A tragic twist of fate aboard a warship claimed the life of a young local nurse, 105 years ago. Historian and author Andrew Hemmings spoke to Nicholas Thomas about how a Christmas party turned to tragedy.

CAROLINE Maud Edwards was born in Llanharry in 1887 to a family with strong connections to Newport and the former county of Monmouth.

She grew up in the area and attended Monmouth School for Girls, later studying at Bedford College and enrolling as a nurse in The London Hospital, Whitechapel, by 1911.

At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, she joined the Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS) as a nursing sister, working on a hospital ship in the North Sea.

She worked on the hospital ship HMHS Drina, a former Transatlantic passenger liner that had been converted for military purposes when the conflict began.

In the autumn of 1915, Ms Edwards was aboard Drina when the ship was moved from Scapa Flow to anchor at Cromarty Firth on the eastern coast of Scotland.

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Also there was HMS Natal, a warrior-class armoured cruiser that had been deployed to patrol the North Sea.

On the afternoon of December 30, Natal captain Eric Back arranged for the showing of a Christmas film aboard his ship, and he extended an invitation to local civilians and their children – as well as three nurses from the nearby Drina.

Fatefully, Ms Edward was among the guests. At around 3.30pm, during the festivities, ammunition on the Natal exploded without warning, sending a series of blasts through the ship and sinking it within a matter of minutes.

Rescuers desperately tried to save those who had gone into the water, but the icy temperatures and midwinter afternoon darkness hampered their efforts.

They saved 170 people, but 421 sailors and civilians died in the disaster.

By 5.03pm it was reported the three Drina nurses were missing – Caroline Maud Edwards, Eliza Millicent Elvens, and Olive Kathleen Rowlett.

The tragedy meant Ms Edwards became the first Newport woman to die in the First World War – by the end of the conflict, there would be six more.

Today, Ms Edwards' name – together with the names of her two colleagues – is on the Chatham Naval Memorial, in Kent, which remembers naval personnel who died in the world wars and have no known grave.

The remains of the Natal, in Cromarty, are now protected as a war grave. In July 2000, a memorial garden was opened in nearby Invergordon.

Closer to home, Ms Edwards is remembered with a plaque at Monmouth School for Girls, and in Newport her actions – like those of the efforts of other Newport women during the world wars – are remembered together in one of the mosaics unveiled in St Paul's Walk in 2019.

Ms Edwards is also featured in author Sylvia Mason's book Every Woman Remembered: Daughters of Newport in the Great War.

• Andrew Hemmings is the author of the book Secret Newport, printed by Amberley Publishing.