General News
21 March, 2026
Katherine Powell McArthur
Katherine Powell McArthur was the 3rd of 10 children born to parents Archibald McArthur and Harriet Powell in 1888 at Sheep Hills, Victoria.
Sister Katherine 'Kitty' McArthur spent her early nursing career as a nurse at the Children's Hospital in Melbourne, followed by service at No 11 Australian General Hospital in Caulfield.
After enlisting for service at Caulfield in April 1917, at the age of 29, she joined the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) as a Staff Nurse.
Kitty sailed for Europe on board the ship ‘Karoola’, to take up nursing duties with the 25th General Hospital in France in April 1917, where she stayed for the remainder of her nursing service.
The 25th British General Hospital at Hardelot-Plage, France, was staffed by Australian nurses and English medical officers and required approximately 100 staff.
The major portion of the Hospital was under canvas, with the Administrative Offices, Main Theatre, Acute Surgical Wards, and Dispensary in what was, before the War, the Hotel de Hardelot.
The nurses were billeted in six villas, the only drawback being that they were scattered in different parts of Hardelot.
There was one central Mess Room, and in wet weather, or when it was snowing, this was a great inconvenience.
The hospital tents were located on the sand dunes, and where possible, the patients’ mattresses were rolled up and blankets folded so that they could not lie down during the day, and they were very badly fed.
They all dined in a mess hall and had to line up and wait their turn in all weathers.
In September and October, the dreadful winds were laden with sand, and quite often there were heavy sandstorms.
The tents were grouped, and each group had its ‘dressing tent’ where all the staff nurses of each group stood from 7.30 am till 8.00 pm’ (with three hours off some part of the day).
They dressed the men as they came in, and about 3 staff nurses dressed around 200 patients per day.
The tents were narrow ovals and badly pitched, as the sand would not hold the pegs, so they always flopped and seemed to be half down, and on quite a few occasions, some would completely come down, causing casualties.
They were dark and badly ventilated, and the snow beat in at the only opening, and the electric lights were turned off from 8am till about 5pm.
These General Base Hospitals were part of the casualty evacuation chain, further back from the front line than the Casualty Clearing Stations and generally located near the coast.
They needed to be close to a railway line, in order for casualties to arrive and also needed to be near a port where men could be evacuated for longer-term treatment in Britain.
The 25th General Hospital was principally for skin cases with 2400 beds and only about 500 available for operations and Medical cases.
The dressing of some of the skin cases required a great deal of patience, especially head cases, which took considerably more time and effort and were much more complicated and challenging to achieve.
The Hospital closed for admissions at Hardelot in February 1919, before being relocated to Cologne, where it was opened without nursing staff.
Orders were received in early February 1919 for the Nursing Staff (all A.A.N.S.) to proceed to England in parties of 10, with the first taking place on the 26th of February.
The nurses were then going to be transported back to Australia and discharged from duty with the AIF. In late March 1919, Kitty left England and returned to Australia on board the ship ‘City of Poona’ and was discharged in Melbourne on the 28th of June 1919.
It’s not known if she returned to nursing, but in 1919 she married Stanley Cowan McLachlan and moved to New South Wales, where she lived for the remainder of her life.
Kitty died on the 26th of February 1962 at Rosewood, NSW and was privately cremated.
Kitty's brothers, Alexander, Angus (George Angus) and Archibald (Archibald George) also enlisted and served in the War.
Lance Corporal Alexander McArthur, No 1984 of the 14th Battalion, was wounded in the thigh and became a prisoner of war.
He died of his wounds in Germany shortly after his capture and was buried in the Hamburg Cemetery, Germany.
Gunner George Angus McArthur, No 30433, was in the 5th Australian Field Artillery Brigade, was killed in action on the 15th of April 1918 and buried at Henencourt, in France (now Ribemont Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme).
Private Archibald George McArthur, No 1392 was assigned to the 7th Battalion.
He was wounded twice during his service, once with a shrapnel wound to his scalp and then a gunshot wound to the left shoulder. He returned to Australia in 1919.
Submitted by Ken Flack
Horsham RSL Military History & Heritage Library
