Annie Alicia Bertha Armbrister (1895-1965)
Member of the WAACs and Granddaughter of the Rector of Saint Kitts, West Indies
“Nice type of girl. Shd[should] I think be suitable for training, if her standard of education is considered high enough. She passed all her standards at the orphanage and intended to teach, but was obliged to leave when 14 yrs of age.” This is how Annie is described on her application form for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (TNA WO/398/5). Her forms include a wealth of information including the clothes that she was provided with (amongst others: Coat frock, 3 collars and 2 pairs of stockings), medical details (overlapping toe on right foot) and character references. When answering the question “Is applicant to your knowledge a fit person to be trusted with access to documents of a confidential nature?” her former headmistress replied “I should decidedly imagine so.”
It seems likely that her training in London made a big impression on the girl from Seaham Harbour who had been sent to an orphanage (even though her mother was still alive). From 1929 Annie’s name can be found on the London Register of Electors first in Kensington and Chelsea and then several other boroughs. From her probate record it is obvious that she returned north towards the end of her life as she died in the East Riding of Yorkshire at the age of 70. She left a paltry £688 to her brother, Eric.
Civil Parish: Seaham
Birth date: 13-Apr-1895
Death date: 26-Jul-1965
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 10 Hall Street, New Seaham (1901 and 1911 census)
4 Princess Road, Seaham Harbour (1917, TNA WO/398/5)
Education: Northern Counties Girls’ Orphanage, Moor Edge, Newcastle
Religion: Church of England
Organisation membership: Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps [later Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps]
Employment: General clerk
Family: Grandfather: Thaddeus A C Armbrister, Rector of St Kitts, West Indies
Father: Allen Ramsey Armbrister (died 1901)
Mother: Margaret Ann Armbrister (remarried 1909)
Brothers: Arthur Constantine Armbrister, Eric Rowland Armbrister, Allan Ramsey Armbrister
Military service:
QMAAC Connaught Club, Seymour Street, London (Jun-Aug 1918);
Bensham Workhouse, Gateshead (6-8 Aug 1918);
QMAAC Command Depot, Alnwick (Aug 1918 - Feb 1919);
QMAAC Depot, Yorkshire Regiment Infantry Barracks, Richmond (Feb 1919 - discharge);
Discharge on compassionate grounds (10 Mar 1919)
Gender: Female
Contributed by Durham County Record Office
