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« on: Sunday 03 December 23 12:15 GMT (UK) »
Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure that your explanation holds up. You are correct to point out that the entry had been corrected but I believe that the entry is complete. Some more details about my great-aunt: She was born in 1878 so she was 36 or 37 when she joined up. She was a matron at an English public school and she took up her appointment there some time before April 1917 which, as you can see, overlaps with the period she served as a nurse. It may be that the entry was adjusted to fit into the school holidays. I've checked out the British Red Cross website but it does not help me understand the working hours of the volunteers. The only similar situation is for the women's land army and I believe that they were limited to working a maximum of about 50 hours a week although, of course, the work was probably a lot more strenuous.
The hospital where my great-aunt worked was an auxiliary one used mainly for soldiers convalescence after being treated for injury elsewhere. It may be that the 504 hours was a limit for nurses to be on call if needed. Certainly, the nurses would have been resident at the hospital. I wonder if anyone has knowledge of their ancestors who may have also volunteered?
Regards
By the way, I used lunar months for my calculation (28 days) but I don't think it matters. Also, I believe that my great-aunt worked for 12 weeks in the year - 3 weeks each at Easter and Christmas (although that could be interpreted as 3 weeks in total), 6 weeks during the summer - these are typical periods of school breaks in English public schools.