There and back again

Shortly after the centenary of the Armistice, we were contacted by someone who wanted to share the story of his grandparents, George Yuille Caldwell, and Ellinor Caldwell (nee Walton). 

Ellinor was born in Crook in 1887, the daughter of a successful building contractor. She attended a boarding school at Saltburn, before going to the Conservatory of Music in Leipzig to study piano. She graduated from there in 1906. In 1910, she took part in a recital in Middlesbrough, with the borough organist.

Ellinor Caldwell with patients at Etherley With many thanks to John Yuille Caldwell

At some point after this, Ellinor went to work as a governess in America, first in Seattle, then in Honolulu, but by the outbreak of war, she was back in Crook. When the 17th Durham Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital was created at Etherley, both Ellinor and her sister went to volunteer as nurses. Her sense of adventure was still with her, and she later went to serve at a base hospital in Etaples, France. During her time there, the hospital was bombed twice. 

Ellinor lost one brother to the war, but another, Frederick, was commanding 6th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, by 1918. Their mother died of Spanish Flu in 1918. 

One of the doctors who worked at Etherley VAD Hospital was George, originally from Scotland, graduating from the medical school at the University of Glasgow in 1904. He married Elise Lake in her home town of Plymouth, then moved to Crook where George set up a surgery. They had two children, born in 1909 and 1911. George stayed at the VAD hospital until 1917 when he gained a commission to the Royal Army Medical Corps, and went to serve in Salonica.

George Caldwell in Salonica, seated on left With many thanks to John Yuille Caldwell

This was a sad time for George, he had lost a brother in January 1917, and another died as a prisoner of war in 1918. When George went abroad, Elsie and the children went to stay with her parents in Devon. In September 1917, she gave birth to their third child, however, he died of pneumonia aged only three months. In March 1918, Elsie committed suicide. 

When George was demobilised in 1919, he returned with his children to Crook. Ellinor was a family friend, who having also worked as a nurse and a governess, helped George to look after his children. In 1920, Ellinor and George married at St Catherine’s Church, Crook, and had two children of their own, born in 1921, and 1924. 

Ellinor was a keen photographer, taking and developing her pictures, and had a camera with her both on her pre-war travels, and in Etaples. You can see some of these photographs and read more about Ellinor and George, on Durham at War.