Amy Scott

Amy Scott was a recent immigrant from England when she joined the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) women assigned to the north. She and fellow nurses Rachel Hanna, Georgia Powell, and Margaret Payson they left for the Yukon in April 1898 with 200 Yukon Field Force troops on their way to police the gold rush.¹⁾ At Glenora on the Stikine River, Georgia, Amy, and a Mrs. Starnes travelled with an advance party. When they reached Fort Selkirk, Amy stayed with the main body of troops while Georgia and Mrs. Starnes travelled on to Dawson. When she reached Dawson, Amy was assigned to the North-West Mounted Police barracks. The nurses slept in a small tent at first and then moved into a log cabin. During the fall, they were busy dealing with a great number of typhoid cases and then the winter brought an increase in cases of scurvy. Most of the nurses’ time was spent in hospital work rather than following the mandate of the VON. Amy was invalided home to England during the summer of 1899. In 1900, she was reunited with Georgia Powell when they both served with the 10th Canadian Field Hospital in South Africa during the Boer War.²⁾