British War Medal 1914-20: Dr Phoebe Chapple, Royal Army Medical Corps

British War Medal 1914-20. Unnamed as issued.

This British War Medal was awarded to Dr Phoebe Chapple MM. Phoebe Chapple was born in Adelaide on 31 March 1879. The youngest daughter of eight children to Frederic and Elizabeth Sarah (nee Hunter) Chapple, Phoebe was educated at the Advanced School for Girls in Grote Street, Adelaide. She entered the University of Adelaide at 16, gaining her Bachelor of Science in 1898. Inspired by South Australian women's advocate Dr Violet Plummer, Chapple went on to study medicine. She graduated as a doctor in 1904.

In February 1917, Chapple travelled to England to enlist following the Australian army's refusal to appoint women doctors. In England she joined the Royal Army Medical Corp and was appointed surgeon to Cambridge Hospital in Aldershot. Following Aldershot she was attached to Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps and moved to France. Chapple was accorded the honorary rank of captain and was one of the first two women doctors sent to the front, which she 'regarded as an honor [sic] for Australia.' For her actions during an enemy air raid near Abbeville, France, in May 1918 she was awarded the Military Medal (MM).

Dr Phoebe Chapple MM died on 24 March 1967, aged 87 and was cremated, with full military honours, at Centennial Park Cemetery. An annual bursary in her name is awarded at St Ann's College, University of Adelaide, in recognition of her work and for her contribution to the academy.