge

Justice Association of Otago, New Zealand Badge

NOTES

Born 1885, Southwold, Sussex, England

Died 28 July 1970, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Cremated Kelvin Grove, Palmerston North

Ashes Buried 1 October 1970 Anderson’s Bay Cemetery, Dunedin [Block 42. Plot 20]

BIOGRAPHICAL

Born Southwold, England 1885, the only child of William J. BROWNE.  Educated at private schools in England, Scotland, and France.

Trained as a nurse in Edinburgh and first married to Mr Eric Campbell NOBLE, a Dentist by trade who died November 1911 of Pnumonia and Sepsis of the thumb.

Married again to Walter Ross, 3rd son of Sir John ROSS, in 1919. The couple moved to Dunedin in 1920 to help run the family firm of Ross and Glendinning.

Norah ROSS was very involved in community affairs and received the 1935 Jubilee Medal, and an M.B.E. in 1954, for her work.  She was also a member of the Legion of

Frontiersmen in New Zealand from 1921 through to 1970

BATTLE HONOURS

Behobeho          East Africa 1915 - 1917          Nyangao          Kilimanjaro          Great War 1917          Belgium 1914 -18

Official website of the

Legion of Frontiersmen (New Zealand) Command