Annie Maude Ellwood was born in Staveley, near
Kendal in Cumbria, on 10 January 1896. Her father was a bobbin turner,
and she left school at the age of 14. According to a letter in her
service record file (WO 398/69), she first became interested in
wartime military service in February 1917, when - in response to
a government advertisement in the Yorkshire Post - she wrote to
the National Service Department in London offering herself for service
abroad.
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