Euphemia Steele Innes RRC DN was a Scottish nurse who served for 21 years as matron at Leeds General Infirmary in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. She was decorated with the Royal Red Cross 1st class in 1916 for services with the Territorial Force Nursing Service in the First World War.
Euphemia Steele Innes, c. 1916
Leeds General Infirmary, 1924
East Leeds War Hospital in the First World War
2nd Northern Hospital, 1918
Territorial Force Nursing Service
The Territorial Force Nursing Service (TFNS) was established in 1908, part of the reform of the British auxiliary forces introduced by Richard Haldane which created the Territorial Force. Nurses with at least three years of training were able to volunteer for the service, and facilities comprised 23 large buildings earmarked for use as hospitals in the event of war. The TFNS was augmented by the affiliation of Voluntary Aid Detachments. On the outbreak of the First World War, the hospitals were commissioned and up to 2,784 nurses mobilised to staff them. By the end of the war, up to 8,140 nurses had served with the TFNS, 2,280 of them in hospitals and casualty clearing stations abroad. After the war, the TFNS became the Territorial Army Nursing Service in line with the reconstitution of the Territorial Force as the Territorial Army.
Nurses at work in an ambulance train in France during the First World War