Minnie HOBLER (1875

Minnie HOBLER (1875 - 1962)

nurse in WW1

Children	Self + Spouses	Parents	Grandparents	Greatgrandparents
	Minnie HOBLER (1875 - 1962)	Francis Helvetius HOBLER (1825 - 1889)	George HOBLER (1800 - 1882)	James Francis Helvetius HOBLER (1765 - 1844)
				Mary FURBY (1765 - 1846)
			Ann TURNER (1801 - 1867)	John A TURNER (1759 - )
				Mary TREMLETT (1763 - )
		Jessie Ann LEARMONTH (1838 - 1910)	Alexander LEARMONTH (1809 - 1874)	John Livingston LEARMONTH (1783 - 1863)
				Margaret WATSON (1788 - 1872)
			Mary Ann HORNCASTLE (1820 - 1838)

b. 21 Jul 1875 at Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia

d. 29 Jul 1962 at Bromley, Kent, England aged 87

Near Relatives of Minnie HOBLER (1875 - 1962)
Relationship	Person	Born	Birth Place	Died	Death Place	Age
Grandfather	George HOBLER	06 Sep 1800	Islington, London, Middlesex, England	1882	Alameda, California, USA	82
Grandmother	Ann TURNER	21 Dec 1801	Cadbury, Devon, England	22 Apr 1867	Alameda, California, USA	65
Grandfather	Alexander LEARMONTH	21 Nov 1809	Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland	08 Feb 1874	Hamilton, Victoria, Australia	64
Grandmother	Mary Ann HORNCASTLE	abt 1820	Scotland	1838	Scotland	18

Father	Francis Helvetius HOBLER	16 Jul 1825	Hertfordshire, England	25 Jan 1889	Queensland, Australia	63
Mother	Jessie Ann LEARMONTH	31 Jan 1838	Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland	28 Apr 1910	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia	72

Self	Minnie HOBLER	21 Jul 1875	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia	29 Jul 1962	Bromley, Kent, England	87

Brother	Francis Helvetius (Frank) HOBLER	26 Oct 1860	Portland, Victoria, Australia	06 Sep 1921	Jandowae, Queensland, Australia	60
Sister	Mary Louisa HOBLER	1861	Portland, Victoria, Australia	1863	Queensland, Australia	2
Brother	George Alexander HOBLER	18 Jan 1864	Queensland, Australia	06 Oct 1935	Mosman, New South Wales, Australia	71
Brother	Frederic Byerley HOBLER	05 Oct 1865	Queensland, Australia	04 Aug 1902	Mexico City, Mexico	36
Brother	William Learmonth HOBLER	30 Nov 1867	Queensland, Australia	19 Mar 1936	Queensland, Australia	68
Brother	Louis Edward HOBLER	14 Oct 1870	Queensland, Australia	1946	Queensland, Australia	76
Brother	Walter Bucknall HOBLER	14 Oct 1870	Queensland, Australia	24 Jun 1953	Queensland, Australia	82
Sister	Emily Jessie HOBLER	05 Nov 1871	Queensland, Australia	30 Jan 1874	Queensland, Australia	2
Sister	Ada May (Mary) HOBLER	04 Sep 1876	Queensland, Australia	03 Mar 1877	Queensland, Australia	0
Sister	Agnes HOBLER	20 May 1878	Queensland, Australia	25 Oct 1950	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia	72

Aunt	Mary HOBLER	16 Nov 1823	Hertfordshire, England
Uncle	John STACK	1822	Ireland
Uncle	George HOBLER	03 Aug 1827	Killafaddy, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia	11 May 1888	Hanford, California, USA	60
Aunt	Elizabeth Theodosia BRAUND	16 Jun 1837	England	18 Jan 1878	Hanford, California, USA	40
Uncle	John Turner HOBLER	03 Apr 1829	Killafaddy, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia	26 Jun 1829	Killafaddy, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia	0
Aunt	Emily Denton HOBLER	25 Nov 1830	Killafaddy, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia	16 Nov 1906	St Kilda, Victoria, Australia	75
Uncle	William Henry BACCHUS			Jul 1887
Aunt	Elizabeth Anne HOBLER	17 Oct 1832	Killafaddy, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia	10 Jun 1848	Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia	15
Uncle	Edward Turner HOBLER	15 Nov 1834	Killafaddy, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia	20 Sep 1871	Alameda, California, USA	36
Aunt	Alice (Ann) WRIGHT	1842	Ohio, USA
Uncle	Charles James HOBLER	16 Aug 1836	Maitland, New South Wales, Australia	13 Dec 1918	Hanford, California, USA	82
Aunt	Rosanna HUNTER	22 Aug 1856	Canada	16 Nov 1940	USA	84
Uncle	Albert HOBLER	21 Jun 1838	Maitland, New South Wales, Australia	03 Jul 1897	Fresno, California, USA	59
Aunt	Ada Louisa HOBLER	18 Apr 1840	Maitland, New South Wales, Australia	15 Apr 1906	Alameda, California, USA	65
Uncle	John ELLSWORTH	07 Jan 1842	Hartford, CT, USA
Uncle	Louis William HOBLER	17 Aug 1844	Maitland, New South Wales, Australia	08 May 1906	Fresno, California, USA	61
Aunt	Maria M (Ria) (Bammie) FULLER	May 1850	Joseph, Michigan, USA	aft 1920		70

Cousin	Edward George Hobler STACK	03 Jun 1850	Mission Dolores, Californa, USA
Cousin	Ernest S HOBLER	21 Oct 1864	Springsure, Queensland, Australia	10 Dec 1921	USA	57
Cousin	Edith HOBLER	24 Apr 1866	Springsure, Queensland, Australia	16 Sep 1940	Alameda, California, USA	74
Cousin	Ann HOBLER	02 Jan 1868	Springsure, Queensland, Australia	30 Jul 1948	Alameda, California, USA	80
Cousin	Jessie HOBLER	28 Dec 1869	Queensland, Australia	19 Nov 1951	Kings, California, USA	81
Cousin	Allison Otto HOBLER	31 Jul 1871	Hanford, California, USA	19 Dec 1945	Fresno, California, USA	74
Cousin	William Henry Arthur Hobler BACCHUS	1852	Ballarat, Victoria, Australia	1896	Ballarat, Victoria, Australia	44
Cousin	George BACCHUS	1854	Ballarat, Victoria, Australia	1884	Murtoa, Victoria, Australia	30
Cousin	Annie Elizabeth BACCHUS	17 Oct 1855	Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Cousin	Emily BACCHUS	1857	Ballarat, Victoria, Australia	1869	Victoria, Australia	12
Cousin	Louisa BACCHUS	1859	Ballarat, Victoria, Australia	1862	Victoria, Australia	3
Cousin	Helen Ada BACCHUS	1861	Ballarat, Victoria, Australia	1862	Victoria, Australia	1
Cousin	Ada Louisa HOBLER	Nov 1868	California, USA
Cousin	William Clarence HOBLER	08 Oct 1869	California, USA
Cousin	Elizabeth Ann HOBLER	24 Aug 1875	Fresno, California, USA
Cousin	Rose Adeline HOBLER	1876	California, USA
Cousin	Bertha HOBLER	08 Aug 1878	California, USA
Cousin	Adolphus HOBLER	24 Jan 1882	California, USA
Cousin	Louis HOBLER	29 Nov 1886	California, USA
Cousin	Glarys HOBLER	Apr 1893	California, USA
Cousin	Grace HOBLER	03 Jul 1894	California, USA
Cousin	Lillian E HOBLER	27 Feb 1872	California, USA	21 Dec 1945	Soquel, Santa Cruz Co, California, USA	73
Cousin	Arthur HOBLER	1876	California, USA
Cousin	Laura HOBLER	1880	California, USA
Cousin	Sigmund Frankneau HOBLER	13 Jun 1883	Fresno, California, USA	07 Aug 1952	Sanger, California, USA	69
Cousin	Irma Buckley HOBLER	08 Mar 1890	Fresno, California, USA

Niece	Myola May HOBLER	27 Aug 1893	Queensland, Australia	14 Sep 1902	Queensland, Australia	9
Niece	Beatrice Bourne HOBLER	03 Jan 1895	Queensland, Australia	22 May 1907	Dalby, Queensland, Australia	12
Nephew	Francis Helvetius HOBLER	02 Sep 1896	Queensland, Australia	07 Apr 1898	Queensland, Australia	1
Niece	Constance Theodora HOBLER	12 Apr 1899	Queensland, Australia	1915	Jandowae, Queensland, Australia	16
Niece	Ruth Lurline HOBLER	08 Sep 1900	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia	09 Aug 1987	Queensland, Australia	86
Niece	Florence Scovell HOBLER	06 Jun 1904	Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia	02 Mar 1999	Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia	94
Nephew	Cyril Moore HOBLER	01 Nov 1891	Queensland, Australia	29 Jul 1916	Pozieres, France	24
Niece	Enid Moore HOBLER	17 Jan 1894	Queensland, Australia	01 Oct 1959		65
Niece	Nea Moore HOBLER	02 May 1901	Queensland, Australia
Nephew	Victor Learmonth HOBLER	12 Jun 1900	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia	1954	Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia	54
Niece	Jessie Learmonth HOBLER	13 Feb 1904	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
Nephew	Harold Learmonth HOBLER	08 Sep 1906	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
Nephew	Cecil Forde HOBLER	07 Sep 1899	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia	1969	New Guinea	70
Nephew	Rupert Forde HOBLER	1901	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
Nephew	Ormonde Forde HOBLER	30 Jul 1902	Queensland, Australia
Nephew	John (Jack) Forde HOBLER	26 Sep 1907	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia	13 Jan 1996	Queensland, Australia	88
Nephew	Clive Morrell STRETTON	1898	Queensland, Australia	1970		72
Niece	Hilda Morrell STRETTON	14 Jul 1900	Queensland, Australia	Jul 1987	Queensland, Australia	87
Niece	Mona Morrell STRETTON	1902	Queensland, Australia
Nephew	Jack Morrell STRETTON	28 Jan 1910	Queensland, Australia

Sister in Law	Mabel Theodora BARNARD	18 Nov 1871	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia	26 Aug 1925	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia	53
Sister in Law	Antoinette Gertrude van HEUCKELUM	26 Apr 1865	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	1951	Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia	86
Sister in Law	Ada Alicia SHAW	1873	Queensland, Australia	1952	Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia	79
Sister in Law	Minnie Alma FORDE
Sister in Law	Minnie Jane Elizabeth WRIGHT			abt 1962
Brother in Law	Edward Morrell STRETTON	13 Aug 1861	Berkhamsted, Hertford, England
Brother in Law	Archibald Stewart HIGGINSON

Events in Minnie HOBLER (1875 - 1962)'s life
Date	Age	Event	Place	Notes	Src
21 Jul 1875		Minnie HOBLER was born	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia	1875/C003310
25 Jan 1889	13	Death of father Francis Helvetius HOBLER (aged 63)	Queensland, Australia	1889/C004916
28 Apr 1910	34	Death of mother Jessie Ann LEARMONTH (aged 72)	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia	1910/C002965
14 Nov 1914	39	Enlisted Australian Imperial Forces
05 Dec 1914	39	Embarked	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
21 Sep 1916	41	Mentioned in dispatches
14 Jan 1917	41	Returned to Australia
14 Jan 1917	41	Detached form duty
24 Apr 1917	41	Discharged		Gastric Ulcer
29 Jul 1962	87	Minnie HOBLER died	Bromley, Kent, England

Personal Notes:

Trained at Brisbane Hospital - paid 3 pounds per year, accommodation and uniforms provided.

WWI - Nursing Sister
Date of Enlistment: 21/11/1914
1914-1916 Egypt
1916-1917 France
Date of Return to Australia: 14/01/1917

During WWI Minnie was mentioned in dispatches for bravery under fire. She went into the fields to treat the wounded as there were no stretcher bearers. On one occasion she carried a large officer from the field. Later she herself apparently underwent a hernia operation.

Rank: sister | Unit: No 3 AAH | Service: Army | Honour/award: Mention in Dispatches (Source: London Gazette, 21 June 1916, page 6184, position 38; and Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, 21 September 1916, page 2624, position 46)

Testimonials signed by Winston Churchill.

After the war Minnie worked at an invalid home, approx. 1917 onwards. She lived on Townsend Island for a period with the Higginson family and later went nursing in Victoria where she was a matron at a hospital in Shepperton. Minnie had her own private hospital in Kew. Hilda [nee Stretton] and sister Mona [nee Stretton], daughters of Agnes Hobler, worked for their Aunt in Kew as nurses. Mona in general nursing and Hilda in the operating theater.

When Minnie was 60 she left Australia for England, and nursed during the Blitz. Working as a civilian volunteer, Minnie was caught in an explosion but the only injury was a broken finger. She was eventually sent to an Air Force Station in Southern England and later received a war pension, living in Bromely Road, Kent ENGLAND.

Other highlights of Minnie's life include a sea voyage as a nurse with Harold Learmonth; and as a private nurse for a wealthy gentleman whom she travelled throughout Europe. Minnie was an avid photographer and an album of shots taken while serving as a nurse in Egypt during WWI has been preserved.

Minnie never married. She died of a cerebral infarction; thrombosis of right middle cerebral artery after suffering a bout of bronchopneumonia. A postmortem without inquest was perfromed to determine cause of death.

Trained at Brisbane Hospital - paid 3 pounds per year, accommodation and uniforms provided.

Abode 1961-1962: 85 Bromley Rd, Shortlands, Ravensbourne, Kent (Surrey Publication Year: 1961 Directory County: Kent, Surrey Page Number: 8134 and Death Certificate)

Minnie Hobler
Rank Staff Nurse
Unit 1 Australian General Hospital (November 1914)
Ship Name HMAT Kyarra
Ship number A55
Date of embarkation 5 December 1914
Place of embarkation Melbourne

Honours and awards (gazetted) Minnie Hobler

Minnie Hobler was awarded the following honours: Mention in Despatches

Service Army
Rank Sister
Unit No 3 AAH
Conflict First World War
Date of London Gazette 21 June 1916, page 6184, position 38
Date of Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 21 September 1916, page 2624, position 46

http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=5265637&I=1&SE=1

Gastric Ulcer

From East Melbourne Historical Society http://emhs.org.au/person/hobler/minnie
HOBLER, Minnie
Submitted by Administrator on 11 January 2013 - 3:12pm

Family name: HOBLER
Given names: Minnie
Gender: Female
Date of birth: 1875
Birth Rockhampton, Queensland
East Melbourne addresses
1914 "Winfield", 340 Albert Street, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Military service:
WW1
Rank: Staff Nurse 1914; promoted to Sister from 1 December 1915
Military units:
Australian Army Nursing Service
1 Australian General Hospital
3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital
No 6 British Stationary Hospital
No 3 British General Hospital
Military casualty: Returned to Australia March 1917, permanently unfit
Date of death: 1962
Death Bromley, Kent, United Kingdom
Decorations:
Mentioned in Dispatches 1916
1914-15 Star
British War Medal
Victory Medal
Biographical notes:

Minnie Hobler was born in 1875 in Rockhampton, Queensland. She was the ninth of the eleven children of Francis Helvetius Hobler (1825-1889) and his wife Jessie Ann (nee Learmonth) (1838-1910).

Minnie's forebears on both sides were pioneer settlers in the colonies - Van Dieman's Land and New South Wales for her Hobler grandfather George, and Tasmania and Victoria for her Learmonth grandfather Andrew. Both families experienced prosperous times and financial hardship but by the time Minnie was born in 1875, her father was a substantial landowner at Westwood near Rockhampton. He died in 1889, and his widow and eldest son (also Francis Helvetius) ran the property, 'Bucknalla'.

Whatever the impetus to take a career in nursing - loss of young siblings, a strong spirit of pioneering and public mindedness inherited from her family - Minnie left the family property and trained as a nurse at the Brisbane General Hospital from late 1904 to 1907. She completed the registration requirements for the Australasian Trained Nurses Association and subsequently the Royal Victorian Trained Nurses Association.
War Service

Nursing was a mobile profession and Minnie's family had Victorian connections both through the Learmonths and the professional interests of her brother Francis (later named next of kin on her enlistment forms). After nine years at Brisbane General Hospital, she came to work in Melbourne in 1913 or 1914. She appears on the 1914 electoral roll as living at 340 Albert St, East Melbourne, 'Winfield', which was a home to a number of nurses.

Within three months of war being declared, she applied to join the Australian Army Nursing Service. She was the first of her siblings to enlist.

By this time Minnie had accumulated seven years experience as a trained nurse in hospital and private nursing. She cited on her application supervisory experience in various wards, hospital housekeeping, operating theatres, and infectious diseases.

Minnie formally enlisted on 14 November 1914, and sailed later that month with the 1st Australian General Hospital on the official hospital ship "Kyarra". Among the nurses onboard was a group with East Melbourne connections, including Bertha McKinnell also from 340 Albert St, and Eleanor Kendall and Estelle Lee-Archer from Crathie House. A group of friends and colleagues were on an adventure together.

The "Kyarra" travelled via India, the Red Sea and Suez and arrived in Cairo in January 1915. 1 Australian General Hospital was set up in the Heliopolis Palace Hotel, outside Cairo, and proceeded to treat a dreadful onslaught of casualties from Gallipoli. The numbers were so great that several auxiliary hospitals were set up elsewhere. Promoted to Sister in December 1915, Minnie worked at the No 3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, which comprised a series of shelters roofed in with matting built over tennis courts on the Heliopolis sporting centre. She also made a rapid turn around trip from Egypt to Australia in early 1915, accompanying wounded soldiers on the "Kyarra", the same ship on which she had sailed several months earlier.

She was an avid photographer, and an album of her photographs from her period in Egypt is still in family hands.

Sister Hobler was mentioned in despatches for her work at No 3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital. She told her family that the award was for bravery under fire, when she went into the field to treat the wounded as there were no stretcher bearers. She also recounted carrying a large officer from the field of battle.

1 AGH was moved from Egypt to France in early 1916 to deal with the escalating casualties in the Western Front. When the unit arrived in Rouen in April 1916, Minnie was detached for duty with British hospitals in the north of France, first to No 6 Stationary Hospital in Havres, then No 6 General Hospital in coastal Le Treport (calculated to have 10 000 hospital beds), and then Frevent.

In Frevent she became ill. She was admitted to No 6 Stationary Hospital in Etaples in November 1916 and a gastric ulcer was diagnosed. She was sent to England via Calais, and admitted to the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service Hospital in Vincent Square London.

A board of British medical officers declared her unfit for service at home or abroad for some months. The specific cause of her condition, they determined, was food and stress brought about by her military service. Minnie was repatriated back to Australia on the hospital ship "Kanowna".

On her return to Melbourne, her case was considered by another medical board at the 11 Australian General Hospital. The doctors concurred with the previous board. Minnnie Hobler was permanently unfit for military service, but she was able to earn her living at her profession. She was discharged in April 1917. Several months later she attended a Red Cross Society meeting in country Victoria, and may have spoken on her war experiences (Geelong Advertiser, 13 August 1917).
After the War

Minnie resumed her profession as a nurse on her return. She was matron of Guildford Hospital in Shepparton in the early 1920s, then of her own private hospital, Gracemere, in A'Beckett St, Kew in the mid 1920s. She also travelled overseas as nurse/companion several times, including with her cousin Harold Learmonth of Hamilton, Victoria.

At the age of 60, about 1935, she left Australia to live in the United Kingdom. After war broke out, she nursed during the Blitz as a civilian volunteer. Her letters to family in Rockhampton, which were occasionally published in the local papers, described in some detail living conditions, precautions against invasion and air raids. She was injured in one attack, but her fur coat (apparently the objective of the Nazi attack according to her neighbours) was saved (Central Queensland Herald, 14 August 1941). She also spent time at an air force station in southern England.

Minnie returned to Australia after the war, living for a time again in Kew.

She was living in England, in Ravensbourne Kent, when she died aged 87.

Source References:

18. Type: E-mail Message, Abbr: e-mails general pool, Title: e-mails general pool

- Reference = Janet Scarfe 4 Jul 2013 (Name, Notes)

- Notes: I am involved with the East Melbourne Historical Society. The Society is researching every one with East Melbourne who served in WW1, and I am doing the nurses because I am an historian and have a particular interest in army nurses who served in WW2 and by association I suppose those in WW1.

Minnie Hobler is one on my list (presently 30, it may grow a little). She lived at 340 Albert St, East Melbourne in 1914 when she enlisted. A number of nurses lived at that house, 'Winfield', which was an easy walk to St Vincent's Hospital and hospitals in East Melbourne.

I have been through her service record like you, and there are numerous references to her in newspapers via trove. One suspects she was dismayed to have been invalided back in 1917. I can't see any reference in her service record including the medical board to a hernia operation though she did have surgery for her appendix and fibroids in 1914.

I was intrigued to read the details about her bravery in the field and wonder if you could share the source, so I could quote in the article. It was also be great to see some pics from the album you mention, so we could include something in the article on her. (My aunt left diaries and hundreds of pics form her overseas service in WW2, so exciting to see them.) She sounds like a prolific letter writer - do any remain?

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