Mollett, Wilhelmina Jane
On a blue, calm, sunny morning, to the sound of a sighing surf and cry of seabirds, the soul of a brave woman passed from sleep to rest. Without suffering, unconscious of change or care, she passed the last two days of her earthly life sleeping, sleeping, sleeping. On the 1st March, apparently in robust health, she went out into the pacific for her usual swim and came back saying How lovely the water was. So fresh! I am going again tomorrow! During the day she seemed perfectly well, enjoyed her beloved books, her meals, the pet dog, Puck (a canine idol) and read out loud from Lorna Doone an occupation she always enjoyed while I was busy mending. No, I shall lave the last chapter for tomorrow, she answered when I suggested she should finish the book. It will be something to look forward to.
In the evening we played bzique and again she refused my request for the last chapter of Lorna Doone. No one mustn't overdo a pleasant thing, she laughed. Tomorrow, at the usual time after tea, we will finish the chapter, and the book. No use insisting when her mind was made up: so we separated and the 2nd March dawned and sped on its way, uneventful and quietly busy as usual.
After lunch, which she enjoyed with a healthy appetite, Miss Mollett retired to her room to take her usual cup of coffee and read her papers. Her active mind was interested in the worlds work and play, its projects and ideas within its widest circles; its literary and scientific progress and above all the activities of the nursing profession, and yet, the last natural and simple interest of her life was the arrival of the weeks fresh butter from the farm. She left her armchair and the worlds politics to look into that home detail with faithful attention.
And with that ended her last care on earth. We found her in a peaceful and natural position, lying back in her armchair, with her papers beside her - sleeping. It was tea time, a time she always liked to observe as a little social function, dedicated to etiquette and general conversation and neighbourly callers. Knowing she would not like the time changed, we tried to wake her. No earthly interests ever wakened her again.
The local practitioner, a trained nurse, two Red Cross district nurses and a doctor, summoned by telephone from Capiapo, who arrived by motor in two hours time at danger speed, could on certify a double paralysis and bid us prepare for the inevitable. Sloping eastward, upward to the outrunners of the distant Cardillero, and surrounded by desert stretches that were ancient ocean beds, lies the little, clean, restful cemetery that our English vice-consul administers; and there in a virgin soil of clean golden gravel human foot had never trod, since it was upheaved by nature, we laid her.
As she had wished, her casket was covered by a British flag, and we left it there to mingle with her sacred dust in future aeons when our little individual cares and tears are no more, but the Eternal Truth that upheld us in our earthly trials shall surely live on in immortal beauty. The flag covered casket, drawn on a simple military hearse, by a single mule, had a guard of honour, two sailors in uniform kept flag and casket as they went upwards on that last journey, and behind followed our British vice-Consul and Miss Molletts only relative in Chile, the Maritime Governor of the ports of Stacama, a group of Miss Mollletts kindest friends, all those who had known and loved her here, and people of all types and classes, reverent and silent.
A file of purest white was thrown across the sandy track by the Corps of the Red Cross District Nurses of this port, each one bearing one or several of the beautiful, white, floral offerings sent from the farms and gardens of the oasis, and each on her breast the symbol of a creed of suffering nobly borne, the blood-red cross of Malta, glory of ancient knighthood and forever badge of undying valour. At the gates of the cemetery, the Maritime Governor, Red Cross Corps....
Biographical
Registration number | 10 |
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Surname | Mollett |
First name(s) | Wilhelmina Jane |
Address(es) | Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa |
Date of registration | 7 March 1890 |
Qualifications | Certificate, St Bartholomew's, 1888 |
Remarks | Royal South Hants and Southern, 1902 |
Personal details
Date of birth | c1859 |
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Place of birth | North Fleet |
Family details | Address: 14 Wilton Cottage, Northfleet, Kent |
Date of death | 2 March 1928 |
Place of death | Nr Caldera, Chile |
Additional personal details | Father: John W Mollett, English of Huguenot extraction, brilliant, but impractical, spoke and wrote in seven languages but couldn't earn a living; a varied existence in England, Germany and France |
Professional details
Work experience | Certificate St Bartholomews (Pro), 1882 - 85 |
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Professional activities | Member, First Executive Committee, British Nursing Association. Patroness Nursing Exhibition, London, 1891 |
Sources | 1861 and 1891 Censuses |