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Helen Court has a Commonwealth War Grave, but doesn’t appear on the war memorial where she rests. Why?

Helen Court is buried in Exeter’s Higher Cemetery. She was one of the first Women’s Royal Navy Service and died in service on 15 November 1918. Yet she is not recognised on the cemetery’s war memorial because she is female.

A directive issued by the town council precluded women from being remembered. So, women at war, both in the services and at home, are missing from memory.

Hilda Court, Helen’s sister and a member of the Army Pay Corps is not recognised either. She died on 12 October 1918 and shares a headstone with her sister. Their mother, who lived at 23 Roberts Road, lost two daughters.

Like the Women’s Royal Naval Service itself in WW1, Helen Court’s service was short-lived. She signed up for the Women’s Royal Naval Service in June 1918. Their motto was ‘Never At Sea’, so she served on shore as a steward. She died in November 1918; four days after the war had ended. She was one of 23 women to die in naval service.

Although the memorial at Exeter’s Higher Cemetery does not recognise women, the city’s memorial acknowledges the contribution of VAD nurses at war with a representative figure.

Location: Exeter Higher Cemetery, St Marks Avenue, Exeter, Devon EX1 2PX
Image: Ladies from the Women’s Royal Navy Service, courtesy of National Museum of the Royal Navy/The WRENs Association

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