Beatrice Hilda Falk became Beatrice Hilda Levy and Lady (Arthur) Lever (3 November 1873 – 28 May 1917) was a titled UK nurse. Her premature death working as a volunteer nurse led to a memorial window in York Minster.

Life

Falk was born in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

on 3 November 1873. She was one of the six children of Philip and Sarah Falk. In 1896 she married Sir Arthur Levy who was a baronet and a politician with the Liberal Party. He had been born in Leicester and he was thirteen years older than her. They made their home in Knightsbridge. Some time before the war she wrote a play titled "Brown Sugar". In 1914 the First World War started and her husband re-joined the army. He was a major in the

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

' 2/1st Battalion London Regiment and in time he would become a Colonel. In about 1915 she had her portrait painted by the suffragist artist Ethel Wright. Her husband changed his and her name to Lever. Women were encouraged to volunteer to help the war effort and Falk decided to become a VAD nurse.

Death and legacy

In 1917 she was working as a nurse in

Hampstead General Hospital William Heath Strange (15 June 1837 – 28 February 1907) founded the Hampstead General Hospital on the site now occupied by the Royal Free Hospital. Early life and qualifications William was born in Devizes, Wiltshire, the youngest son of Ma ...

(in what was then the "Royal Free Military Hospital for officers") when she contracted

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

from the patients she was caring for. She died on 28 May. She was buried in the

Golders Green Jewish Cemetery Golders Green Jewish Cemetery, usually known as Hoop Lane Jewish Cemetery, is a Jewish cemetery in Golders Green, London NW postcode area, NW11. It is maintained by a joint burial committee representing members of the West London Synagogue and ...

. The

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

has a retouched photo of her as a "titled volunteer" in her nurses uniform noting that she "died in the service of her country". Her family paid for a memorial window in

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbis ...

and her play "Brown Sugar" was published with the author named as "Lady (Arthur) Lever". The play was performed in 1922 and 1931. Her portrait which is in the

Royal Free Hospital The Royal Free Hospital (also known simply as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at Barn ...

's collection, was hosted on the ArtUK website. It was thought to be by an unknown artist. Investigations revealed that it was by the suffragist artist Ethel Wright.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falk, Beatrice Hilda 1873 births 1917 deaths People from Salford Female wartime nurses British dramatists and playwrights Nurses killed in World War I Deaths from sepsis in the United Kingdom